Humor is, I think, the subtlest and chanciest of literary forms. It is surely not accidental that there are a thousand novelists, essayists, poets or journalists for each humorist. It is a long, long time between James Thurbers.
- Leo C. Rosten
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Humor is, I think, the subtlest and chanciest of literary forms. It is surely not accidental that there are a thousand novelists, essayists, poets or journalists for each humorist. It is a long, long time between James Thurbers.
- Leo C. Rosten
Taking advantage of a new Amazon feature, Steven Johnson does some literary data-mining:
The two stats that I found totally fascinating were "Average Words Per Sentence" and "% Complex Words," the latter defined as words with three or more syllables -- words like "ameliorate", "protoplasm" or "…
Sam Tanenhaus has an interesting essay on the relationship between age and literary genius, which was prompted by the new New Yorker fiction issue, featuring a list of 20 accomplished writers under the age of 40. Tanenhaus argues that the purpose of the list - "to offer a focused look at the talent…
Via Tyler Cowen, comes this graph of demographic shifts in NIH grants, which show a clear trend: older scientists are getting more money.
Cowen also cites the eminent economist Paul Romer, who worries about the effect of this shift on innovation:
Instead of young scientists getting grant funding…
Indeed and thank ...
[Authority of preference]
Thurber is unique
as is:
Twain
Shakespeare
Wayne & Shuster
Lenny Bruce
don marquis
Walter Mathau
Charlie Chaplin
John Stewart
Buster Keaton
et al
That is how humor works.
It is the hardest trade available to those with a sense of humor.
--ml
Everyone unique
The only best way to be.
nb: "are" by definition is plural and therefore not unique.
Hence "is"
--ml