Did you know that da Vinci sketched the prototype for the iPod? Or that before settling on cookies, Chinese restaurants experimented with putting fortunes in broccoli? Learn more about life in Brevity.

Authors Guy Endore-Kaiser and Rodd Perry combine their satirical tendencies with a minimalist illustration style to create Brevity, a single-panel comic that Shakespeare himself declares "the soul of wit." This Brevity treasury features cartoons from the Brevity and Brevity 2 book collections. No sporks, spheres, penguins, or superheroes were injured in the creation of this treasury.

Brevity dares to ponder such thoughtful perplexities as the difference in fulfillment between hot-air and cold-air balloon rides, the inherent dilemmas involved in eating Chinese alphabet soup, and the pros and cons of playing the violin or the fiddle.

Rodd was born in Melbourne, Australia, and moved to West Chester, Penn., at the age of ten. After graduating from Ithaca College, he drove to Los Angeles, where he lives today with his wife, Maura, and three young sons.