Have you ever asked yourself: Are spliced genes the same as mended Levis? Watson and Crick? Aren't they a team of British detectives? Plant sex? Can they do that? Is Genetic Mutation the name of one of those heavy metal bands? Asparagine? Which of the four food groups is that in? Then you need The Cartoon Guide to Genetics to explain the important concepts of classical and modern genetics—it's not only educational, it's funny too! |
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55 of 57 found the following review helpful:
 Genetics makes sense at last! May 04, 2000
By Darren X
I am a reasonably intelligent person with no biology background, trying to make sense of genetics so I can understand discussions about genetic engineering, medicine, the Human Genome Project, creation-evolution, etc. I have tried to read the genetics sections of biology textbooks to understand what's going on, but I find it hard to get the big picture from those. This book is perfect... it starts right from the beginning, and builds carefully and simply all the way to recombinant DNA, glossing over a few hard details but not making any huge, puzzling leaps like other books seem to. My girlfriend, taking third year undergraduate genetics, was astonished at how much material was covered so clearly in such a small book. The book is also fascinating as a study of how science really works. I'm ready for more genetics now!
26 of 27 found the following review helpful:
A valuable overview and review Oct 13, 2005
By Yoshiro Aoki
I am a student that has completed university-level biology over the past year (2004) with an `A' average, and presently studying the application of computer science to biological problems. I found this book laying in a professor's office so I borrowed it for kicks. What a surprise to find the principle concepts of biology arranged so well as to make a quick afternoon review of the basics possible. I really like modern university science texts, but sometimes the interrelationships of concepts are lost in the flood of information from them. This book lifts the academic information fog away from those interrelationships so that they may be clearly seen. Concepts traditionally separated by chapters of information are brought together in the space of a funny drawing or two in this book. I wish I had this book before I went through basic biology, because I think I would have gotten more out of the course with such an overview. But that didn't stop me from killing all hope of a curve at exam time:)
By the way, although this book was published in 1991 the content remains quite accurate to this date with few exceptions, most notably the 2 page emphasis on `one gene - one enzyme' (pp114-115). This has changed now with the discovery of alternative splicing just a few years ago. But overall, the book remains a very useful overview of an incredibly fascinating field of science.
5 stars
19 of 19 found the following review helpful:
Biology is FUN! Jul 07, 2001
By Ivi
I loved this book. It was so much fun. I'm a medical school student and I just finished a Cell Biology class. The first time I read "The Cartoon Guide to Genetics" was 3 years ago, when I didn't know lots of Biology. Now as a student, I read it again and I was amazed to see that all the concepts I was learning at school were clearly explained in this book and in the most hilarious manner. As I was reading it, I couldn't believe I was actually laughing! Simply GREAT!
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 Demystifies DNA Apr 18, 2001
I'm no science genius and college zoology left me still in the dark regarding DNA. I bought this book because one reviewer said that his colleague was using it for a genetics course and I knew a student who needed some help with genetics. I read the book myself, and then spoke with the student. This book would be great for someone in Introductory Biology but for someone in a genetics course it's simply not advanced enough. But the book did help me understand DNA for the first time. It also showed me that a good instructor can make the whole field understandable and interesting unlike my college zoology professor who only made it intimidating and boring. Now if the genetics instructor I'm thinking of would read this maybe she'd figure out how not to bore her class to sleep.Seriously I loved the historical approach to the field, the cartoons and the jokes were great. This book took the intimidation factor out of biology to a degree. Now I can at least talk intelligently about the subject. High school students could learn a lot from this, and struggling college freshmen might not struggle quite so badly in introductory biology with this at their side.
15 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 Content too old and incorrect Jan 13, 2005
By Irishmeg
I bought this book hoping to learn about basic principles of genetics in an easy-to-understand format. What I found was that the material was written many years ago. All you need to do is to check the copyright year. I knew that the one glaring error was the belief that there are 200,000 genes. We now know there are about 30,000. But it left me wondering what other information was outdated. Not wanting to learn incorrect information, I sent it back. If the authors update the content, then buy it because it's an enjoyable book.
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