<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>This witty and irreverent collection of essays presents Eco's playful but unfailingly accurate takes on everything from militarism, computer jargon, Westerns, librarians and bureaucrats to meals on airplanes, Amtrak trains, bad coffee, express mail, fax machines and pornography. "An uncanny combination of the profound and the profane".--San Francisco Chronicle.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br>In these "impishly witty and ingeniously irreverent" essays (Atlantic Monthly), "the Andy Rooney of academia" (Los Angeles Times) takes on computer jargon, librarians, bureaucrats, meals on airplanes, bad coffee, taxi drivers, 33-function watches, soccer fans, and more. Translated by William Weaver. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book<br>