Falls Church-based author Dr. J. T. Dock Houk released a new book, Life’s a Joke, on January 4. It is being published by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.

The book, a collection of jokes, autobiography and personal philosophy, compiles four books – It’s All About Me, My Life with a Girl, Kids and Pets and Life Around Us – recounting 1,162 jokes, funny anecdotes, and descriptions of Sunday morning comics, clippings of which Dock has been collecting for several decades.

“What I mean to convey by saying ‘life is a joke’ is that humor has helped me over some of the rough spots by showing me a side of life that either explains what I am feeling, or gives me a glimpse of something I also see,” Houk said in a press release about the book. “Humor, whose visual expression is often a joke, makes me smile or even laugh out loud. And sometimes, if you don’t laugh, you might cry.”