The Cartoon Guide to Physics

List Price: $17.95 Discount Price: $6.46

Customer Reviews:

Finally! [Posted on 2006-11-04]
I was a lousy science major in high school. Looking back, I have no idea why I chose the subject I did anyway. The point is, I never understood half the stuff we were going through. Now, 10 years later, I've forgotten the few things I did understand.

Thanks to the magic of Larry Gonick I get now get it! At first glance it still looks hard. They really dive right in with formulas and stuff, but after a little while it feels natural. I just wish my teacher back then had put this book in my hands. Or maybe I just gave Gonick the chance I never gave my teacher. Either way, this was an enjoyable read!

Definitely not a text-book. Definitely funny! [Posted on 2007-01-05]
Some books make you laugh out loud, and this is one of them.

If you are 'into' physics then you'll probably find it funnier, but I've seen it bring a smile to the face of everyone who flips through it.

I teach an aerodynamics class, and particularly found the book useful in jogging my students' memories regarding their physics fundamentals. However, I'd be really hard pressed to call this text anything more than a fun refresher text. So don't expect exam grade learning from this one.

If it were only as humourous as the Cartoon History series. But then, is it possible to make equations as funny as human behaviour?

Great book for anyone struggling with general physics concepts [Posted on 2007-06-05]
This book was one of our text books in my introductory physics course in college. If you are struggling with general physics, this book is for you. It breaks everything down into easy to understand explanations and the illustrations are very helpful in visualizing the concepts presented. I've been referring back to it for years now. It has also helped me in studying for the MCAT, to review physics concepts that I had forgotten.

A great example of the possibilities for sequential art [Posted on 2007-12-21]
Gornick has done a pretty good job of using sequential art (i.e., comics) to explain difficult abstractions. I purchased this text to help my research about comics and teaching. I was quite satisfied.

Gornick mainly uses the illustrations for 2 purposes: to 'show' various experiments and metaphors, or to toss in a gag every couple pages. It's not a very visionary use of sequential art, but basically it works. The text explanations and visual explanations integrate well, and some of the gags are actually funny.

So, for what it's trying to do, the text is successful, I'd say. I only give it 4 stars out of 5 b/c I think there is so much MORE that comics can do.

A quick introduction or overview [Posted on 2008-07-05]
I really enjoy this brief introduction to most of the important fundamentals of Physics. If you have any physics background (I have an undergraduate degree in physics) you won't find much anything really outstanding or significant but you will probably enjoy reading this highly useful and entertaining presentation. The light-hearted perspective may provide physics-literate readers several new ideas on how to explain fundamental physics to "lay-persons".
For instance, I've provided this text and a couple of others to high schoolers thinking of enrolling in AP Physics. This could provide several students or adults a quick, unthreatening introduction and overview to the major precepts of Physics.
So that's where I recommend this book be used ... as a quick, non-threatening overview for adults or young people who want the quick 50,000-foot view of college or AP Physics presented in an understandable and humorous fashion that they can get through in one or two sittings.
And finally, for the physics-literate it provides several examples of how you might approach explaining some of the tenets of physics to other people who, ... let's say were once or still are frightened away from this subject because of a previous presentation they found much too daunting.

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