Pete wonders whether anyone can learn about statistics from a manga.

May I introduce you to Larry Gonick? I haven't read his Cartoon Guide to Statistics, but his Cartoon Guide to Genetics is superb. And when I first read his Cartoon Guide to Physics, there were a couple of real eye-openers for me once I got to the section on Quantum Mechanics. In particular, he explained why the Heisenberg Principle is responsible for the way that electric fields decline with range. Truly amazing. (It was the first time I had been introduced to the concept of a "virtual photon".)

Anyway, Gonick has been doing this kind of thing for nearly 20 years. This new "Manga guide to..." series is a straight ripoff of Gonick. I'm not joking when I say that Gonick's books are good enough to be used as school textbooks. It's a pity no one would ever consider doing so.

UPDATE: I'm wrong. It seems his stuff is being used in schools. Which is good.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 11:29 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 I saw the first few chapters of the statistics one. Not bad, not bad! Good basic overview of samples versus populations and data classes. Not so sure it's that good at the mathy parts (it presented standard deviation, which is fine and good but not really well-suited for a manga format...) I also don't know how well I'd do with a subject I hadn't had in college.

But soon I'll know! One of my co-workers ordered the Manga Guide to SQL.

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at December 02, 2008 12:11 PM (pWQz4)

2

Back whenI still read Discover magazine, they would occasionally run short pieces by Gonick.  Always entertaining, always enlightening, with humor on the side (If you can find the issue with his piece about the evolution of teddy bears, you will know what I am talking about.).

C.T.

Posted by: cxt217 at December 02, 2008 12:23 PM (PZDLn)

3 Gonick had a regular spot in Discover every month for about five years.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at December 02, 2008 01:57 PM (+rSRq)

4 You mean they're the printed cartoon equivalent of Beakman's World? That would be awesome.

Posted by: CronoLink at December 02, 2008 09:30 PM (v0ZDu)

5 I think I had his physics book as a text in high school. Of course, this was a course set up by the local homeschoolers and held in the science museum at the state capital. I also know I've seen his stuff (or something similar) in the required textbook section of the university book store. I didn't end up using them at the university level because the engineering program would get decertified if they use any text costing less then a hundred dollars. Really, I'm just glad I had a good scholarship and didn't need to pay for most of my books.

Posted by: PatBuckman at December 02, 2008 10:09 PM (jz8wZ)

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