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マンガでわかる [Manga de Wakaru]
The Manga Guide to Microprocessors
Ayumi is a world-class shogi (Japanese chess) player who can’t be beaten—that is, until she loses to a powerful computer called the Shooting Star. Ayumi vows to find out everything she can about her new nemesis. Lucky for her, Yuu Kano, the genius programmer behind the Shooting Star, is willing to teach her all about the inner workings of the microprocessor—the “brain” inside all computers, phones, and gadgets.
Follow along with Ayumi in The Manga Guide to Microprocessors and you’ll learn about:
-How the CPU processes information and makes decision
-How computers perform arithmetic operations and store information
-logic gates and how they’re used in integrated circuits
-the Key components of modern computers, including registers, GPUs, and RAM
-Assembly language and how it differs from high-level programming languages
Whether you’re a computer science student or just want to understand the power of microprocessors, you’ll find what you need to know in The Manga Guide to Microprocessors .
Follow along with Ayumi in The Manga Guide to Microprocessors and you’ll learn about:
-How the CPU processes information and makes decision
-How computers perform arithmetic operations and store information
-logic gates and how they’re used in integrated circuits
-the Key components of modern computers, including registers, GPUs, and RAM
-Assembly language and how it differs from high-level programming languages
Whether you’re a computer science student or just want to understand the power of microprocessors, you’ll find what you need to know in The Manga Guide to Microprocessors .
264 pages, Paperback
First published November 27, 2014
37 people are currently reading
233 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 4, 2021
I bought this on a lark from Bleak House Books in Hong Kong during one of those COVID Christmas interludes aimlessly browsing online shops for gift ideas. It seemed a cute and light idea, and our son enjoys comics... maybe it would suit?
On arrival, it became clear this is way beyond our 7yo. This is a surprisingly detailed yet comprehensible intro to how computers work at the physical, electronic level... all stuff I didn't understand, despite twelve years as a computer programmer. I guess target audience is teens and up.
Tonally light and silly, you need to enter with a bit of humor for the thin framing story which exists solely to allow dialogue... but it works! And the 101-level tech education is thorough.
This won't tell you everything you want to know about how your smartphone works, although by the end I had an inkling of the outline. It's more like an electronic computing version of a guide to simple & complex machines -- a book like that won't suddenly make entirely clear all the complexities of how frozen pizza factories work, but you'll have a much better sense of what's happening inside all the metal contraptions.
I bought two others in the series, The Manga Guide to Calculus and The Manga Guide to Physiology. Looking forward to diving into one of them... after all this on the bits and logic circuits and carry flags settles.
Highly recommend for anyone who finds high tech dizzying and also cares enough to understand the basics. Probably not suitable for anyone who already passed a college course on the topic.
On arrival, it became clear this is way beyond our 7yo. This is a surprisingly detailed yet comprehensible intro to how computers work at the physical, electronic level... all stuff I didn't understand, despite twelve years as a computer programmer. I guess target audience is teens and up.
Tonally light and silly, you need to enter with a bit of humor for the thin framing story which exists solely to allow dialogue... but it works! And the 101-level tech education is thorough.
This won't tell you everything you want to know about how your smartphone works, although by the end I had an inkling of the outline. It's more like an electronic computing version of a guide to simple & complex machines -- a book like that won't suddenly make entirely clear all the complexities of how frozen pizza factories work, but you'll have a much better sense of what's happening inside all the metal contraptions.
I bought two others in the series, The Manga Guide to Calculus and The Manga Guide to Physiology. Looking forward to diving into one of them... after all this on the bits and logic circuits and carry flags settles.
Highly recommend for anyone who finds high tech dizzying and also cares enough to understand the basics. Probably not suitable for anyone who already passed a college course on the topic.
November 17, 2024
Covers the topic fairly well, utilizing humor. Only touched on RISC and the stack in passing.
The backstory was fun. The comics themselves were not terribly detailed, and single finger pointing was frequent. Often the story reverted to paragraphs with just a character head - this is a wordy discussion.
It felt as much like a book on assembly language as a book about microprocessors. I was expecting more about RISC and FPGA - both quite prevalent in embedded designs. The rice cooker was a good example, but it would have been nice to delve further into the design - a sample program for running the machine, for instance.
I felt similar about The Manga Guide to Calculus, which I read in 2010 and didn't review (early days on goodreads). Maybe I should try a Manga Guide for a subject I don't know much about instead :)
The backstory was fun. The comics themselves were not terribly detailed, and single finger pointing was frequent. Often the story reverted to paragraphs with just a character head - this is a wordy discussion.
It felt as much like a book on assembly language as a book about microprocessors. I was expecting more about RISC and FPGA - both quite prevalent in embedded designs. The rice cooker was a good example, but it would have been nice to delve further into the design - a sample program for running the machine, for instance.
I felt similar about The Manga Guide to Calculus, which I read in 2010 and didn't review (early days on goodreads). Maybe I should try a Manga Guide for a subject I don't know much about instead :)
September 5, 2019
The first Manga Guide book that I could tolerate reading. Having said that, I found this one quite a delightful read. The overexpressive characters is a taste I still wait to acquire (ahem) though in this case of hardware engineering... I know a lot of people that share the same personality trait as the expert in the book 😁.
I was compelled to try this book after reading a few other technical books that didn't quite relay the passion of designing digital electronics. This book had good reviews and did a great job of making a seemingly drab and unstimulating series of concepts into a well threaded, understanding-based yet fast paced leisure activity.
Overall a good read. Certainly recommended for the uninitiated.
I was compelled to try this book after reading a few other technical books that didn't quite relay the passion of designing digital electronics. This book had good reviews and did a great job of making a seemingly drab and unstimulating series of concepts into a well threaded, understanding-based yet fast paced leisure activity.
Overall a good read. Certainly recommended for the uninitiated.
September 24, 2018
If you think you will like this book you most likely will.
After reading this book I had a class on digital systems. I was able to fallow along with the class easier because I knew the ideas that would be hit on in making our CPU.
It touched on everything in my class except Boolean algebra.
Seeing as I got a good grade in the class and actually referenced this book in the class. I think it earned my 5 stars.
After reading this book I had a class on digital systems. I was able to fallow along with the class easier because I knew the ideas that would be hit on in making our CPU.
It touched on everything in my class except Boolean algebra.
Seeing as I got a good grade in the class and actually referenced this book in the class. I think it earned my 5 stars.
February 2, 2020
This is a light and humorous introduction to a rather dry and dense topic. It does a pretty good job of breaking things down for simplicity, and injecting over the top anime reactions to things. Wish there was a bit more variation on the storytelling side of things, it gets repetitive as you go on, but hey it does deliver a lot if technical info
June 9, 2019
I highly, highly recommend this book for anyone taking their first discrete math class or hardware class in college. The explanations are very intuitive and helpful, making this a great companion to your regular textbook. It's well worth the investment of a day or two to read through it.
May 2, 2023
Came across this thing as I was trying to learn the basics of semiconductors, not that I like comics. The Japanese cartoons are obnoxious, perverted, and annoying. I soon got disgusted and gave up. The Code is a much better, formal, and enjoyable read.
March 16, 2025
This is a good book to read on vacation if you want an overview of the CPU. It obviously doesn't go in depth and don't have a formal structure of topics and that's what I needed .
As a cs grad myself I can say that you would definitely revise the topics in a fun way.
As a cs grad myself I can say that you would definitely revise the topics in a fun way.
September 29, 2017
Delightful introduction for people who have been wondering how their computers actually WORK. Some may find the boy-girl byplay a distraction.
December 27, 2017
Amazing and amusing at the same time.
September 17, 2019
Fun to learn
Great book, this book make the subject easy to be comprehended, with some manga story added to it, which gives fun elements
Great book, this book make the subject easy to be comprehended, with some manga story added to it, which gives fun elements
March 9, 2022
Easy to understand ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
February 3, 2023
Great in many ways but the cartoon part (pretty funny!) and textbook part (pretty advanced!) fight each other more than they complement each other. Not an easy book to learn from.
March 23, 2023
Better than the cs professors at northeastern
October 6, 2023
Brilliant concept and an execution that starts strong but gets increasingly laissez faire as the it hits the steep learning curve of more advanced concepts.
July 1, 2025
An easy way to understand how computers work from the inside, without getting too deep into equations or engineering details.
November 17, 2025
the databases one was good but holy fuck this is STELLAR. humanity peaked with this publication.
October 16, 2025
Викладачі за 5 роки невиразного декламування теорії на лекціях з декількох дисциплін, де структура процесора згадувалась так і не змогли вкласти в мою голову діаграму роботи процесора так, щоб я її не забула після модуля, а от манга змогла. Навіть дискретка після неї перестала бути такою відірваною від реальності.. academia could never
October 23, 2020
It was a really good book, and I also learned a lot about computers, microchips, Ram and Rom, I/O, ect. If you needed/ wanted to learn the basics of computer parts and how they work, i'd read this book.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews