Inside Jokes

Praise

[O]ne of the most complex and sophisticated humor theories ever presented . . . The authors should be lauded for their thought-provoking and original work. 
—Evolutionary Psychology

The theory [the authors] elaborate is a detailed and sophisticated descendant of incongruity theories . . . The learned and even-handed stance adopted by [them] regarding problem cases is… upbeat: they regard their theory as a provisional staging post, and a prompt to further empirical enquiry into these open-ended issues. On balance, that is probably the right attitude to take.
—The Times Literary Supplement

Inside Jokes is the most persuasive theory of humor in the centuries that scientists have been trying to explain why we crack up. Extra bonus: unlike most such research, which is about as funny as a root canal, Hurley’s analysis is—and I don’t think I’m going out on too much of a limb here—the funniest thing the MIT Press… has ever published (in a good way).
—Sharon Begley, The Daily Beast

Science advances by asking new questions, and Matthew Hurley, Daniel Dennett, and Reginald Adams raise a lot of them . . . Some of these questions have been asked before, but no previous attempt succeeds in answering so many so well.
—Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Science