Laughter: A Scientific Investigation

Robert Provine argues in this book that laughter is mostly about relationships, not jokes; that women laugh more at men than vice versa; that speakers laugh more than their audiences; that tickling is a form of tactile communication, not a reflex; and that laughter explains why chimpanzees cannot talk. Among other topics are a history of canned laughter and a description of the laughing epidemic that brought a district of Tanganyika to a standstill in 1962.