"A witty book about wit that steers an elegant path between
waggishness and wisdom." ―Stephen Fry
Much more than a knack for snappy comebacks, wit is the quick,
instinctive intelligence that allows us to think, say, or do the right
thing at the right time in the right place. In this whimsical book,
James Geary explores every facet of wittiness, from its role in
innovation to why puns are the highest form of wit. Geary reasons that
wit is both visual and verbal, physical and intellectual: there's the
serendipitous wit of scientists, the crafty wit of inventors, the
optical wit of artists, and the metaphysical wit of philosophers.
In Wit's End, Geary embraces wit in every form by adopting a different
style for each chapter; he writes the section on verbal repartee as a
dramatic dialogue, the neuroscience of wit as a scientific paper, the
spirituality of wit as a sermon, and other chapters in jive, rap, and
the heroic couplets of Alexander Pope. Wit's End agilely balances
psychology, folktales, visual art, and literary history with
lighthearted humor and acute insight, drawing upon traditions of wit
from around the world.
Entertaining, illuminating, and entirely unique, Wit's End
demonstrates that wit and wisdom are really the same thing.
