The New Yorker Book of Technology Cartoons (with CD-Rom) [Hardcover]

Robert Mankoff (Author), The Cartoon Bank (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1576600750 | ISBN-13: 978-1576600757 | Publication Date: October 2000 | Edition: Book & CD-Rom

Even if technology makes you weep, you'll laugh! Technology--friend or foe? That's a question the cartoonists of The New Yorker have been pondering with no little skepticism--and answering hilariously--for decades. From "portable phones" that were anything but to tiny cell phones, from room-sized computers to handheld wonders, from faxes to e-mails, the brilliant artists of The New Yorker have seen and drawn it all--the sublime, the ridiculous, and the existential. Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor of The New Yorker, has culled through thousands of drawings to select the best, the funniest, and the most illuminating cartoons on technology for this collection of 126 cartoons. Readers can also look forward to Mankoff's witty introductory essay. As an added bonus, the book comes with a bound-in CD-ROM, so that readers can e-mail their favorite cartoons via their computers (PC or Macintosh).

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Mankoff is a "triple threat" in the cartooning world. He is cartoon editor of The New Yorker, founder and president of The Cartoon Bank, and a wonderful cartoonist. He is the editor of numerous New Yorker cartoon collections, most recently The New Yorker Book of Technology Cartoons, The New Yorker Book of Money Cartoons, and The New Yorker 75th Anniversary Cartoon Collection. He lives with his wife, children, and pets in the Hudson Valley.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Bloomberg Press; Book & CD-Rom edition (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576600750
• ISBN-13: 978-1576600757
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #801,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The New Yorker is an award-winning weekly magazine featuring reporting, criticism, commentary, fiction, poetry, and renowned single-panel cartoons. It has won more National Magazine Awards, the magazine world's equivalent of the Oscars, than any other magazine. Its contributors have won numerous awards, including the Nobel Prize and the Pulitzer Prize. Robert Mankoff is the cartoon editor of The New Yorker, and a cartoonist in his own right. He is the editor of many collections of New Yorker cartoons, including The Complete Cartoons of The New Yorker.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Collections of New Yorker Cartoons!, October 1, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Yorker Book of Technology Cartoons (with CD-Rom) (Hardcover)

This book contains 110 cartoons that have appeared in The New Yorker relating to technology. Most have something to do with computers or the Internet, but faxes, cell phones, and biotechnology also make their appearances. As usual, the cartoons are selected by Robert Mankoff, The New Yorker's cartoon editor.

The book is one of the best collections I have seen of New Yorker cartoons. It also provides Mankoff's best introduction to any of these collections (he usually either doesn't write one, or does less than the minimum), as well as a CD of the cartoons in the book.

I was pleasantly surprised that this collection was done in such a way as to be consistent with technology. Perhaps it is because Mr. Mankoff is a self-confessed technophile. He defends that preference as being better than being a Francophile.

I am tempted to give you all 110 cartoons from the book, but I don't have that much space. Here are a few of my favorites:

Man in room filled with people working at computers talking on the telephone, looking glum -- "No, the computers are up. We're down."

Father to son -- "Go ask your search engine."

Couple on a camping trip holding cell phone -- "Who can we call?"

Couple at a cocktail party -- "You say you love me, but I'm not on your speed dial."

Two dogs operating a computer -- "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog."

Two men staring at a fax of a man with a tie pressed across his face -- "My God, there's been a terrible accident in our Chicago office."

"Already my computer is outmoded, but I try to tell myself my computer isn't me."

Deputies watching tracking dogs looking at laptop -- "First, they do an on-line search."

Woman to a small boy in a restaurant -- "I loved your E-mail, but I thought you'd be older."

Man talking to a microwave -- "No, I don't want to play chess. I just want to reheat the lasagna."

Man passing telephone booth holding cell phone -- The booth says "Talk in Private 25 Cents"

Man proposing -- "Marry me, Virginia. My genes are excellent and, as yet, unpatented."

Man in hammock -- "America Off-Line"

Couple in bed -- "Not tonight, hon. It'll just wreak havoc with the motion sensors again."

Wife during wedding ceremony -- "I'm delighted to love, honor, and obey, but I'm keeping my electronic rights."

Buffalo with cell phone -- "I love the convenience, but the roaming charges are killing me."

I think you will have a lot of fun with this book. As you can see, the cartoons take turns making fun of technology, those who are having a hard time with technology, and our fixation with technology.

After you finish having many good laughs, consider how many of these jokes are really insights into problems that need to be solved. For example, how can we know whether we can trust those we exchange e-mails with? Are they who they say they are? In many cases, they are not. Be careful!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Gift!, December 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The New Yorker Book of Technology Cartoons (with CD-Rom) (Hardcover)

I think this is the funniest collection of cartoons yet! It's nice to see the traditional style of The New Yorker cartoons up against modern technology. And, not to mention, it's been a great gift with all the gadget-freak men in my life!! My father has been bringing his to meetings and my boyfriend got one for his Computer Science teacher! Congrats to those who own one.

3.0 out of 5 stars Tech Humor For Everyone, April 21, 2009

By 

R. Silva "Rick Silva" (Cape Cod MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The New Yorker Book of Technology Cartoons (Hardcover)

The New Yorker is known for many things, but being on the cutting edge of new technology is not one of them. Still, this collection delivers some good laughs at the expense of the tech industry and the people from all walks of life who have found themselves unable to live without the latest gadget.

Some of these cartoons, first collected at the height of the dot com bubble, are quite dated at this point. Others have become obvious in our email/text society. But a number of them are truly timeless.

The artwork and style of humor is classic New Yorker, and the humor is almost always focused on the people rather than the gadgets. There is the typical quirky wit and charm that you would expect from the New Yorker. The jokes are aimed at technological laypersons. This is not like XKCD or some of the other webcomics that can appeal to a highly specialized audience that appreciates, say, jokes written in Linux code. This is humor for the casual internet user, the person who can't set their VCR but might be able to operate Tivo with a bit of handholding.

The cartoonists represented in this collection include Charles Barsotti, Zack Ziegler, Tom Cheney, Mick Stevens, Marisa Acocella, Alex Gregory, Frank Cotham and others. There are 110 cartoons included in this book, which also comes packaged with all of the cartoons in CD-Rom format, just to show that the artists and editors of the New Yorker are comfortable with embracing technology even as they are mocking it.