Find some willing comedians. Find some reputable and willing scholars. Mash em together. Presto! Textbooks that you just can't put down! The main benefit would be the increased incentive to read the material. I know I would most likely not have skimmed over books so much had I the chance to bear witness to a hilarious comment. Plus, a witty observation may help some bland information stick in one's memory. Of course, the textbooks would still have to meet standards and must contain the information deemed worthy of textbooks. I think this would be most useful in survey classes or those annoying mandatory classes that have nothing to do with one's major. It's hard for a computer science major to stay interested reading a book on 18th century European art. For higher level classes I'm sure this would not be desirable. If you have to be cajoled to read on the subject you plan on basing your life on, perhaps another subject is in order.
-- nizgy16, Jun 09 2002

There's no shortage of humorous factual writing, like the cartoon "... For Beginners" books. There's a long tradition of it: in literary criticism read Mark Twain on Fenimore Cooper or Rupert Brooke on Wordsworth.
-- pottedstu, Jun 09 2002



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