Contents: Introduction 11 Chapter One: Planet earth closes down: The party animal's guide to social distancing 15 Party animals 18 Chapter Two: Self-referential humour and I 24 Oxymorons 30 Malapropisms 34 Spoonerisms 43 Chapter Three: Good god no! My unbiblical chord was cut off in my prime 61 Historical context 64 Three nineteenth century intellectuals 68 Modern times and the new atheists 74 Writers, scientists, comedians and others 84 Bertrand Russell's celestial teapot 103 A thought experiment 105 Fear of death 108 Chapter Four: The divine comedian - how the fission chips got inside the farcical accelerator 111 Working idioms and phrases 112 Serious punishment: Puns and wordplay 117 Reversal 129 Change of perception 136 Set pieces 144 Dark humour 160 Chapter Five: Psychology - it gets inside your head 169 Lesson one: People are rubbish at logic and lazy too 171 Lesson two: Punishment, reward and reversion to the mean 179 Lesson three: Motivation. Why bother? 183 Lesson four: Bouncebackability 185 Lesson five: Buckets of water, addiction to words and issues with projection 189 Chapter Six: Battle of the sexes 194 Sexism 195 Differences between men and women 197 Evolutionary psychology 202 The progression of the male-female relationship 211 Chapter Seven: Contemplation in the fast lane 232 The three C's: Cause, choice and chance 236 Mad, bad and sad 240 Boundary issues 242 Scope for horror 246 Meme sequencing 249 Another brick in the wall 252 Paradox resolved 281 Chapter Eight: About doubt - the black swan's guide to risk management 292 About doubt: The psychology of risk 296 Skill is the elimination of luck 302 Black swans 304 Chapter Nine: The fine art of the insult: Roasts, sledges and bumper stickers 307 Insults 307 Sledging in cricket 322 Bumper stickers 326
