Laugh and Learn: 95 Ways to Use Humor for More Effective Teaching and Training
Doni Tamblyn
(AMACOM; November 14, 2002 ISBN: 0-8144-0745-5)

Review – Cathy McNally

I’ve just spent a few happy and productive hours in airports reading LAUGH AND LEARN by Doni Tamblyn. I read the book twice: first just following its very readable, entertaining and persuasive description of humor as powerful teaching and learning tool. The second time I studied it more carefully, pen in hand, so that I could steal its generous tips, games and exercises.

Tamblyn maintains that humor encourages “brain-compatible learning,” learning which is easily accessible and retrievable. Our brains aren’t sponges, she says, but sieves, which will lose information unless it is “too important” to pass through. Humor is an ideal way to help make our teaching more “brain–compatible” for several reasons: it engages the emotions, creates a feeling of well-being, provides breathers in which learners can make meaning, and reduces stress. All these elements enhance the ability of learners to take in and retain information. Finally, laughter and having fun are “intrinsic motivators,” as opposed to “extrinsic motivators,” like money, status, etc. And contrary to popular wisdom, it’s the intrinsic motivators that are the most powerful.

Tamblyn draws on adult learning theory to make her point about the importance of humor so you’ll read about serious-sounding phenomenon like the “Von Resoroff Effect” and “episodic” and “reflexive” pathways.” But she manages to translate the theory into practical terms and show how humor fits the goals of adult learning. And not only does she tell us why to use humor, she shows us, in the many examples, games and exercises sprinkled throughout the book, how to use it.

Perhaps one of the most useful services Tamblyn offers is encouraging trainers who feel less than comfortable using humor. She provides tools that can be used comfortably by even the most serious trainers to improve their “Humor Quotient.” And although she insists that using humor does not mean telling jokes, she does share some joke telling secrets, just in case you want to try.

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