Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth

by Jay Hosler, Kevin Cannon (Illustrator), Zander Cannon (Illustrator)

An accessible graphic introduction to evolution for the most science-phobic reader

Illustrated by the brilliant duo Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon, this volume is written by the noted comic author and professor of biology Jay Hosler. Evolution features the same characters introduced in the highly regarded The Stuff of A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA , now here to explain the fundamentals of the evolution of life on earth. On the heels of explaining to his planetary leader the intricacies of human genetics in The Stuff of Life , the intrepid alien scientist Bloort-183 is charged in this sequel with covering the wider story of evolution. Using the same storytelling conceit that Plenty magazine declared “so charming that you won’t even notice you’ve absorbed an entire scientific field” and that caused Seed to pick The Stuff of Life as a best book of 2008, Evolution brilliantly answers Wired ’s demand, “What’s the solution to America’s crisis in science education? More comic books!”

Evolution , the most accessible graphic work on this universally studied subject, takes the reader from earth’s primordial soup to the vestigial structures, like the coccyx and the male nipple, of modern humans. Once again, the award-winning illustrations of the Cannons render the complex clear and everything cleverly comedic. And in Hosler, Evolution has an award-winning biology teacher whose science comics have earned him a National Science Foundation grant and an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition .

Genres: Science, Graphic Novels, Nonfiction, Comics, Evolution, Biology, Humor

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Dr. Jay Hosler is an Associate Professor of Biology at Juniata College and an award-winning cartoonist who writes and draws comic books about biology and natural history. His work has been called "ingenious" (The London Times), "goofily inventive" (The New York Times), and "entertaining and slyly educational" (The Comics Journal). His works include Active Synapse classics such as Clan Apis, The Sandwalk Adventures, and Optical Allusions. You can visit Jay's website for a more in-depth introduction to this multi-talented cartoonist-biologist-professor-daddy.

Reviews

[Negativni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zanimljiv strip gdje dr. Jay Hosler, profesor biologije uz pomoć ilustratorskog dvojca Kevina Cannona i Zandera Cannona - koji nisu u rodu! - opisuje kako se razvijao život na Zemlji. Vrlo je informativna, a kako i piše u opisu knjige nije "puka početnica", jer se koriste stručni nazivi i detaljno se razrađuju bitne stavke u procesu evolucije, možda i malo predetaljno za jedan strip. Ima par sličica koje su pretrpane sitnim tekstom, ali kako je tema zahtjevna, teško da se to moglo izbjeći.

Neke stvari sam i naučio, a ovo mi je kao nekakvo zagrijavanje, jer planiram uskoro čitati i Dawkinsovu Najveću predstavu na Zemlji.

U stripu ima i dobrog humora, ali teško da će naći veliku publiku. Ljubiteljima stripa bi bio predosadan, a ni crtež nije nešto posebno, a oni koje zanima Teorija evolucije teško da će posegnuti za ovim stripom.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. The writer taught me so much and the illustrators visualized the science perfectly. I will be buying this book for my own personal use and as gifts for some curious minds on my Christmas list. This book starts with the first 4 billion years of earth and walks you through the present. In the process we are introduced to scientists and cells and everything in between. The book concludes with a "Suggested Reading" page and a glossary. Do you know the meaning of Cambrian Explosion? Convergent evolution? Radiation? Who knew science could be so much fun!

Fun fact from the book: After the invention of agriculture around 10,000 years ago, human populations actually got an average of five inches shorter.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a banner month for me and graphic novels. This one is no exception. Everyone should read it so that they learn what you should have learned in high school. If we weren't such a country full of frightened evolutionary deniers (aka, Fools and Liars), this would be required reading for every student.

It gives an easy to read and fun explanation of how life evolved on the planet, it explains genetics, it explains random mutation, species, parasite, zygotes, and all of them easy to follow, as told by a very intelligent starfish-like creature to his gelatinous king and bespeckled prince through a series of holograms.

Take a chance and make your kid a thinker... what do you have to lose besides their ignorance?

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply fantastic. Instead of me writing a review myself, I just suggestion you read Ryan Haupt's great review over at iFanboy if you wish to know more.

See:
http://www.ifanboy.com/content/articl...

[Anthony Mancia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it was okay it didn't really impress me but it was good so the book was about these aliens talking about how the earth evolve in time I recommended this book to anyone who likes to know how the earth was made and the history

[shakespeareandspice]

DNF

[Marlyn Pardosi · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, this book really do what it said. If you like comics, you'll like this book, and if you interested in evolution, you'll like this more.
I believe in evolution, but I just believe it, and not know much about evolution and I don't really have couriosity about it. But after I finished this, I feel I should read much more about evolution, this book has successfully made me think that I am so noob about evolution and want to dig more.
The explanation is easy to understand, plus it is comic, the picture says all the explanation.
I love the jokes, I read this in Bahasa Indonesia and the translator really did a great job for every jokes, makes me want to read the English version of every jokes.
If you want to know when the living creatures stop evolving, what is the consequences of every evolution (include in human body), why it is called cambrian 'explosion', why the morph of ichthyosaurs are similiar to dolphins, etc., so this book is for you.
I really do reccomend this book!!
Ps.
If only I could give 6/5 stars for this book. *sigh

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never thought I would have laughed so hard at a book about evolution, but this story is told in such a humorous way and some of the illustrations are so silly that I found it hard to keep a straight face. The scene where the dodo bird tells the other dodo bird, "You are perfect, don't ever change" is one of my favorite jokes in the book. The information itself is also fascinating. I kept setting the book aside to look up images of the Great Moa Bird or to watch a clip of David Attenbourg with Bower Birds. I will admit that my eyes glazed over during the first couple of chapters that deal with the pre-cambrian period, but I think this would be a useful tool for biology teachers and students. Having not read the first book, I was confused about who the narrators were. I wish there had been a better introduction to who Floorish and Bloort were. I'm not sure that most teens would willingly pick this up for leisure reading, but it's a great way to learn more about this area of science while having a good laugh in the meantime!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. This graphic novel packs a ton of great information into a short & sweet pacakge. The information is presented clearly, but also with humor which keeps it interesting as well as memorable. Plus, at under 150 pages and with a lot of the space filled with illustrations, readers of many ages will be able to learn from and enjoy this step by step look at the history of life on earth and how evolution works.

I regard myself as relatively familiar with this subject matter and I still learned a few things from this book. Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth is highly recommended.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun novel.

There are certain points I feel they could have "hit" like coevolution, directional selection, stabilizing selection. I feel like they maybe could have spent less time talking about evolutionary epochs and more about specific types of evolution. I did like that they included a bit on lactose tolerance. Why not branch on that and talk about possible ways we're evolving now?

The groveling bits got a little tiresome (squinches are pretty egotistical dictators apparently), but the kid squinch was less of a narcissist than the monarch that was in the first novel.


All in all, I enjoyed this very much. Read it in a day. I hope they make one on ecology next....

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun introduction to the modern evolutionary synthesis that might be best for ten to twelve-year-olds. Some of the pictures might be too cute for teens, and some of the concepts may be too opaque for younger children, but all in all, there are sections in here that should appeal to all ages. There is a splash page with lots of dinosaurs doing lots of things that younger children should eat up, and the sections on speciation would easily earn a few extra points on a test for high school students.

[Abby Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for high school or college classes studying evolution, but also good for lay readers who just want to know more. The narrative structure of aliens on another planet visiting a museum to learn about the evolution of life on Earth allows for organic review and humor within the text. Highly recommended for anyone wanting an overview of evolution, adaptation, natural selection, mutation, and/or species variation.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a great book that I fully intend on reading with my students this year. However, some events were stated as fact when they're actually just one plausible explanation of observed events, such as the meteor off the coast of Baja California causing the extinction of the dinosaurs. While this is an important theory that I'd like to touch on with my students, I don't want them to think that it's the only idea out there as to why the dinosaurs went extinct.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a great way to make a lot of the complex science that is involved in understanding evolution more accessible. It's definitely still a book about science and uses jargon, but the author defines terms as he introduces them and uses the character subplot to review material and tie different ideas together. Plus I'm a sucker for cheesy science center jokes.

[Seth Saephan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel amazed about this book because it shows all the thing in the past and they talk about it and its funny. I would reccomend this book to a friend because it teaches a little how earth was created. This book is about that how earth was created.

[CYNTHIA · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is about germs spreading and how they are made.I did not like this book because I'm nit the type of person that likes to read about things that has to do with science and nature.I would recommend this book to kids that science not like me.

[Ryan Haupt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I posted my review over at iFanboy. Please click-through and enjoy!

[Daniel Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well done! Vocabulary is pretty advanced though, so bear that in mind when suggesting it to young children. My 4-year old enjoyed listening to it but I'm not convinced he understood much.

[Heri · Rating 3 out of 5]

buku yang cukup informatif yang ditampilkan dengan gaya humor dan penjelasan yang mudah dimengerti

meski ada istilah2 teknis dan sains tapi disertai penjelasan dengan bahasa yang sederhana dan gambar sebagai contoh

menampilkan tiga mahluk bernama squinch yang hendak mempelajari evolusi kehidupan di bumi untuk menyelamatkan spesies mereka. satu kekurangan atau tepatnya hal yang menyebalkan adalah ilmuwan squinch yang terlalu sering memuji raja dan pangeran squinch dengan kalimat pujian hiperbola yang sering diulang meski dengan kalimat berbeda, meski dimaksudkan sebagai unsur humor dan perilaku seorang rakyat biasa di hadapan penguasa

komik sains ini bagus untuk anak2 dan remaja yang malas membaca buku sains umum dengan gambar dan diagram yang serius, sehingga mempelajari evolusi bisa dengan cara yang lebih menyenangkan dan mudah dipahami lebih cepat

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Evolution: The story of Life on Earth' , is a 'novel graphic' (as described by its publisher) that takes place on the planet Glargalia. The narrator is a scientific advisor to King Floorsh, who is explaining to the King and his son Prince Floorsh about the way life began on Earth and perpetuated into the present, with a special chapter on humanity itself. Learned some good stuff I must say, and it was mildly funny, but it was slow in spots, particularly where the print became challenging to me.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with a view to recommending it as a quarantine biology lesson. It passes that test. I felt like there was a slight mismatch in the amount of scientific terminology used, which felt like it was appropriate for 14-15 year olds and the delivery mechanism: a conversation between 3 aquatic aliens who make a lot of puns, who seemed more like they were aimed at 10-12 year olds. That quibble aside, it's a good, solid introduction to the principles of evolution, with some really good examples.

[Muhammad Kahlil Gibran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keren. Simple. Lucu.

Ini komik punya adik gue, tapi gue gak percaya adik gue bisa nyambung dengan buku ini. Dia kelas 3 SD. Karena gue lihat dan baca buku ini materinya buku untuk anak SD, malah untuk ada SMP sih. Jadi, kalau belum paham tentang materi sel, genetika, evolusi, mutasi, dan lainnya. Nanti aja deh baca!

Gue udah ngerti tentang materi-materinya. Seru banget baca buku ini.

Udah :)

[Richard Archambault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3.5. Not much that I didn't know about, I'm clearly not the target audience. I found it in the adult section but I think it would have been better for older kids or teens. Informative enough if you didn't know much about the topic, though. I did find the grovelling by the narrator-character to get a bit annoying.

[Olivia Noonan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was very hard to understand in my point of view. I felt like i was just reading a bunch of random works. I would recommend this to people who have a wide range of word choice and know there types of animals. I thought I would have been able to understand it more, because it was a graphic novel but it was one of the most confusing books I have read in a long time.

[Heather O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a graphic novel about evolution. I read this with my 11 year old to correspond with what he is learning for science. I thought that the book was very thorough. Evolution was explained very clearly and I even found that I learned some stuff that I didn't know. The book is in comic form, but it is very dense. I actually think that the book would be better for 8th grade or higher.

[Sinclair Bowman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for teaching what may be dull to a lot of kids as a narrative. The information is good, the story is cute and it doesn’t underestimate what kids can absorb. 10/10 is going into any library I ever put together for a child.

[Allyson G · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a science teacher I am always looking for good books to help explain difficult topics. While some parts of this book were nice, I overall found the way information was presented to be difficult to understand, and confusing if you didn't already have a background in the material.

[Matias Torchinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. I tried to read it with my kids (< 10Y) it did not work (some passages are quite complicated for them) but others don’t. After finishing this book I thought that if I could choose again, I will definitely consider evolutional biology to study (guess this means I enjoyed).

[Rhys Lindmark · Rating 5 out of 5]

150 fun, informative pages on how life evolved.

It gets most of the science right, plus I learned some new things — like pithier concept handles for the Phanerozoic periods.

Full of science puns & funny character interactions.

And just quick. Can't beat 150 pages.

[Jeremy Stephens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Im going to keep this review simple- I found this book to be very lame.