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The Cartoon History of Time
What is time? How did it begin, and where will it end? Is time travel possible? How does the universe expand, and where do black holes come from? Junior Chicken and Alexis, the Quantum Cat, examine these and other extraordinary concepts, explaining the substance of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time in terms that "even a chicken can understand." This humorous graphic novel–style exploration of cosmology and quantum physics will amuse and enlighten curious folk of all ages.Author John Gribbin received his PhD in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge and has written more than 120 popular science books, many of them science fiction. He swears on Einstein's socks that every word in this book — fantastic as it seems — is true. Artist Kate Charlesworth's extensive and diverse career in illustration includes a cartoon strip for New Scientist, "Life, the Universe and (Almost) Everything."
Paperback
First published September 1, 1990
About the author
Kate Charlesworth
15 books13 followersKate Charlesworth was born in Yorkshire and studied at the Manchester College of Art and Design. Her illustrations have appeared in the Guardian, the Independent and she has worked on many books, comics and magazines. She lives in Edinburgh.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 28, 2012
To all people who find science confusing and hard to grasp. This book is fantastic and simplifies everything with a wonderful wit and fantastic cartoons. Forget words, pictures can explain everything far better! Great for grasping "simple" things like the flow of time, gravity, expansion of the universe etc etc. Cannot say enough wonderful things about it!
January 29, 2022
An attempt at creating a primer for a complex topic. The authors did a decent job with a limited amount of space available, but ultimately the material is so complex and needs so much explanation, that the text becomes cramped together - making it just that more difficult. They would have benefited greatly from having a extra twenty to thirty pages to play around in. What also mar the book are several way of date political jokes the narrators make, along with several anti-Christian statements. Apparently stating their case wasn't enough, the authors felt it necessary to smug degrade anyone who has a different system of beliefs.
December 14, 2022
Phew, that was a lot of thinking. My only real complaint was the cartoon flow wasn't always laid out in a manner that was easy to follow. The words were clear, there was a lot of detail without burdening my brain into stupefication, but... Well, the panels sometimes got jumbled which, because I was learning the concepts, wasn't noticed every time since I didn't have a basis to know which way the words SHOULD go. LOL
June 15, 2023
MISNOMER
This should be called the cartoon history of physics. If you're unfamiliar with physics, you won't get this book. (Even though there are marvelous explanations.)
I didn't care for white writing on pastel backgrounds.
But I did understand the sections that were legible.!
This should be called the cartoon history of physics. If you're unfamiliar with physics, you won't get this book. (Even though there are marvelous explanations.)
I didn't care for white writing on pastel backgrounds.
But I did understand the sections that were legible.!
December 4, 2019
A book that looks a quick read but is actually heavy. Enjoyed going through the illustrations.
May 29, 2009
Good, but I wouldn't recommend giving it to anyone below high school age unless they're a physics whiz. Bit too complicated for impatient young'uns, who may prefer to skim and be distracted by the excellent artwork.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews