Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Andrews McMeel Publishing (1989), Edition: Original ed., 192 pages
Description
The curious cosmology of "The Far Side" has taken the otherwise normal world by storm. Now insatiable fans of "The Far Side" have a new collectible: The Far Side Gallery 3, featuring all the cartoons from the bestselling collections Night of the Crash-Test Dummies, The Far Side Observer, and Hound of The Far Side.
User reviews
LibraryThing member StormRaven
The Far Side Gallery 3 is, as one might expect, the third omnibus collection of Gary Larson's very funny but always off-kilter comic strip The Far Side featuring the usual cast of cows, cavemen, nerds, insects and other strange denizens of Larson's twisted imagination. The single panel comics that
Though depreciating his own talents at humorous writing, Gould dissects why Larson is so popular among scientists, noting that by Gould's estimation 80% of the doors of his colleagues are decorated with a Far Side strip or two. Gould's introduction examines why this is the case, as he says, it isn't just the chuckles. And the fact that, as Gould notes, Larson has such a keep eye for reality and the weirdness that is just a hair away from reality that makes his strips so enduring. The idea of a cow in a hamster ball rolling about the house is funny because it is silly, but so is the idea of putting a hamster in a ball and setting him loose about the house. we just don't think about the silliness of the hamster in a ball until Larson makes us. Over and over again, Larson takes the mundane, rotates it slightly and gives us flies examining their garbage filled baby nursery or birds getting excited over cocktails served with skewered bugs or cavemen playing rock paper scissors before paper and scissors were invented. Almost every strip is funny, some wll make you laugh out loud.
(As an aside, I only found one comic in this book to be not very funny. It is on page 181, and involves a brother playing a prank on his sister. There's nothing offensive about the strip, in fact it is just so boringly mundane that it seems like it should be filler in Family Circus rather than something in The Far Side).
The comics in this collection are from Larson's prime as a cartoonist, and it shows. The comisc are almost all at least funny, and over and over again a strip will hit just the right comic note to make it hilarious. If you like The Far Side and its strange humor as I do, then this book is a must read.
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make up the bulk of the book are the usual collection of weird but funny windows into a strange alternate reality where lions open car doors with coat-hangers to get at tourists and praying mantises argue over who ate whose husband. As usual for his collections, Larson recruited someone interesting to write the introduction to the book, in this case the noted scientist (and cocreator of the theory of punctuated equilibrium) Stephen Jay Gould who merely introduces himself as apaleontologist and taxonomist who studies snails.Though depreciating his own talents at humorous writing, Gould dissects why Larson is so popular among scientists, noting that by Gould's estimation 80% of the doors of his colleagues are decorated with a Far Side strip or two. Gould's introduction examines why this is the case, as he says, it isn't just the chuckles. And the fact that, as Gould notes, Larson has such a keep eye for reality and the weirdness that is just a hair away from reality that makes his strips so enduring. The idea of a cow in a hamster ball rolling about the house is funny because it is silly, but so is the idea of putting a hamster in a ball and setting him loose about the house. we just don't think about the silliness of the hamster in a ball until Larson makes us. Over and over again, Larson takes the mundane, rotates it slightly and gives us flies examining their garbage filled baby nursery or birds getting excited over cocktails served with skewered bugs or cavemen playing rock paper scissors before paper and scissors were invented. Almost every strip is funny, some wll make you laugh out loud.
(As an aside, I only found one comic in this book to be not very funny. It is on page 181, and involves a brother playing a prank on his sister. There's nothing offensive about the strip, in fact it is just so boringly mundane that it seems like it should be filler in Family Circus rather than something in The Far Side).
The comics in this collection are from Larson's prime as a cartoonist, and it shows. The comisc are almost all at least funny, and over and over again a strip will hit just the right comic note to make it hilarious. If you like The Far Side and its strange humor as I do, then this book is a must read.
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LibraryThing member MrsLee
Some of our best science discussions in our home school are inspired by these works of Gary Larson. I also have his Unnatural Selections book.
LibraryThing member benuathanasia
As always, Gary Larson delivers. The Far Side Gallery is funny, provocative, and insightful, like all of Larson's books. Unfortunately, as with most comics strips, it's either all or nothing, love it or hate it. If you like Larson, then you are guaranteed to love this book. If you don't care for
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Larson...why are you here? Show Less
LibraryThing member iayork
Had a good laugh reading the book: Last year, I received the book as a gift from my husband. I put it aside for almost a year. He actually finished reading it before I even gave it a chance. Last month, I started reading it and I don't regret the experience.
This book made me laugh when I needed a
This book made me laugh when I needed a
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good laugh. It's a recommended reading for everyone who appreciates good humor. Show Less
LibraryThing member AmberTheHuman
Another used book store visit, another Far Side book purchased, and now, read. I had to head to the Iliad, the used book shop in North Hollywood, to pick up a children's book to donate in lieu of a birthday present. While there, I happened to pick up this book, and the Get Fuzz book Take Our Cat,
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Please. I of course enjoyed - and I think this may have been the Far Side book I was reading when I visited Calistoga with my parents about 14 years ago ... memories. Show Less
LibraryThing member Brightman
So simple, so laughable
LibraryThing member BenKline
Another hilarious and fantastic collection of Far Side cartoons. There's a lot of the classics in this one (like the school of the gifted gag with the kid pushing instead of pulling, etc.)
Unfortunately a whole page was ripped in half. Gotta love library books.
Unfortunately a whole page was ripped in half. Gotta love library books.
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1988
Physical description
10.7 inches
ISBN
0836218310 / 9780836218312
UPC
050837121157