William Rossa Cole (1919-2000) was best known as an editor and anthologist. He was editor or author (or co-editor or co-author) of about 75 books, 50 of them anthologies. Three of his books were honored by the ALA: I Went to the Animal Fair in 1958, Beastly Boys and Ghastly Girls in 1964, and The Birds and Beast Were There in 1965. He was an editor for Simon & Schuster and Viking, and a columnist for the Saturday Review. He died in summer 2000, at the age of 80.
About a quarter of the book was actually funny or enjoyable; the rest was either weird, sexist, or otherwise uncomfortable. It gets an extra star for the artwork.
A delightfully funny book, even if the title is misleading - "Without Laughing"? It would be difficult not to laugh at some of the entries! From Charlotte Bronte's "He flourished his tool" through to Andy Warhol's "Sex is the biggest nothing of all time", the book is entertaining and set out under various relevant sections. An ideal browser between more serious works.