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Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and Renaissance humanist. Utopia is a work of fiction and socio-political satire. He wrote Utopia, published in 1516, about an imaginary island society and its religious, social, and political customs. While imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1534, he wrote A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation. It is a fictional dialogue focusing on the comfort of God in distress, the benefits of suffering, atonement for evil acts, faintheartedness and the temptation to suicide.

The Way to Wealth, an essay by Benjamin Franklin, is a collection of wisdom sayings and advice published in Poor Richard's Almanac from 1733-1758. These proverbs and sayings are woven into an ethical code advocating industry and frugality as a “way to wealth”, thereby securing personal virtue. It is presented as a speech given by Father Abraham to a group of people. Many of the phrases Father Abraham uses continue to be familiar today, such as "There are no gains, without pains", "One today is worth two tomorrows" and "Get what you can, and what you get, hold".

Herman Melville’s novel The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1857) is a comedy of masquerades and a blend of allegory, cultural satire, and metaphysics. The book portrays a confidence man who sneaks on board a Mississippi steamboat on April Fool's Day, and sets out to defraud his fellow passengers. He rapidly assumes various guises and the pleasure of trickery seems more important than the monetary gain. Each person is forced to confront that in which they believe.

Jerome Klapka Jerome (1859-1927) was an English writer and humourist. Passing of the Third Floor Back, first published in 1904, is a collection of early 20th-century short stories portraying the small-minded inhabitants of a building who make life unpleasant for one another. A mysterious stranger arrives, and starts to bring about miraculous changes in the behaviour of the tenants, improving the ambiance and the lives of all.

George Horace Lorimer (1867-1937) was an American journalist, author, and publisher. He is best known as the editor of The Saturday Evening Post, which he led from 1899 to 1936. This work contains the correspondence between the fictional self-made Chicago millionaire "Gorgon" Graham and his son Pierrepont who is coming of age and about to enter the family business. The letters are witty and filled with sound advice, like “I remember reading once that some fellows use language to conceal thought; but it's been my experience that a good many more use it instead of thought.”

A man rants and raves about people’s gullibility when he encounters the Angel of the Odd who claims to cause weird events. Unconvinced, the cynic drives the angel away and falls asleep. Then, a series of bizarre incidents follows.

A delightful short story full of old fashioned puns. The author visits an institution for aged punsters. Much fun ensues in the punning conversations that follow.

Wouter van Twiller appears in A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Diedrich Knickerbocker, a satirical history by Washington Irving published in 1809. The putative narrator offers a history of New Netherlands, often ignoring or altering facts. Descriptions of the founding and landmarks of early New Amsterdam, and the “golden reign” of Governor Wouter van Twiller are included in the history. Van Twiller is described as a very wise Dutchman who never said a foolish thing.

Anatole France (1844-1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist who wrote several best sellers. The Revolt of the Angels is a mischievous take on the theology of modern society; it chronicles the thoughts of Arcade, a lowly guardian angel, as he discovers the ugly truths of his divine master in the library of his human charge As Maurice, the young man abandoned by Arcade, struggles to get his guardian back, one gets a view of a wide variety of the author’s artistic personalities, most of whom are fallen angels.

A Tramp Abroad (1880) by Mark Twain is a travel journal which includes autobiography and fictional events. The book chronicles a journey by the author and his friend Harris through central and southern Europe. The two men make their way through Germany, Switzerland, eastern France, and Italy, encountering situations that become more humorous by their reactions to them. The narrator plays the part of the American tourist, believing that he understands all that he sees but in reality understanding none of it.

Mark Twain attended the performance of operas like Parsifal at Bayreuth. He enjoyed the instrumental parts but didn’t like the singing, as he recounts in a humorous way. He called it "the wailing, screeching of third-rate obscurities, palmed off on us in the interest of economy".

Twain describes how he and his friend, Joe Twichell, tried to learn how to ride a bicycle in May of 1884. The bicycle was a new invention, and it proved to be more difficult than riding a horse. According to Twain, it was a painful and short-lived experience.

This 1899 essay describes Mark Twain's method of teaching historical dates to his children. It was first published posthumously in Harper's Monthly Magazine in December 1914.

Harold Everett Porter (1887-1936) was a writer of plays, verse, novels, and short stories. This story of the game of golf is about two rivals who compete for a woman’s hand. In the end, they both lose her to the referee.

This is the humorous story of the royal huntress Josefa. When a lion was about to attack her, a knight intervened, to her chagrin, as she wanted to shoot it. The knight then claimed that the lion was his pet and that he tried to protect it, and Josefa played along but as it turns out, never believed it.

Mark Twain wrote this witty satire in response to a request by editors of the New York World to contribute a humorous essay describing his first lie. He used the opportunity for discussion on the nature of lying, including "the lie of silent assertion". He pointed out the difference between a spoken lie and any other, as well as the fact that we readily condemn a lie by an individual but rarely challenge the false assumptions on which entire nations and institutions base their existence.

Mathematics meets comedy in this collection of 10 stories by Lewis Carroll. When listening to the audiobook, you won’t be able to help yourself from wishing Carroll was your childhood math teacher. One way to disarm the intimidating tasks of solving a mathematical problem, is with a sincere smile on our faces.