Martin Cohen Writer and philosopher

   Why you’ve got to laugh… Okay, you say you don’t want to. That the world is looking pretty awful these days:  there’s a an actual genocide in Gaza, in America a mafia ‘don’ (or should I say ‘Don’) is plundering the country’s treasury and having opponents bundled off the street and imprisoned in far-away hell-holes… so is there any point to a book on jokes? Well, naturally enough, a lot of people don't think so. But this book is not actually a joke book (though it uses a lot for illustration)it's actually a more sociological study of both the role and mechanisms of humour. But it’s not pompous – it’s a lot of fun. That’s why the reviews editor at the Sun, the UK’s largest selling tabloid gave it a four star review (that’s the max) and called it the ultimate “feel good” book, while Talk Radio Europe crowned it grandly “the funniest book on philosophy ever written”. Okay, the full quote included the word “probably” but still! So what's this book about – and why, apart fro...