"Whether overheard in a crowded restaurant, as punctuation to the intimate conversation of lovers, or as the noisy guffaws on a TV laugh track, laughter is a fundamental part of the texture of everyday life. It is so fundamental, in fact, that we tend to forget how strange - and how important - it is. Yet while laughter is one of the most common human behaviors, it has, until recently, escaped the scientific scrutiny that has dissected every other aspect of our characters." "For the past ten years, however, Dr. Robert Provine, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, has studied this complex and often puzzling phenomenon, and through his research has established himself as the world's leading expert on laughing. In Laughter he presents an erudite, wide-ranging, witty, and long-overdue exploration of a frequently surprising subject."--BOOK JACKET.