The clear and precise style of an accessible sociologist.

Continuing his anthropology of the human body, David Le Breton tackles the laughter that overcomes us, often at our expense. He shows that laughter has a perfectly valid place in human history and our own stories, and that such moments provide a necessary time-out from our daily lives. It is "through laughter that the world becomes a place for play once more, a sacred keep, and not a place of work," writes poet Octavio Paz –which is exactly what David Le Breton shows us in this book.