Weber Reads: Laughing in the Library
"A DAY WITHOUT LAUGHTER IS A DAY WASTED." ―CHARLIE CHAPLIN
The Weber Reads program was developed in 2008 with the goal of providing opportunities for community-wide reading, reflecting, and engagement in meaningful dialogue. Each year, texts or topics are selected that help illuminate experiences and beliefs while transcending group values to unite us as human beings. The American Library Association has three times chosen Weber Reads to receive its Community Reading Program “Best of Show” award.
Weber Reads is now in its 16th year. Sponsored jointly by the Weber County Commission and the Weber County Library System, Weber Reads encourages discovery, reflection, and engagement in meaningful dialogue around a yearly topic as we read books; listen to presentations; watch films; and, most importantly, talk and learn from one another.
Our 2022 theme, Laughing in the Library, explores the topic of humor. We invite you to consider with us the very nature of humor: what, exactly, is “funny”? What is the science behind laughter and our bodies’ response to it? It is commonly known that as a stress reliever, laughter gets top marks. It stimulates our hearts, lungs, and muscles, and soothes tension. Humor helps us cope with difficult situations and brings us together.
From political cartoons and Shakespearean comedy to jokes and riddles, humor is a gargantuan topic.Newer cultural phenomena, such as memes and dad jokes, join old-as-the-hills humor, such as puns, farce, slapstick, and clowning. Gelotology is the study of humor and laughter and their physical and psychological effects, including the production of natural painkillers. Humor can build bridges in a powerful way. Victor Borge said, “Laughter is the closest distance between two people.” Humor can also be hurtful and drive people apart if deployed at another’s expense.
We hope you will join us as we delve into this intriguing topic through Library events, classes, book discussions, and film screenings for all ages.
