Rating: 
Summary: Fun, but not doesn't cover more than the basics
Review: I purchased this book to review the basics of genetics, mostly to be able to sound more knowledgeable than my pre-med significant other. I was very dissapointed to find that the book covered fundamentally the same material I remembered seeing as a freshman in high school 15 years ago. Not only has it not been updated to reflect the explosion in genetics, it basically covers the same fundametals one has gotten in a basic high school course. If you didn't understand it then, this book will help, otherwise it will just give you an interesting hour or two. I love Larry Gonick's other works (especially the History of the Universe series), but this one just doesn't measure up.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, but not doesn't cover more than the basics
Review: I purchased this book to review the basics of genetics, mostly to be able to sound more knowledgeable than my pre-med significant other. I was very dissapointed to find that the book covered fundamentally the same material I remembered seeing as a freshman in high school 15 years ago. Not only has it not been updated to reflect the explosion in genetics, it basically covers the same fundametals one has gotten in a basic high school course. If you didn't understand it then, this book will help, otherwise it will just give you an interesting hour or two. I love Larry Gonick's other works (especially the History of the Universe series), but this one just doesn't measure up.
Rating: 
Summary: Introduction to Genetics
Review: I use this book to introduce 8th graders to Genetics as it is entertaining, gives them good basic information and keeps them amused (and therefore reading!). Because we are working with basic genetics and because I am able to bring them to the present once they understand the basic concepts this book works very well as a text. I also find that it works well with a variety of ability groups. For the poor reader it is very visually stimulating and the writers are pretty funny. It also reads well in spurts or chunks. For the more advanced reader or student it is good because they can read through it quickly and get all the basic information that I need them to have for this class. I highly recommend the book for any middle school teachers that want to introduce a fairly abstract topic to a group of students who are predominantly still concrete learners. If you are looking for a book to inform you on new discoveries in the field this is not your book, but if you need a book to introduce genetic concepts to young people (or older non-readers), this is an excellent choice.
Rating:
Summary: Introduction to Genetics
Review: I use this book to introduce 8th graders to Genetics as it is entertaining, gives them good basic information and keeps them amused (and therefore reading!). Because we are working with basic genetics and because I am able to bring them to the present once they understand the basic concepts this book works very well as a text. I also find that it works well with a variety of ability groups. For the poor reader it is very visually stimulating and the writers are pretty funny. It also reads well in spurts or chunks. For the more advanced reader or student it is good because they can read through it quickly and get all the basic information that I need them to have for this class. I highly recommend the book for any middle school teachers that want to introduce a fairly abstract topic to a group of students who are predominantly still concrete learners. If you are looking for a book to inform you on new discoveries in the field this is not your book, but if you need a book to introduce genetic concepts to young people (or older non-readers), this is an excellent choice.
Rating:
Summary: Demystifies DNA
Review: 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: 
Summary: great book
Review: I've read several books about genetics, and the Cartoon Guide to Genetics is the best book at making genetics comprehendable and interesting. Important informantion that leads to clear understand is emphasized and made exlicitly clear, instead of buried in a mountain of minute details like other books. You will not understand genetics overnight, but it's so fascinating and entertaining, you'll find it a pleasure to read the Cartoon Guide to Genetics over and over.
Rating:
Summary: Ever been put off by the abstact concepts of genetics?
Review: Larry Gonick and Mark Wheelis have put together a wonderfully entertaining and relatively painless introduction to the field of genetics. Don't let the cartoon based approach fool you...there is good stuff in this book. If you have had a tough time with the basics of genetics, then this book is probably for you. When I was an undergraduate student I stumbled through my genetics course, but it wasn't until I saw this book that many of the fundamental concepts made sense to me. This book IS fun...but be careful, you might actually learn something as you thumb through it or read it. The book contains information on the basics of genetic theory, the people behind the theory, Mendelian genetics, and molecular genetics (e.g., what DNA is, how it copies itself, and how the information it carries codes for protein synthesis). I actually have a colleague who has used this book to supplement the main text he uses in his genetics course. Definitely a five star effort! Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN
Rating:
Summary: I laughed, I cried...it became a part of me
Review: Okay, I didn't cry. But I did laugh and it did help me understand life a little more. This great little book is witty and informative--two words that don't often seem to go together where science books are concerned. It's the best "study guide" out there to augment a genetics text or brush up on the basics. Great Book! I give it Two Chromosomes Up!
Rating:
Summary: Historical tour through genetics in a comic book
Review: 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:
Summary: Historical tour through genetics in a comic book
Review: 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.
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