I've just read "Three Men In A Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome. I wasn't expecting so much fun. It is a totally entertaining book. The jokes hit you suddenly, even though they develop gently and clearly in time. You know he is going to make a joke, but eventually you laugh like a child. Some common sense wisdom is strewn between the funny fragments. Maybe it is not a highly philosophical book but it certainly suggests a healthy philosophy of life. Nature is also described in an inspired manner. Over all it delighted me and I'm sure it has done so and it will continue to do so to many other people. I also listened to it using the recordings made by librivox . The most important idea I took from the book is that in any voyage, including the voyage through life, you have to take with you only things, people, ideas you cannot live without.