The Cartoon Guide to the Computer

The Cartoon Guides

by Larry Gonick

A fun and easy way to learn about computers, now redesigned to match the other cartoon guides. Illustrated with cartoons throughout.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Comics, Computers, Computer Science, Humor

249 pages, Paperback

Published August 14, 1991

About the author

Larry Gonick (born 1946) is a cartoonist best known for The Cartoon History of the Universe, a history of the world in comic book form, which he has been publishing in installments since 1977. He has also written The Cartoon History of the United States, and he has adapted the format for a series of co-written guidebooks on other subjects, beginning with The Cartoon Guide to Genetics in 1983. The diversity of his interests, and the success with which his books have met, have together earned Gonick the distinction of being "the most well-known and respected of cartoonists who have applied their craft to unravelling the mysteries of science" (Drug Discovery Today, March 2005).

Reviews

[David]

I loved reading this book. It was very challenging, and very rewarding. It was very readily digestible. I suggest it to anyone who is curious about how computers work.
This book has really increased my appreciation for comics as a learning tool.

[Michael Scott]

TODO full review:
+ Larry Gonick's Cartoon Guide to Computer Science (better known as Cartoon Guide to the Computer) is a humorous, comics-format book about the serious (and upcoming, in 1983 and 25 years later) topic of computer science.
+++ Three main topics covered with amazing detail despite the simplicity of the comics medium: the evolution of human concepts about information, the basics of computer organization (data representation, basic logic gates, logic and arithmetic operations, the basic processing unit, the memory subsystem, the IO subsystem), and software theory and applications.
+++ High-quality treatment of the computer organization elements. The computer gets an excellent treatment - - undergrad level, but still a textbook.
+++ Visionary description of applications.
- Some of the cartoon elements do not look great. The "Greek" philosophers and some of the historical characters, in particular, look too distorted to be nice to look at (contrast with the highly polished, graphic novel Logicomix or with the amazing graphics in the cartoon-style The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua).
- Some of the jokes are less savory in the 2019 PC-environment. However, there are already instances of gopd replies to insensitive jokes, such as when one lemur calls the other a reverse sexist (the two lemurs hang upside down from the same branch).

[Pim Veldhuisen]

Probably the book that has been most influential in my life.
(Read the Dutch translation, "De Computer-kunde strip")

[Pablo]

An easy-to-read book about the basics of computer science. The cartoons make it funny and entertaining.

[Carl]

This was a decent book, it covers the basics and gives the reader a good idea of how a computer works. There are quizzes throughout to test if you understood the content, which was helpful.

[Ketrina Thompson]

My research advisor gave me this book when I was working on my master's project as an example of using illustrations to teach computer science concepts. I enjoyed it very much.

[Teo]

2017.07.12–2017.07.18

Contents

Gonick L (1983) Cartoon Guide to Computer Science, The

About the Author

Part I: The Ages of Information

• What Is Information?
• The Evolution of the Computer

Part II: Logical Spaghetti

• The Information Processor
• The Processing Unit
• Memory
• Getting Everything Under Control

Part III: Software

• Turing Machines
• Algorithms
• Basic B.A.S.I.C.
• Software Survey
• In Conclusion

Bibliography
Index

[Leandro Dutra]

Para quem acha que computação é o que o computador faz.

[Angela Barakat]

I read this with my son.

[Balázs]

pg. 157

C = 1100