Steve Martin

How does a train stay on the tracks? What's going on inside a pogo stick? How do cranes work? And what happens when you flush a toilet? These and many more important questions are answered in this fascinating book. From toasters and telephones to hovercrafts and robots - the inner workings of machines big and small are brought to light using a stunning mix of cross-sections, close-ups and cutaways.

"'I've always looked upon cartooning as comedy's last frontier. I have done stand-up, sketches, movies, monologues, awards show introductions, sound bites, blurbs, talk show appearances, and tweets, but the idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me. I felt like, yeah, sometimes I'm funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny. You can understand that I was deeply suspicious of these people who are actually...

A wacky brain surgeon mourns for his wife and then falls for a beauty who hides a heart of stone. The situation is hopeless until his oddball research offers a ray of hope.

With the help of Jiff Ramsey, brother to Hollywood's biggest star, Hollywood's least successful director stops at nothing to get him into his latest low-budget film.

Ray Porter is a buttoned-down 50-something executive who reaches out to a much younger woman as his Los Angeles playmate. Mirabelle, a 20-something with a pile of promises, debt, and depression, fades away in a slow corner of Saks, while trying to sell unneeded formal gloves. She's a wisp of a person, with a cat who doesn't love her, and when she finds a suitor, it's Jeremy, a scruffy artist who babbles on about speakers. When the gentlemanly Porter...

C.D. Bales, an engaging small town fire chief, has only one tiny flaw -- his astonishingly long nose. The hilarity never stops as he contends with nose jokes, bumbling firemen, and his secrest love for a gorgeous astronomy student, Roxanne, who is attracted to another man.

The banjo has been an emblem of American culture for centuries, yet few realize the instrument's complicated, checkered past. Narrated by Steve Martin and featuring such banjo masters as Pete Seeger, Earl Scruggs and Bela Fleck, goes beyond the stereotypes and delves into the musical odyssey of the banjo, from its African roots to the present day.

Larry and Warren try to eke out a successful social life in the Big Apple.

Sgt. Ernie Bilko is the leader of a ragtag group of the sorriest soldiers ever to enlist in the armed forces. Instead of training his troops for battle, he passes on his legacy of gambling and shunning responsibility. Times get tough however, when the base is threatened with a shutdown, and a by-the-book adversary, Major Thorn, is intent on taking Bilko's reputation down with it. Now, all bets are on Bilko to drum up his biggest scheme yet to save...