My purpose in writing this book is to provide some amusement and insight regarding the American political process, especially in a presidential year. Because American politics is often characterized by insincere and foolish talk, journalist H.L. Mencken once termed it a "carnival of bunkum," and 2016 proved to be no exception.
If fact, this year the politicians went overboard when it comes to claptrap because it was also a year of grotesque, repellant sideshows, and I believe that the limerick is the perfect vehicle of satire for this kind of behavior. My limericks are not politically correct, but there is nothing in them that is racist, sexist, or homophobic. They were written in chronological order, starting in mid-December 2015 and ending in mid-November 2016. And I thought the number 538 was appropriate because that's the number of electoral votes.
My purpose in writing this book is to provide some amusement and insight regarding the American political process, especially in a presidential year. Because American politics is often characterized by insincere and foolish talk, journalist H.L. Mencken once termed it a "carnival of bunkum," and 2016 proved to be no exception.
If fact, this year the politicians went overboard when it comes to claptrap because it was also a year of grotesque, repellant sideshows, and I believe that the limerick is the perfect vehicle of satire for this kind of behavior. My limericks are not politically correct, but there is nothing in them that is racist, sexist, or homophobic. They were written in chronological order, starting in mid-December 2015 and ending in mid-November 2016. And I thought the number 538 was appropriate because that's the number of electoral votes.
Dr. Ron Larson is a professor of mathematics at The Pennsylvania State University, where he has taught since 1970. He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Colorado and is considered the pioneer of using multimedia to enhance the learning of mathematics, having authored over 30 software titles since 1990. Dr. Larson conducts numerous seminars and in-service workshops for math educators around the country about using computer technology as an instructional tool and motivational aid. He is the recipient of the 2013 Text and Academic Authors Association Award for CALCULUS, the 2012 William Holmes McGuffey Longevity Award for CALCULUS: AN APPLIED APPROACH, the 2011 William Holmes McGuffey Longevity Award for PRECALCULUS: REAL MATHEMATICS, REAL PEOPLE, and the 1996 Text and Academic Authors Association TEXTY Award for INTERACTIVE CALCULUS (a complete text on CD-ROM that was the first mainstream college textbook to be offered on the Internet). Dr. Larson authors numerous textbooks including the best-selling Calculus series published by Cengage Learning.
