Customer Reviews

The New Yorker Book of Business Cartoons

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I first discovered The New Yorker when I was a teenager. When I saw how many people subscribed to the magazine, I started asking people why they did. Inevitably, the answer was, "For the cartoons." Since then, I have come to realize that The New Yorker is like the hall of fame for cartoonists.

I became interested in this book after reading the excellent The New Yorker Book of Money Cartoons. I like this one even better.

The introduction by David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, is worth of the price of the book alone. He describes a ritual whereby the cartoonists arrive to share their work, and how the editors all feel envious and intimidated by the cartoonists. The reasons for the envy? The editors know that the readers usually turn to the cartoons first, the cartoon humor is often more effortless than the essays and poetry in The New Yorker, and the cartoonists first realized that business was a great subject for the magazine.

The cartoons themselves were all selected by Robert Mankoff, cartoon editor of The New Yorker.

Perhaps business is inherently funnier than most other subjects, but these cartoons were unusually rewarding to review.

Here are some of my favorites:

"It's up to you now, Miller. The only thing that can save us is an accounting breakthrough."

"Pendleton, as of noon today your services will no longer be required. Meanwhile, keep up the good work."

There is a wordless cartoon of a natty older fellow in a suit sitting at the top of a tall step ladder looking glum. (I guess this is, it's lonely at the top.)

"No, thursday's out. How about never -- is never good for you?"

Four men are fishing in a stream, while one holds a cell phone and is speaking, "Fenwick, Benton & Perkins. How may I direct your call?"

Another wordless cartoon -- The Bill Gates Wealth Clock which provides up-to-the minute numbers on a billboard.

"Sir, the following paradigm shifts occurred while you were out."

"You drive yourself too hard. You really must learn to take time to stop and smell the profits."

One walrus says to the other eyeing a group of penguins, "Here come the suits."

As you can see the common thread is taking our fascination with getting what we want in business and poking some fun at it with an absurd situation.

This book would make a great gift for anyone who is or has been in business, and certainly for any reader of The New Yorker!

Be sure to think about the cartoons and discuss them with others when they reveal some important examples of stalled thinking (like the one about downsizing) that need to be changed.

Keep your laughs up above your profits in the meantime!

It's hard to make me laugh at a joke or cartoon. But I love the sophisticated wit of The New Yorker and very much appreciate their cartoons. They give me a lift.

Before I start work on a project for a client, I like to open one of the New Yorker cartoon books to get myself in a good mood and set the stage. Other cartoons just don't do the job for me. They don't have the edge and basic feel of sharp truth to them.

This book is just fun and nice to have around when you want to laugh at yourself and your job and those people you run into every day of your working life.

It's very nicely presented and a great pleasure.

Susanna K. Hutcheson
Owner and Creative Director
Powerwriting.com LLC

The New Yorker Book of Business Cartoons is a marvelous compilation of classic business "cartoons" and sharp punch-lines that take a much needed cynical, yet comedic look inside the business world, which is, "...always one small step from bloody disdain...", as the New Yorker editor, Mr. David Remnick, states in his superbly written introduction. A very enjoyable book indeed!

Having said this, I must admit that as an avid reader, I wished for a "story" to lend more substance to the issues addressed by the "cartoons". In this respect, the recently published American satire, "Management by Vice" by C.B. Don is the book for lovers of both media. It artfully blends great "cartoon" illustrations (of the same calibre as in The New Yorker) with short, witty verses, all combined within hilarious, easy-to-read episodes that lampoon life in high-tech R&D. If you crave The New Yorker's apropos, biting humor, I think you'll love the wickedly satirical, "Management by Vice" as well!!

Year in and year out the New Yorker cartoons are always the funniest around. This book has a good selection and would be a perfect choice for anyone who is an investor or an executive.

Readers will no doubt see their own situations and those of others in many of these cartoons. If you like to post cartoons in the office or share them with like-minded associates, you will probably find some examples that are spot-on. Isn't that the purpose of a book of cartoons - to be amused in general and find some perfect creations within?

I have witnessed or participated in many layoffs, and thus that topic resonates with some fine choices:

- "Pendleton, as of noon today your services will no longer be required. Meanwhile, keep up the good work."
- "No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?"
- "Hiring is OK, but firing provides a real sense of closure."
Wall Street and corporate big wigs are well represented, naturally, as the dominant theme.

Some overall favorites:

- A rat on the phone, with a lever to pull at his desk: "Oh, not bad. The light comes on, I press the bar, they write me a check. How about you?"

- "This might not be ethical. Is that a problem for anybody?"

- "And now at this point in the meeting, I'd like to shift the blame away from me and onto someone else."

- "I usually wake up screaming at six-thirty and am in the office by nine."

The closing cartoon has a Wall-Streeter looking out the window at a large bubble floating by. Hmm....

The properly constructed cartoon needs only a single phrase to communicate a complex message. The message can be serious, funny and sometimes both. This collection of cartoons all have a business theme, and given the natural curves of the business cycle, some of them describe the highs and others the lows. It is hard to select some favorites, as they are all so good.
One of my favorites has no text at all. It shows a set of small animals in a wooded area reading the annual report of the Walt Disney Company. Another shows a set of cubicles constructed like a tic-tac-toe board. The middle square contains a skeleton in a rotted suit and the people in the other cubicles hard at work, oblivious to what is in the center. However, after a great deal of deliberation, I chose the one with a well-dressed couple in the back of a car where the woman is telling the man, "You drive yourself too hard. You really must learn to take time to stop and smell the profits." True genius being displayed.
These cartoons are funny, profound and philosophical. They show human behavior at its' best and worst. I enjoyed every one of them and so will you.

I have this, both of the Cat, the Dog, the Doctor (and Psychiatrist), Business, and True Love cartoon books in this "New Yorker" series. I hopefully will soon acquire the Money one. Anyway, this particular title is humerous indeed. It's full of the trials and tribulations (pun intended) of the attorney's profession, quite appropriately showcased here. I recommend it highly, as well as the aforementioned books too!

IRECKON IT IS ONE OF THE MOST THOUGHT AFTER CARTOON SCRIPT BOOKS FOR A LAYMAN AS WELL AS FOR THE NEW ENCUMBMENT. AMUST READ BOOK FOR ALL SO CALLED CONSULTANTS, TRADERS, AND ONLINE SHOPPERS. DEFINETELY A BUY AND TO BE READ OVER AND OVER.