"Your Caption Has Been Selected: More Than Anyone Could Possibly Want to Know About The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest" is an entertaining and engaging introduction to the New Yorker's famous, perhaps infamous contest. Author, Lawrence Wood, the individual with the most wins and nominations in the history of the contest, provides insight into the contest's history and provides detailed analysis on constructing a winning caption. The book also delves deeply into the contest cultural importance and examines its current and potential future impacts. This book is recommended for anyone who loves New Yorker cartoons and wants to know what makes them tick or just plan wants to learn how to write a better joke.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, St. Martins Press, for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a quite interesting book for anyone who has enjoyed reading the New Yorker and especially it's comics.

Synopsis (From Netgalley, the provider of the book to review)
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A behind-the-scenes look at The New Yorker cartoon caption contest, its history, how it's judged, and the secrets to writing a winning caption

Every week, thousands of people enter The New Yorker cartoon caption contest in hopes of seeing their name and caption in print. But only one person has made it to the finalists’ round an astounding fifteen times and won eight contests: Lawrence Wood, also known as the Ken Jennings of caption writing.

What's Wood's secret? What makes a caption good or bad? How do you beat the crowd? And most important, what makes a caption funny?

Packed with 175 of the magazine's best cartoons and featuring a foreword by Bob Mankoff, former cartoon editor of The New Yorker and creator of the caption contest, Your Caption Has Been Selected takes you behind the scenes to learn about the contest’s history, the way it’s judged, and what it has to say about humour, creativity, and good writing. Lawrence reveals his own captioning process and shows readers how to generate the perfect string of words to get a laugh. Informative, funny, and just a little vulgar, this book is perfect for fans of the contest, readers interested in how humour works, and anyone who dreams of the day they receive an e-mail stating, "Your caption has been selected."

I love thinking up captions every week for the cartoons in the New Yorker – but I never seem to be as witty and as wise as the ones who win…and some of the captions that win baffle me as I don’t find them all that funny ... but that is me. A great book for lovers of the contest and those who have a sense of humour and who are looking for a wonderfully different read.

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