This Is a Book Book Summary

In "This Is a Book", comedian Demetri Martin delivers a delightful exploration of life through a blend of witty essays, clever drawings, and thought-provoking reflections. Each page invites readers to reconsider everyday observations with Martin's signature humor and intelligence. With playful anecdotes and unusual insights, he draws connections between seemingly unrelated ideas, challenging conventional thinking. The book is an inventive mix of comedy and philosophy that will leave you laughing and pondering simultaneously. Dive into this whimsical journey and discover how a book can offer both entertainment and enlightenment.

By Demetri Martin

Published: 2012

""It’s like I’m an artist and I hope people look at my work and think, ‘That’s interesting,’ or ‘That’s funny,’ but ultimately, I can only put it out there and let it go. Every book is an exploration of ideas—silly, serious, or somewhere in between.""

Book Review of This Is a Book

From the renowned comedian, creator and star of Comedy Central's Important Things with Demetri Martin comes the paperback debut of his bold, original, New York Times best-selling humor book. THIS IS A BOOK was an instant and long-lasting New York Times best seller, and is the renowned comedian's hilarious foray into prose comedy. In these pages, Martin expands on the sensibility he's developed on stage as an award-winning stand-up comedian and on television as a writer-performer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and his own Comedy Central series, Important Things with Demetri Martin. Featuring narrative essays, short stories, and conceptual pieces (such as "Protagonists' Hospital," where doctors treat only the shoulder wounds of Hollywood action heroes) as well as Martin's signature drawings, absurdities, and one-liners, THIS IS A BOOK delivers sharp jokes, colorful characters, and interesting surprises. Martin takes readers to places as far-off as Ancient Greece ("Socrates's Publicist") and the distant future ("Robot Test," where everyone must take a test to prove that they are not robots). He recounts a lonely man's visit to a strip club in the form of a five-hundred-word palindrome ("Palindromes for Specific Occasions"). And he examines the human condition ("Human Cannonball Occupational Hazards") and the competing world-views of divergent groups ("Optimist, Pessimist, Contortionist"). Martin's material is varied, but his unique voice and brilliant mind will keep readers in stitches from beginning to end.

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"It’s like I’m an artist and I hope people look at my work and think, ‘That’s interesting,’ or ‘That’s funny,’ but ultimately, I can only put it out there and let it go. Every book is an exploration of ideas—silly, serious, or somewhere in between."

This Is a Book

By Demetri Martin