The cartoon history of the universe
by Larry Gonick · first published 1978
9mentions
5recommended by
5HN commenters
2009–2024first – last mentioned
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Illustrated, comic-style world history spanning long stretches of human and natural history in an approachable, entertaining way; a fun route into history for kids and readers who find school history dry.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Nice reviews. I've read and enjoyed Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe series. I think the comics medium has the ability to makes technical subjects approachable and light and would love to see more such 'comics introduction to ...' books ! Does anyone know of such comics…
on “Review of Comic Books Teaching Statistics” ↗Larry Gonick did western equivalents of these; Cartoon History of the Universe is either the best book I've ever read or the best comic book. It's rather 70s though, so the art can get psychadelic and it covers several different religions as if they're literally true. But it has…
on “The Manga Guide Series” ↗The Cartoon History of the Universe I-III: http://www.amazon.com/Cartoon-History-Universe-Volumes-1-7/d... The history is only as good as was known at the time each book was published, of course, but it's better than you'll learn in school,…
on “What Would You Recommend to a Bright 14 Year Old?” ↗I just finished reading the first couple of volumes of Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe and have learned a lot about dinosaurs from that.
on “First complete dinosaur skeleton ever found has finally been studied in detail” ↗Currently reading: Logicomix: an Epic Search for Truth (Doxiadis & Papadimitriou 2009) [my spouse found it] Also recommend: Gonick, The Cartoon History of the Universe
on “Ask HN: Do you read comic books?” ↗…you and I might enjoy that sort of thing, but in the grand scheme of things I see arguments as being only slightly more popular than the My Dinner With André video game adaptation] Have you see Gonick, Cartoon History of the Universe (1990)? I find it entertaining, and (to the extent I recognised them) think he does his sources justice at the same time. However, it did take him a dozen or so years to produce...
on “The Rise of Post-Literate History” ↗Cartoon History of the Universe is probably the best "nonfiction" comic ever made. (it's not inaccurate but it's kind of psychedelic and retells more than one religious founding text as if it actually happened)
on “Particle mystery: physicists confirm the muon is more magnetic than predicted” ↗Larry is also the author of my son's favorite history book: The Cartoon History of the Universe[1] 1- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cartoon_History_of_the_Univ...
on “The Mathematical Cartoons of Larry Gonick” ↗"The Source" by James Michener is fun historical fiction on the subject. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Source_(novel) I'm also a big fan of the Cartoon History of the Universe series. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cartoon_History_of_the_U...
on “Ask HN: What's the Best Book on Religion” ↗