This is a great book with which to teach science. It gets and keeps the attention of teenagers who have the attention span of a gnat. Each chapter is a great overview and summation of a unit that I teach at some time during the year.

Kids will tend to ignore this book because it is too serious for a comic book and they will believe it is a klutzy attempt by adults to sneak up on kids with something educational. They are mistaken. Adults may, with a glance, dismiss this book as being for kids. They should know better. It is a systematic approach using pictures and limited captions to explain the basics of environmental science. It also uses Gonick's humor, sometimes-- ahem-- mature humor, and charming cartoonery.

Not as good perhaps as some of Gonick's other works-- due to limitations posed by a difficult topic for him to do-- it is still pure Gonick and worth the money and worth keeping (or giving to a kid or adult).

Covers from logic (gate) design up through floating point and (Shannon) communication theory with flair for humor && information. Best used as a light read OR semester course introducing computing for ages 4 & up.

Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe, all 13 volumes of it so far, encapsulates all the best juicy details of history and presents it in a way that you can't help but want to read it. I've read both books over and over again, and not only am I constantly finding new details and being entertained, I'm learning more than I ever did in my public high school history classes. Hilarious, witty, and informative. You will not regret buying this book, unless you regularly regale in the bliss of Jenny Jones twice a day, right after Judge Judy.

This is one of those books that you have to tell people to buy, because if you loan it to someone, chances are you'll never see it again.

As a historian who bemoans the lack of interest shown by most kids today in the subject, I applaud Larry Gonick for giving us another tool to use in trying to spark enthusiasm. The humor is great, and in some places almost bawdy, which keeps a teenager's attention far better than a list of emperors in a textbook. Example: Julius Ceasar tries to ask an intellectual question of Cleaopatra. She responds as she leans over him seductively, "You sure talk a lot for a guy with your reputation." All the scandal and sex and violence of history (and the religions that have driven it) are here, not hidden as they are in most texts. All the excitement of pop culture, but with substance behind it, not to mention an excellent bibliography. This series is the only set of books that I have known students to actually read from cover to cover without expecting a test. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in history, or anyone with a sense of humor.

I didn't think that the first history of the universe could be beat, but he did it. By keeping the view worldwide, and multicultural, he makes the learning experience maximal. However, I did find the injection of personal views on things somewhat annoying, although that only happens 2 or three times in the entire book, and perhaps I am a little bit sensitive to such issues in a book like this. Excellent! I would say that even if you took the history of civilizations about 60% or more of this would be new to you, and is presented in a fascinating format. Can't wait for the next one...

If Larry Gonick had written the ancient history books, chances are we would all be staying awake during world history class. This book is not only funny, but informative as well. Both trivial and essential topics are addressed and explained in wonderful cartoon detail. If this book doesn't get you excited about ancient history, then my friend give up hope, because if this doesn't nothing will. Gonick takes us from the beginning of time to Alexander the great, and it's a fun and memorable ride the whole way. OH, but don't be discouraged by it's large size. Chances are you'll finish it in a day or two AT THE MOST!! It's so entertaining, you'll take it with you to the carpool and read it while you 'work'. This book will double you IQ, I gurantee it. And you'll becoming back to it no mattter how many times you reread it. I can not recommend this book enough, if I could change the history text book ciriculum to include this I would. But I can't so you'll just have to settle for the next best thing.

Want to read about history without reading about history? Buy this book! Not only does is serve up science in a way to keep you awake but it slices up history into easy to swallow portions too. If you find chapters or subjects that pique your interest beyond that provided by the witty cartoon panels, the book has the most extensive bibliography (with reviews!) you could ask for. I bought my copy many years ago and it drove me to reread all those Greek Classics that I slept through while I was in school! It is apparent that portions of the Ancient Greece section was drawn earlier when Mr. Gonick was developing his style. His wit is trenchant in all the chapters in a way to make the reader think. Summary: I wish I had this book when I was in school...

Cartoon History presents a large amount of information at a rapid clip and keeps you laughing the whole time. Topics that may have seemed boring in history class (or weren't addressed at all) will suddenly spark the imagination and leave you wanting to read more. Thick history presented in the exact opposite of dry textbook style, all high school and college students should own a copy of this book! (Gonick doesn't pull punches about the graphic violence and bizarre sexuality of our history, so parents should exercise discretion about handing this book to younger students.) Gonick also shows intriguing perspectives that you won't get in the average, mainstream textbook market; and he especially gives women a voice they normally do not have. Hopping all over the globe for more than white man's western civ, this book and its sequel open up history in a startling and energized way. I highly recommend keeping a copy on your reference shelf.

This piece of junk found its way to my garbage can not long after buying it. I've had great success with the "For Dummies" series in acquiring computer application knowledge, so figured that this book could replicate that success in a scientific field. That was not the case.

Cartoon-based, this book is more properly called cartoonish. It explains genetics poorly, if at all, and makes over-generalizations, too simplistic analogies, and dull, plodding stabs at bringing this interesting field to light. Definitely a pass for any serious reader, dilettante, or the idly curious.

I'm no science genius and college zoology left me still in the dark regarding DNA. I bought this book because one reviewer said that his colleague was using it for a genetics course and I knew a student who needed some help with genetics. I read the book myself, and then spoke with the student. This book would be great for someone in Introductory Biology but for someone in a genetics course it's simply not advanced enough. But the book did help me understand DNA for the first time. It also showed me that a good instructor can make the whole field understandable and interesting unlike my college zoology professor who only made it intimidating and boring. Now if the genetics instructor I'm thinking of would read this maybe she'd figure out how not to bore her class to sleep.

Seriously I loved the historical approach to the field, the cartoons and the jokes were great. This book took the intimidation factor out of biology to a degree. Now I can at least talk intelligently about the subject. High school students could learn a lot from this, and struggling college freshmen might not struggle quite so badly in introductory biology with this at their side.

Larry Gonick and Mark Wheelis have put together a wonderfully entertaining and relatively painless introduction to the field of genetics. Don't let the cartoon based approach fool you...there is good stuff in this book.

If you have had a tough time with the basics of genetics, then this book is probably for you. When I was an undergraduate student I stumbled through my genetics course, but it wasn't until I saw this book that many of the fundamental concepts made sense to me.

This book IS fun...but be careful, you might actually learn something as you thumb through it or read it. The book contains information on the basics of genetic theory, the people behind the theory, Mendelian genetics, and molecular genetics (e.g., what DNA is, how it copies itself, and how the information it carries codes for protein synthesis).

I actually have a colleague who has used this book to supplement the main text he uses in his genetics course.

Definitely a five star effort!

Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN

I was delighted when some time ago I received two volumes of Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe as a present from a friend. It is absolutely hilarious! Being a physicist, I considered it a must to add Cartoon Guide to Physics to my Larry Gonick collection.

However, I was disappointed. The guide indeed tries to cover a significant amount of the usual high-school physics course - mechanics, electricity and magnetism (missing are thermodynamics and optics) - but it is not really as charmingly funny as the Cartoon History of the Universe. As a physicist, I can assure you that the problem does not lie in the simple fact that the history is more interesting topic than physics - physics is plenty interesting, thank you! But the desired blend between the textbook and the cartoon resulted in something that is not educational enough to actually learn something from it and too boring to make a good cartoon.

Trying to find some bright spot, I am happy to report I have not discovered any major flops in the science part of the book. Also, I believe the book actually becomes somewhat more interesting toward the end. But then again, if I would have to choose between, say, the chapter on relativity and Joseph Schwartz's Einstein for Beginners, I would probably opt for the latter.

This is my third Cartoon Guide, and was purchased after CG to Stats and CG to Genetics. I'm convinced now that I'll just have to buy every single one of Gonicks's guides.

Whenever possible, I have avoided physics classes--they scare me--which is difficult to do. But knowing this, I became obsessed with facing my fear and picked up this book (and a few others). I wasn't disappointed. Although it wasn't as easy to follow his other two books (perhaps because I'm more familiar with the subject of the other two books), it made physics more interesting, and less scary. I was able to reread sections and then cross reference them with a 'real' physics text until I got the point.

I'm still no physicist, and I never will be. But I've got a basic grasp now that I didn't have before, and can understand the simple physics of the world around me. However, the biggest kudo I can give to this book is this: I've enrolled in a physics course at the local university--a course I don't *have* to take but want to take. It's something I never would have done without this book easing my fears and taking the mystery out of the subject.

Bravo Gonick! Where's the Cartoon Guide to the Quantum Theory?! We're waiting....

The primary hurdle to overcome in learning the basics of physics is believing that it is indeed possible for you to learn them. Motion, electricity, magnetism, light and even relativity are all based on fundamental ideas that are well within the grasp of most people. Your reach and the strength of your grip will both be amplified by the contents of this book. Using simple diagrams and plain language, you are walked through a basic physics course, from the concept of linear motion to the most "bizarre" consequences of relativity.
Gonick it truly one of a kind when it comes to the explanation of complex phenomena using drawings and cartoon-like dialog. It is one of the rare literary creations, a book that educates in science that is also fun to read. There are no sharp edges of difficulty, it is much like one of those disciplinary paddles with a pillow on the end.

Gonick is a highly trained mathematician who more or less left academe to become a cartoonist, and has won several awards in that endeavor. He's also a very fair general historian, especially in the way of multi-everything synthesis. This volume comprises volumes 14-19 in the series (as they were originally published), covering the back-story to and rise of Islam, the post-Roman history of Africa, the further development of China and India, and all the complexity of events taking place in Central Asia. Oh, yeah -- Europe, too! Actually, most of us with professional historian's training are still apt to think in European and North American terms, for which Gonick's work is a great antidote. He also puts paid to any notion of Islam being a "peaceful" religion -- no more than Christianity, certainly -- and readers with a knowledge of Jewish history also will be nodding at his witty but pointed renderings. And how many comic books have you read that include an index and an annotated bibliography?

I don't know why there was such a long gap between volumes II and III of Gonick's opus, but the research clearly paid off. Mr. Gonick covers parts of history that many of us with Western educations are less than familiar with: the Arab world (timely!), the African empires of Ethiopia and Ghana, and the central asian mongol and turk conquerors.

You'll find the birth of Islam here, as well as the ongoing cultural competition between Buddhism and Hinduism. All supported by a wonderful bibliography, and Gonick's trademark humour, behind which lurks the melancholy and, dare I say it, cynicism that a serious study of history necessarily engenders. The book is dedicated to all skeptics, everywhere, and this is an essential part of any skeptic's library. Don't focus on the cartoon aspect: this is history, alive and vivid, and worth reading today.

I can honestly say as a History Teacher that this is a grand book !! Especially about the "Roman" Byzantine Empire, I see that Mr. Gonick pulled no punches and that it really helped in making the book ring true. Well Done ! And let us hope that the next book comes soon to the book stalls !

As a statistician and instructor I commonly teach statistical methods to non-statisticians. After giving a 20 lecture course at a medical device company, it was suggested to me that I try to teach it like Gonick... Many of the cartoons are instuctive and can be useful in lectures that deal with the topics described but no course should be based solely on this book! The cartoons are also very useful to liven up statistical lectures. See my later review for an example of how I used the cartoons on p-values.

This text does touch on many new and important topics and covers them in a reasonably accurate and light way. It is really very good at livening up statistical lectures or to supplement course materials. This is particularly helpful for those who are afraid of mathematics and/or statistics.

Statistics is a very difficult subject both to learn and teach. I wish I'd discovered this book after I'd been through the first formal class--except it wasn't written then. :) Well anyway, the CGtS is a useful book and I've recommended it to many people, all of whom got a fair amount of mileage from it. You certainly need further references, but the examples are lucid and the silly cartoons help keep people from getting too overwhelmed by seriousness. I also like the fact that the authors go through some of the history of statistics, as the subject is much more comprehensible if you know why people did what they did.

Someone mentioned getting SPSS--this is, IMO, a terrible way to learn the topic. Packages should come AFTER understanding, not the other way around. If you want a computer program to help out, use a spreadsheet.

This book was included in the materials for a business statistics class at Anderson. Bogged down by the reading from the course book and study guide, I didn't even open the cartoon guide for weeks, thinking it was probably too dumbed down to be helpful. Was I ever wrong. Concepts that were very difficult to understand in the course book were elucidated by the excellent examples and explanations in this guide. Made reviewing general concepts for the final exam much easier as well.

This book won't help you much in the practical application of statistics (for that you need problem sets), but will certainly aid in understanding the general ideas behind the math.

Outdated investing information is worse than no information at all. Don't take any 'data' in this book at face value.
I was really disappointed in the small number of small investments in the book.
I have a more 'holistic' investment perspective, but I know of a lot more small investments;
Pay off high interest debt!!
A shopping warehouse membership.
A freezer.
A 'cushion' in the checking account to keep any checks from bouncing. It can also reduce the fees for a double dividend!

Regular maintenance of vehicles and major appliances.
Energy efficient lights.
Water heater blanket.
Pre-pay phone cards.
Continuing education classes.
A consultaion with a Certified Financial Planner.

Short, concise but detailed, is a good overview of the first investment steps.

The perfect investment advisor for every beginner in the stock exchange - and not only. Find out about on-line trading, maximize your 401(k) investments, save for college, explore funds and bonds and investment clubs.

Good book to have, needs updating regularly.

By Thei Zervaki
author of Globalize, Localize, Translate

New research in Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth points out that people who are wealthy from investments in their 50s usually started by making individual investments of just a few hundred dollars. Ms. Dunnan's book is the first I have seen to frankly and thoroughly discuss how to acquire and apply those first increments for investing.

Before waxing too poetic about this book (which is well written and conceptually very sound), I must point out a major flaw (the source of a 4 star rather than a 5 star rating). The book was poorly revised in this edition, and is filled with errors and questionable suggestions. I will list but a few. The National Association of Investors Corporation is listed as the National Association of Investment Clubs in all but one place (which it has not been for more than 10 years). You are encouraged to get stock in Brooklyn Union Gas in several places (which was renamed as KeySpan Energy several years ago, and is correctly identified only once by its current name). A safe corporate bond is listed that of Xerox (which now teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, having drawn down a multibillion dollar line of bank credit recently). I could go on, but you get the idea.

Sticking with the concepts (be sure you do your homework on applying the concepts, because you cannot trust the details here about the stock and bond markets in many places), this is a great book. The list of the 10 dumbest mistakes that people make about investing is worth the price of the book alone.

The book is organized first around helping you acquire and safely hold $50. I agree with Ms. Dunnan that a credit union will often be your best bet. Then, she looks at where to put $500 once you have it. This section is pretty good until she gets to suggesting stocks. For most people, a money market account is a good bet until enough is acquired to get into a diversified stock portfolio through a mutual fund. See John Bogle's book, Common Sense About Mutual Funds, when you are ready for that research. The discussion of tax-deferred opportunities is good in the section on your first $1,000. The information about buying government bonds is good in the remainder of the book.

The book could have been improved by putting the on-line URLs into the text, rather than concentrating them in on appendix. I recommend the Incredible Internet Guide to On-line Investing as a better resource to complement this book.

Be sure to pay attention to the many hints and cautions in the book. They are uniformly good advice!

Realizing that you should do all your own homework, I do hope you will buy, read, and apply this book's valuable way of thinking about investing. You will be well on your way to investment success if you do!

Ask yourself where else an organized approach to getting started could make sense. What about exercise or weight control? Then see if you can find a common sense way to begin with appropriate steps that will build into a lifelong patterns of success. For weight control, I suggest you read Sugar Busters! and Good Fat, Bad Fat. Anyone should do better with weight control after understanding the important messages in those two books.

Sex makes people crazy. Some people try to control it by becoming puritans. Others just let themselves go crazy. Besides the psychobabble and the Safe Sex sermons there's not really much to distinguish this comic from hundreds of other sex comics like Cherry or Omaha the Cat Dancer. The only reason why someone would read this would be to read up on Larry GOnick's current work. Sadly Larry Gonick has yet to do another Cartoon History of the Universe which were funny and informative.

Maybe if I hadn't read Cartoon History of the Universe expecting great things from this book, I wouldn't be so disappointed.

Already an acclaimed cartoonist who did the world's thickest comic books on the great history of our universe (in two volumes the size of phone books), Larry Gonick goes on to create a very informative book all about sex - with lots of really funny cartoons thrown in, of course! In fact, this nifty book really covers just about everything you would ever want to (or not) know about - ranging from mating behavior amongst the critters to women's self-defense to all types of contraceptives and how they actually work (or don't work!) Even the most "repugnant" subjects are included here, like gynecological exams and the "fetishes" of breastfeeding. Once again, we are warned here that we need to be careful about the great riskes of unwanted pregnancies and STDS whenever we "make love" (oh, yes! Even the most baffling term, "love" is discussed here!) Serving as illustrations are all those really cute and (sometimes very frank) line drawings so typical of good ol' Dr. Gonick you can even expect to see a funny dinosaur or two! Those cartoons are really bursting with such good-natured humor it would certainly put even the most squirmish reader at ease. Nevertheless, such a wealth of sexual and biological facts (as well as such zany comic art to go with it) seem to be printed on rather flimsy, low-grade paper so typical of any illegal porno pulp. Too bad, but it looks like those newprint-like pages would quickly turn yellow and become quite brittle and dog-eared the moment you brought it home from the bookstore!

Larry Gonick is famous for his cartoon approaches to education, especially his books on history and science topics. In this book he teams up with sex educator Christine DeVault. The combination produces a good introductory text on sexuality that is lots of fun to read.

Narrated by a cartoon Mother Nature and a cartoon fairy called The Etiquette Elf, the book covers reproductive biology, sexual anatomy, developmental biology, gender roles, gender identity, interpersonal communication about sex, romantic love, the sexual act, birth control, health issues, STDs, non-consensual sex, and sexual function problems. All of this is done in delightful cartoons that are clear yet not overly explicit. Although the book is cartoon in format, the information provided is professional at an introductory level. The end of the book contains two pages of further readings, a list of journals devoted to sexuality, and eight resource organizations. An index allows you to find just what you need when you need it.

This is a valuable addition to the library of anyone who is sexually active or has plans to become so. Readers who expect Gonick's humor to dominate this book may be disappointed, but people who are looking for a good introductory sex manual will be overjoyed.