Book: All in Fun

Overview
Arnold H. Glasow’s All in Fun (1970) is a compact treasury of one- and two-sentence observations, epigrams, and miniature jokes that distill everyday experience into bright, usable insight. Rather than a narrative or a single argumentative thread, the book offers a mosaic of quick takes on human nature, work, family, and the minor absurdities that tie them together. Its purpose is as practical as it is playful: to give readers something to smile at and something to remember the next time a meeting runs long, a plan goes sideways, or home life turns chaotic. The title signals the posture, good-natured, never cruel, while the contents reveal a craftsman of brevity who knew how to land a point with a clean turn of phrase.

Structure and Themes
The pieces are loosely grouped by topic, inviting browsing rather than cover-to-cover consumption. Glasow roams through the office and the living room, the sales call and the school play, aging and ambition, health, habits, and the hazards of bright ideas pursued without common sense. Work and leadership form a prominent thread: he needles puffed-up experts, celebrates preparation and follow-through, and treats meetings, committees, and reports as fertile ground for farce. Domestic life gets equally affectionate scrutiny, from the comic misfires of parenting to the mismatched expectations that enliven marriage. He is alert to social fashions and fads, but his focus stays on attitudes, optimism, patience, humility, perseverance, rather than on news-of-the-day controversies.

Style and Technique
Glasow writes in a style that feels Midwestern and plainspoken, with a salesman’s timing and an editor’s economy. The typical entry offers a setup and a quick twist, often built on contrast, reversal, or a sly definition that exposes a familiar contradiction. He likes to compress cause and effect into a single sentence, making the payoff feel inevitable. The humor is gentle but pointed, informed by long observation of people under ordinary pressures: the boss in a hurry, the driver in traffic, the parent on a deadline. Morale and motivation are recurring subtexts; the jokes often smuggle in practical counsel about getting started, staying curious, and owning mistakes.

Notable Motifs
Procrastination, efficiency, and the perils of overcomplication come up frequently, as do the fragile currencies of trust and reputation. Glasow delights in the gap between self-image and behavior: the colleague who calls it multitasking when it is really avoidance, the leader who demands initiative while punishing experiments that fail, the neighbor who wants quiet while practicing the trumpet. Teenagers, experts, and committees serve as comic foils, though the punchlines usually land back on the reader with an invitation to self-awareness. Money and success are treated as outcomes of habits rather than luck, with repeated nudges toward diligence, clarity, and persistence.

Tone and Audience
The tone is warm, steady, and unfussy, avoiding cynicism even when targeting folly. It reads equally well as a bedside dip-in and as a sourcebook for speechwriters, managers, and newsletter editors looking for crisp lines that make a room nod and grin. Because the humor is rooted in perennial situations, the book has an evergreen feel; the office machinery may change, but the human tendencies do not.

Legacy
All in Fun reflects the larger arc of Glasow’s career, in which pithy sayings circulated widely in magazines, corporate bulletins, and clipping files. The 1970 publication captures a moment when American business culture was hungry for light, portable wisdom, and it still satisfies on that score. What remains most distinctive is its combination of brevity and benevolence: jokes that spare the person while pricking the pretension, and advice disguised as laughter that can be remembered at the right moment and put to work.