GoCorral

I love learning from comic books. I’ve been doing it since I was a kid. It’s just so much easier to absorb information when the visual components are actually visual instead of described. Since comics aren’t as serious as a textbook, they can be easier to understand. Relatable writing that includes irreverent humor will capture your attention better than paragraph after paragraph of boring text.

I’ve got a large collection here to show off.

On the far left is World Without End about the necessity of dealing with climate change. It details the issues with climate change and how we’re already in the middle of a crisis. Global temperatures have risen 1.4°C from pre-industrial levels with larger swings in most areas. Natural disasters are more frequent and disruptions to the cycle of the seasons is causing a mass extinction event. Massive cutbacks are needed to forestall an even worse disaster.

Next up is the Cartoon History of the Universe series that continues into the Cartoon History of the Modern World. It starts off with the Big Bang, transitions into evolutionary epochs, then the evolution of homo sapiens, and finally a broad history of every region of the world. The books cover as many major events as they can across the world, focusing in on the stories that the author, Larry Gonick, felt were most compelling. I’ve read them dozens of times. Amazing stuff!

Larry Gonick is also the author of the books on the far right, the Cartoon Guide to Chemistry and Genetics. I had those as a kid but didn’t really enjoy them until after I got my Bachelor’s in Biochemistry. They’re both fun and informative, but weren’t quite what I was looking for as a kid. I used to have the Cartoon History of the United States that fell into the same category of fun and informative but not for me. My sister seemed to like that one though.

The best book I’ve read of Gonick’s is the Cartoon Guide to Physics. I read that one alongside my textbook to help pass my introductory physics classes. I no longer have it though. I lent it to a friend who was taking the class after me and never got it back. I guess it helped them too!

There’s two more books in the middle of my picture up there, the Manga Guide to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. They’re on pretty much the same topic, advanced biology knowledge. I read them after getting my Biochemistry Bachelor’s as well. They’re both accurate and good representations of their material. They were a helpful review for my Master’s degree in Molecular Biology.

Another book I’ve lent to a friend and may never see again is Open Borders. It’s an economics comic looking at why open borders are good for a country’s economy and people. It presents an ethical exercise called Starvin’ Marvin after the South Park character. If Marvin is starving, is it ethical for you to deny him the ability to work and purchase bread in your country? If it’s wrong for you to deny that right to Marvin, why should you deny it to anyone else?

My favorite comic is Maus, a memoir of a Holocaust survivor written by his son. The main narrative covers how his father survived the camps and is interspersed with the interviews he had with his father to get the whole story. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read, comic or not. Like the Cartoon Guide to Physics and Open Borders, I lent out my copy of Maus and never got it back. Maus is special though. I bought a second copy and have subsequently ALSO lent out that copy and never gotten it back. Great book. You should borrow a copy from a friend too.

I’ve got a few comics on philosophy as well. Sophie’s World would be the more famous one. I read the original novel for a philosophy class in high school. I’ve been reading philosophy books since I was eight years old and loved this one too. Sophie’s World is an excellent summary of the history of Western philosophy, wrapped up in a metatextual novel. Getting a comic book version of that was extra special because the metatextuality can be represented in a more visual way.

Another philosophy book I’ve got is LOGICOMIX which is a mostly factual account of mathematician Bertrand Russell’s quest to ground mathematics entirely in logic. The quest fails because you have to start with some postulates, but the proof to get there is an interesting road. The book isn’t just about philosophy, but about Bertrand Russell as a person and his place within the philosophy community of the early 1900s.

Saving the best for last, I have two comic books about comics called Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics. These ones are comics that look at the evolution of comics from newspaper funnies to art and serious works like the ones I’ve described here. If you like comics, these ones are a fun walk through the history of comics.

So if you like comics and some other thing, there’s probably a comic that combines those interests in an entertaining/informative way that you should check out! Follow the links I put in the text above to find a way to get each of these books. Or check if your local library has a copy!