This is no idiot’s guide to math, but it could be useful as a supplement to a standard course in calculus.
A tour of calculus from the polymath whose illustrated guides have illuminated a wide range of subjects, from genetics and sex to the environment and the universe.
This time out, unfortunately, Muse cartoonist Gonick’s (The Cartoon History of the Modern World, Part 2, 2009, etc.) presentation is labored, the cartoons are primarily decorative and the course is tough. To begin with, calculus requires four years of high-school math, which the author reprises in the first 50 pages. For many readers this will be a slog through algebra, trigonometry, exponentials, function theory, etc. While most texts map equations onto lines or curves on a standard x-y axis, Gonick introduces parallel lines with arrows connecting an x value on one line to its f(x) value on the parallel line. This approach is particularly unhelpful when you want to visualize, say, minute changes of position (on the y axis) over time (on the x axis). Nor does the author discuss fundamental concepts like continuity or maxima and minima until well into the chapters on the derivative and differential calculus. While he does highlight fundamental theorems and classic rules, Gonick devotes too much space to how-to manipulations like how to differentiate inverse functions. The narrative improves when the author introduces the concept of the integral as the sum of skinny rectangles under a curve, and Gonick provides many helpful, practical examples of how calculus is used.
This is no idiot’s guide to math, but it could be useful as a supplement to a standard course in calculus.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-168909-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An academic recounting of a truly rich creative history, but it’s territory covered with more fun and attitude by Fred Van...
A soup-to-nuts history of mostly male, mostly American superheroes of the 20th century.
This slab of superhero history is a colorful companion to Maslon (Arts/NYU Graduate Acting Program; Broadway: The American Musical, 2010, etc.) and Kantor’s (Make ’Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, 2009, etc.) upcoming PBS documentary. It’s one of those strange amalgamations that arise from things like Ken Burns’ documentaries: the comprehensive history that only skims the surface. But as an introduction to comics culture for novices, it does the trick. Starting in 1938, the authors chart the origins of the DC icons and delve into the awful history of Fredric Wertham’s war on fun and the development of the Comics Code Authority. The most iconic characters get their own breakout sections, rendered in dazzling color illustrations. Better segments bring context, with the benefit of hindsight, to groundbreaking moments like Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore’s Watchmen. However, the authors sometimes diverge from the source texts to focus on TV and hundreds of movies ranging from Christopher Reeve’s iconic performance to the wealth of modern adaptations. This is probably based on the documentary source, which needs that imagery to thrive. One hopes the film more deeply explores some of the more shameful events in the industry’s history, like the bad blood between DC and Superman creators Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. Another aspect that makes the book feel generic is the clear focus on the big two: DC and Marvel, with only a slight deviation into the Image Comics rebellion. That shuts out a ton of indie publishers, effectively pushing eclectic characters ranging from The Rocketeer to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into the shadow of more recognizable caped crusaders.
An academic recounting of a truly rich creative history, but it’s territory covered with more fun and attitude by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey’s The Comic Book History of Comics (2012).Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-385-34858-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown Archetype
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
A top-notch graphic memoir that adds a whole new dimension to readers’ appreciation of Chast and her work.
A revelatory and occasionally hilarious memoir by the New Yorker cartoonist on helping her parents through their old age.
Few graphic memoirs are as engaging and powerful as this or strike a more responsive chord. Chast (What I Hate, 2011, etc.) retains her signature style and wry tone throughout this long-form blend of text and drawings, but nothing she’s done previously hits home as hard as this account of her family life as the only child of parents who had never even dated anyone else and whose deep bond left little room for this intruder in their midst. Yet, “the reality was that at 95, their minds and bodies were falling apart,” and these two people who had only relied on each other were forced to rely on a host of caretakers, their daughter in particular, and to move from the Brooklyn apartment that had been home for half a century into a series of facilities that provided fewer and fewer amenities at escalating expense. Chast rarely lapses into sentimentality and can often be quite funny, as she depicts mortality as “The Moving Sidewalk of Life” (“Caution: Drop-Off Ahead”) or deals with dread and anxiety on the “Wheel of DOOM, surrounded by the ‘cautionary’ tales of my childhood.” The older her parents get, the more their health declines and the more expensive the care they require, the bleaker the story becomes—until, toward the end, a series of 12 largely wordless drawings of her mother’s final days represents the most intimate and emotionally devastating art that Chast has created. So many have faced (or will face) the situation that the author details, but no one could render it like she does.
A top-notch graphic memoir that adds a whole new dimension to readers’ appreciation of Chast and her work.Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-60819-806-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
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