How About Never—Is Never Good for You?

Posted on 06 November 2018 by Bob Mankoff

Memoir in cartoons by the longtime cartoon editor of The New YorkerPeople tell Bob Mankoff that as the cartoon editor of The New Yorker he has the best job in the world Never one to beat around the bush, he explains to us, in the opening of this singular, delightfully eccentric book, that because he is also a cartoonist at the magazine he actually has two of the best jobs in the world With the help of myriad images and his funniest, most beloved cartoons, he traces his love of the craft all the way back to his childhood, when he started doing funny drawings at the age of eight After meeting his mother, we follow his unlikely stints as a high school basketball star, draft dodger, and sociology grad student Though Mankoff abandoned the study of psychology in the seventies to become a cartoonist, he recently realized that the field he abandoned could help him better understand the field he was in, and here he takes up the psychology of cartooning, analyzing why some cartoons make us laugh and others don t He allows us into the hallowed halls of The New Yorker to show us the soup to nuts process of cartoon creation, giving us a detailed look not only at his own work, but that of the other talented cartoonists who keep us laughing week after week For dessert, he reveals the secrets to winning the magazine s caption contest Throughout How About Never Is Never Good for You , we see his commitment to the motto Anything worth saying is worth saying funny. Read How About Never—Is Never Good for You? by Bob Mankoff – kino-fada.fr This book started off a little odd a little too much detail about the early life of someone I d barely heard of someone who does seem pretty self congratulatory and full of himself but then again, The New Yorker IS The New Yorker However, it quickly turned around with chapter upon chapter explaining what makes a cartoon funny chart incl...I received a review copy of this book.Unsurprisingly, this is a very charming book in which Robert Mankoff, a cartoonist and cartoon editor for The New Yorker magazine, shares anecdotes from his personal life and from his professional life and also shares insights about his craft He does this with grace, with humility and, of course, with humor He explores the history of the New Y...Bob Mankoff has been the cartoon editor for The New Yorker for almost 20 years This book is part memoir you can t have a memoir without moi , part history of cartooning and The New Yorker and completely hilarious His humor pervades his text as well as his cartoons.He, however, is wrong about one thing According to him, a three person panel decides which cartoons are selected each work for the magazine because people don t laugh out loud when by themselves I should have been afraid the pe Bob Mankoff has been the cartoon editor for The New Yorker for almost 20 years T...I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.I don t read The New Yorker Magazine but I know about its famous cartoons This book is written by the cartoon editor of The New Yorker and he gives lots of tips about creating a good cartoon and getting it published He also adds a chapter on h...Thoroughly personable and effortlessly readable I mean, could there be aperfect formula I give you humorous writing good on humour good from a consummate New York good Jewish good humorist good , inside the New Yorker good You re in pretty world class company, frankly And what company Thurber, Addams, BEK and my own current New Yorker favourite, Edward Steed who is just stylistically awesome even gets a mention I d actually seen the documentary Very Semi Serious ea Thoroughly personable and effortlessly readable I mean, could there be aperfect formula I give you humorous writing good on humour good from a consummate New York good Jewish good humorist good , inside the New Yorker good You re in pretty world class company, frankly And what company Thurber, Addams, BEK and my own current New Yorker favourite, Edward Steed who is just stylistically awesome even gets a mention I d actually seen the documentary Very Semi Serious earlier this year, which seems to have traced this book quite closely minus the sometimes very touching Mankoff domestic troubles , so was aware of most of the content Bob is entertainingly...This book was hilarious I was somewhat familiar with Bob Mankoff, but this gave me a completely different perspective Mankoff is the epitome of the success story for a cartoonist, at least in the traditional sense, and as a fan of graphic novels and cartoons in general it was neat to see how he made his way to be the editor There s ...Mankoff has put together a brilliant biographical account of his own work in this entertaining book spanning his career The humor is a mix of snide, witty and uproarious at times I loved the layout and the graphic presentation It definite...I ll start with the not so good stuff In my eyes, a little bit of Mankoff goes a long way I m talking specifically about his writing, not his cartooning, which I find top notch It s not surprising that someone who takes Jerry Lewis as a role model might be a bit grating Mankoff loves the verbal gag, but the book goes a bit too far with it For those reasons, I wasn t a big fan of the first part of the book which covered Mankoff s early years.However, besides the biography there s some real I ll start with the not so good stuff In my eyes, a little bit of Mankoff goes a long way I m talking specifically about his writing, not his cartooning, which I find top notch It s not surprising that someone who takes Jerry Lewis as a role model might be a bit grating Mankoff loves the verbal gag, but the book goes a bit too far with it For those reasons, I wasn t a big fan of the first part of the book which covered Mankoff s early years.However, besides the biography there s some real gold here Mankoff loves to explore what makes a New Yorker cartoon and cartoonist Of course, there s a lot of cartoons that focus on and skewer the upper class readership of the magazine, but Mankoff carefully points out how no one style or content defines a New Yorker c...I was surprised to find that the biographical aspects of this book were fairly boring for me Bob Mankoff is a fine cartoonist, but he doesn t seem like all that great a guy I would have preferred the book be a look at cartoons in The New Yorker in general rather than a book about him particularly Moreover, the parts about his life feel awkwardly and often inconsistently shoved into the narrative by the end of the book, they ve been dropped entirely.The rest of it, however, is pretty fascinat I was surprised to find that the biographical aspects of this book were fairly boring for me Bob Mankoff is a fine cartoonist, but he doesn t seem like all that great a guy I would have preferred the book be a look at cartoons in The New Yorker in general rather than a book about him particularly Moreover, the parts about his life feel awkwardly and often inconsistently shoved into the narrative by the end of the book, they ve been dropped entirely.The rest of it, however, is pretty fascinating I appreciated hearing about some of the history of cartoons in general and cartoons in The New Yorker in specific I also found the inside look at cartooning for The New Yorker really interesting, and I loved hearing a little bit about how some of their contract cartoonists work how they get ideas, how they draw their cartoons, ...Bob Mankoff has the enviable job of being the cartoon editor for the New Yorker This book is part memoir, discussing his own path to becoming first a cartoonist and then an editor, as well as founder of the online Cartoon Bank It also includes a decent history of the art of cartooning in publishing, tracing its development as influenced by society as a whole and also the quirks of the editors who selected the cartoons.As one might expect of a book about cartoons, it s pretty enjoyable to read Bob Mankoff has the enviable job of being the cartoon editor for the New Yorker This book is part memoir, discussing his own path to becoming first a cartoonist and then an editor, as well as founder of the online Cartoon Bank It also includes a decent history of the art of cartooning in publishing, tracing its development as influenced by society as a whole and also the quirks of the editors who selected the cartoons.As one might expect of a book about ca...

English
06 November 2018

Bob Mankoff