8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Transmutation of mundane experiences to moments of hilarity, February 15, 2005
This review is from: I Think, Therefore I Have a Headache!: A Laugh-Out-Loud Look at Life (Paperback)
Most of us are candidates for headaches at some point of time in our lives. Instead of allowing our thoughts giving us headache, we can use humor to keep us sane and to keep the headaches at bay. Martha takes the most mundane experiences in our lives and turn them into moments of hilarity. Martha Bolton is a full-time comedy writer and the author of 40+ books. She has received two Angel awards and an Emmy nomination.
The cover page is the modern version of Auguste Rodin's famous sculpture `The thinker'. As you must have seen, the man in the sculpture thinks as a full body exercise - not only with his brain, his knitted brow, nostrils, compressed lips, with every muscle of his arms, legs clenched first and gripping toes. Socrates allowed himself ample time and space to think. Thinking is hard work. No wonder it gives us a headache.
Socrates never would have survived today's crowded schedules. There are too many meetings to go to, projects to work on, e-mails that need answering, and kids who need to be picked up from soccer practice, piano lessons, karate classes, and gymnastics. We're too busy living life to take any time to actually contemplate it.
As proclaimed by Anton Chekhov "Any idiot can face a crisis-it's this day-to-day living that wears you out." That's why this book is important-thinking and laughing for day-do-day living. Thinking about how much our world has changed over the years. And how much it has stayed the same. Thinking about both the tragedies and the comedies of life. Thinking about politics, faith, family, health food, exercise, air travel, modern conveniences, and more. Let us study Martha Bolton's refreshing take on life.
Martha starts the connection of headaches to drugs (p 17), food (p19), work (p23), space (p29) name tags (p33). She describes brain exercises, brain concerts, brain speeches and brain skydiving (p37). Her delineation of Methuselah and Methuselah tree (p 41-44) is humorous and thought provoking. She points out nicely how by adapting to circumstances and shaping our attitudes we can survive easily. She recommends chocolate for healing and healthy life (p 53-54), stresses the importance of a penny (p 59-62), deals with noises (p 63-65). She says as a matter of fact that minds are never meant to be shrink wrapped. She traces the connection between words, meaning and language (p 77-79). We should put more thought into our words. She comments about inventions (p 81-83) and on e-speak (p 85-88). The sample email communication she mentions is pertinent and relevant. She emphasizes good listening skills (p 95-97),the hazards of air travel (103-105), the hazards of poor memory and the gifts of selective memory (p 111-113). The title `borrowed thoughts' for headaches due to credit cards is excellent and apt. (p 115-117) She proves that children are the same from the days of Socrates (p 137 - 138). She describes nicely the idiosyncracies of instructions and announcements in public places (p 139-141). Even Queen Elizabeth II's family has eccentricities, family disagreements and wayward youngsters. But a family keeps life interesting. Martha wants to see a hypochondriac line of greeting cards (p 147-149). She elaborates how friends, parents, dieters and Christians can act as travel agents for guilt trips. She succinctly puts, `Life is too short to carry heavy purses. Carrying a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee (p 155-158). She wants you to wear a hat if a meteor is headed your way. Imagination of worrying scenarios is borrowing trouble from tomorrow. The strength is not there - only the worry and stress (p 159-161). She humorously connects cloning and business group discounts (p 163-164). She stresses the importance of fun : We are afraid to use the laugh muscles that came with the original packaging. We allowed our smiles to sag and our negative outlook to drag us down. God intended each new dawning to be met with anticipation, not apprehension; wonder, not whining. Martha elucidates the common exercise of jumping to conclusions - how it can jeopardize the relationships, jobs and peace of mind (p 173-175). Martha's emphasis on laughter is illuminating : "It is perfectly legal to laugh and drive. Laughter does not have an expiration date. The average child laughs about 400 times per day. An average adult laughs 15 times a day. What happened to the other 385 laughs?
The quotations underlying the title and the end of the passage are eye-openers and they amplify the experience. I liked this one in p 107 : "All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind"-- Khalil Gibran and the one in p 131 : "The difference between the right word and almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug" -- Mark Twain and the one in p 161 : "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia." - - Charles Schultz
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I THINK, THEREFORE I HAVE A HEADACHE, October 29, 2007
This review is from: I Think, Therefore I Have a Headache!: A Laugh-Out-Loud Look at Life (Paperback)
This is a great book for those that like to pick up something quick and get a good laugh in the middle of a crazy work week. The shameful thing is reading at work and having people wonder why youre laughing out loud and no one is near you having a conversation.
A great book for unwinding after a stressful day.
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