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Title: Cartoon Guide to Genetics by Larry Gonick ISBN: 0-06-273099-1 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 14 August, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.54 (26 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Demystifies DNA
Comment: 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.
Rating: 5
Summary: Historical tour through genetics in a comic book
Comment: The cartoon guide to genetics is like a comic book through the history of genetics starting with ancient times and going through modern genetic engineering. The chronological arrangement of information is informative and interesting. In the age of the sequenced human genome it is often hard to think of what science was like without information that is now taken for granted. The scientists that paved the way for modern genetics -Mendel, Beadle, Griffith, Chargaff and many more and their landmark experiments are all given a moment in the spotlight. Even some incorrect theories are introduced including the reasoning behind them at the time. The section on Mendel's famous pea plant experiments is especially well done. There are several pages of Punnett squares (though the author doesn't really use that word) and drawings of what causes the different ratios. This concept is often hard for students to understand, but it is explained well and simply here.
This book does not assume that the reader has any scientific background and everything is explained from the basics. It also does not get into real detail about anything, but that kind of detail isn't necessary for a broad understanding of genetics. Most of the comics aren't really that funny, but even so they bring levity to an often difficult topic. I happen to enjoy the picture of the human-strawberry hybrid. This is a great book for visual learners who like to see everything; the diagrams in this book make complicated systems simpler without leaving out too much. This is a good background resource for anyone who wants to understand the hot topic of genetics. Granted a lot has happened since this book was published, but the foundation is still the same.
Rating: 4
Summary: An excellent intro to an important field
Comment: Genetics, as you've probably heard, is a field of study that's likely going to play a very big part in society's near future. It's also a tough branch of science to grasp. What's the difference between DNA, a gene, a chromosome and a genome? How much of a role does genetics play in your health - is DNA destiny?
This book is a solid introduction to understanding genetics: the basics of the science, the history of humanity's knowledge of it, how it relates to other fields (ie evolution) - all explained well, in both word and the highly helpful illustrations. As always, Gonick tosses in some humor with his cartoons, but don't be fooled into thinking this is kid stuff. He delves into serious science. (And I noted with great amusement that one reviewer who hated the book was a big fan of the "for dummies" series. Irony much?)
I liked this book a lot - not quite as good as The Cartoon Guide to Physics, and bear in mind that current advances in genetics may well render parts of the book outdated soon... but it's still well worth reading.
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Title: The Cartoon Guide to Physics by Larry Gonick ISBN: 0062731009 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 February, 1992 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Cartoon Guide to the Environment by Larry Gonick, Alice Outwater ISBN: 0062732749 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 24 April, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Cartoon Guide to Statistics by Larry Gonick, Woollcott Smith ISBN: 0062731025 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 25 February, 1994 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Cartoon History of the Universe III: From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance by Larry Gonick ISBN: 0393324036 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 21 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Cartoon History of the United States by Larry Gonick ISBN: 0062730983 Publisher: HarperResource Pub. Date: 14 August, 1991 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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