Caricature Books

This is one big orange reason to not buy a cat. You are also in danger of never having much pasta in your diet again, as the big, fat, annoying cat eats all your food, sleeps all over the place and wrecks your furniture. He will also do nasty things to the postie and possibly to anyone you decided to bring over. Still, fairly amusing.

"Garfield at Large" is Garfield's first funnies (1978-1979). Lovely to see Jim Davis early ideas. (First strip with Odie, Pookie, first bad Monday...) Beautiful. Garfield's chubbier to begin with. Curious.

This book:

Well, Paws decided to colourize the weekday strips for these new compilations and they look nice. I would have preferred it if they simply left them in black and white and had the Sunday strips in colour, though. The Sunday strips are the same as you would have seen in the newspaper or the "Garfield Treasuries". Except, the colour scheme is modified slightly (not a big deal) and they added the title block (the title "GARFIELD" rising out of the background, with Garfield lying down in front of it) which didn't exist until the early 1980s!

The later collections:

The problem is with the later collections. I noticed that some of these new colour collections which come after "Garfield at Large" have the funny front pages and end pages from the original collections moved around or missing entirely. This may have been a printing mistake, though.

Here is the big problem. The original black and white collections up to and including the sixteenth were missing the title and drop block from the Sunday strips. That is, the title block and the very first block of the strip. This didn't matter for the first few years as these didn't exist. A few years later, the title block mentioned in my first paragraph was introduced and the drop block simply showcased the four major characters, Garfield, Odie, Jon and Lyman. A little later, unique title blocks and drop blocks related to the strip's story were created.

Unfortunately, the new colour collections have the drop block REMOVED in the later collections, yet the unique title block is included. So the strips aren't complete, if you want to read the complete strips, I guess you have to visit the Garfield website.

Still, for the price, it's a great value. The books are printed on high quality paper as usual. Even the new colour "Fat Cat 3-Packs" are printed in higher quality paper instead of that awful "mass market paperback" paper they used to use for the older ones.

Now, as you can see in this panel, Garfield doesn't like Nermal! But like him or not, Nermal's here to stay! Or is he?! Let's find out.

Garfield is a very lazy cute lovable cat that everyone adores. He sits around all day, eats lasagna, sleeps all day, and buggs the crap out of Oddie. He hates any attention. He likes to physically abuse Nermal, and no matter how much he tries he can't make him not cute and loveable.
In this book Garfield tries to do the impossible, LOSE WEIGHT!!! Garfield runs and hides when ANY ONE brings up the word diet. Garfield runs and hides when ANY ONE brings up the word diet. Garfield can be such an idiot (most of the time)!
I like this book because I love to see Garfield do funny things, because I love him SO MUCH!!DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

enjoyed this book, very funny, but the font is a bit hard to read for kids. Great if you read to them.

I read this book at a book store and decided that I had to have it, not only for my children, but for me too. My children have memorized the pages and "read it" to themselves all of the time. I read it to my mom and dad and we were almost in tears from laughing so hard. I highly recommend this book to everyone of all ages.

The two-page spread comparing kids' cereal with grown-ups' cereal is a gem. Note the ingredients list on the side. I laughed aloud and sent it to my husband. He responded the same way. The kids relished seeing us enjoy a "kids' book."

My 5 year old daughter ADORES this book. She recites different parts to her friends if they get grumpy, "did somebody leave the toilet seat up...and you fell in?" It's definatley not for a younger child, my 3 year old really loses her attention because the artwork is not bright and simple. Also, as a sidenote: there is a part that says, did your aunt give you a hug? and the illustration is a newspaper clipping about a boy who was lost in his aunts bosom. My nephews thought this was pretty gross to have a picture of a lady with a HUGE bosom. Anyway, hope this helps!

My kids LOVE this book. My sister bought it and recommended it to me. The pictures and story are great. Tom is a great author and I would recommend all of his books. It reminds me a lot of another book I love by Judith Viorst "Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day."

Great book - really funny. Perfect for someone who is out of work or unemployed.

I've been a Todd fan since the beginning in '02. He's as funny now as then. Love his website and his movie shorts as much as the book. His illustrations are great. They are so good because they are so simple. Who needs fancy anyway? He shows us you don't need a job to make it in the world sometimes. Just a good imagination. The book is a great bathroom read. A little at a time and you don't get bored with it.

tOdd effotlessly makes funny. His visual timing, though best experienced in a medium that moves past you (his online Flash cartoons) is spot-on and his own written narrative gets better and better, warmly human, quirky- but always as The Voice (not just The Yapper) inside us all. tOdd is a friend, a comic Genius, a most excellent writer and above all, a keen observer of himself. He looks in crannies and cracks few of us will, and is a pretty wonderful observer of this world and all of us.
If you don't already own two copes as I do, maybe start checking the auctions now.

luap

Odd Todd's website is not only one of those "must-see" sites, it's one that draws a person back day after day to see what new unemployed endeavors Todd is engaged in. Todd Rosenberg is one of the most optimistic, empowering, encouraging individuals you're ever likely to run across, and the fact that he's endured our sluggish economy (thank you, President Bush) jobless for three years with nothing but the contributions from his website and royalties from his book are testimony to the survival instinct in this unique individual. Hard Times, Soft Couch compiles some of the best snippets from his site, as well as plenty of new material, into a work of art that strikes the very heart of the slacker generation. Long live Odd Todd!

Here is a man who is honest, funny, clever, insightful and a talented artist. His milieu is unemployment. His canvas is life. He is a voice of a child of the 70`s and an adult of today. I spent the afternoon on the patio with his book and it has been the best day of 2004.

I really enjoy this brief introduction to most of the important fundamentals of Physics. If you have any physics background (I have an undergraduate degree in physics) you won't find much anything really outstanding or significant but you will probably enjoy reading this highly useful and entertaining presentation. The light-hearted perspective may provide physics-literate readers several new ideas on how to explain fundamental physics to "lay-persons".
For instance, I've provided this text and a couple of others to high schoolers thinking of enrolling in AP Physics. This could provide several students or adults a quick, unthreatening introduction and overview to the major precepts of Physics.
So that's where I recommend this book be used ... as a quick, non-threatening overview for adults or young people who want the quick 50,000-foot view of college or AP Physics presented in an understandable and humorous fashion that they can get through in one or two sittings.
And finally, for the physics-literate it provides several examples of how you might approach explaining some of the tenets of physics to other people who, ... let's say were once or still are frightened away from this subject because of a previous presentation they found much too daunting.

Gornick has done a pretty good job of using sequential art (i.e., comics) to explain difficult abstractions. I purchased this text to help my research about comics and teaching. I was quite satisfied.

Gornick mainly uses the illustrations for 2 purposes: to 'show' various experiments and metaphors, or to toss in a gag every couple pages. It's not a very visionary use of sequential art, but basically it works. The text explanations and visual explanations integrate well, and some of the gags are actually funny.

So, for what it's trying to do, the text is successful, I'd say. I only give it 4 stars out of 5 b/c I think there is so much MORE that comics can do.

This book was one of our text books in my introductory physics course in college. If you are struggling with general physics, this book is for you. It breaks everything down into easy to understand explanations and the illustrations are very helpful in visualizing the concepts presented. I've been referring back to it for years now. It has also helped me in studying for the MCAT, to review physics concepts that I had forgotten.

Some books make you laugh out loud, and this is one of them.

If you are 'into' physics then you'll probably find it funnier, but I've seen it bring a smile to the face of everyone who flips through it.

I teach an aerodynamics class, and particularly found the book useful in jogging my students' memories regarding their physics fundamentals. However, I'd be really hard pressed to call this text anything more than a fun refresher text. So don't expect exam grade learning from this one.

If it were only as humourous as the Cartoon History series. But then, is it possible to make equations as funny as human behaviour?

I was a lousy science major in high school. Looking back, I have no idea why I chose the subject I did anyway. The point is, I never understood half the stuff we were going through. Now, 10 years later, I've forgotten the few things I did understand.

Thanks to the magic of Larry Gonick I get now get it! At first glance it still looks hard. They really dive right in with formulas and stuff, but after a little while it feels natural. I just wish my teacher back then had put this book in my hands. Or maybe I just gave Gonick the chance I never gave my teacher. Either way, this was an enjoyable read!

I've been riding horses since I was tiny, a definite horse lover. I bought this book for myself and a fellow horse lover for Christmas. This book is adorable. So many of the illustrations reminded me of my childhood. It made me chuckle many times. A cute and fun book!

Every horse lover should own a copy of this book!!! It is packed with hilarious drawings and statements that any horse lover can relate to!! Such a fantastic gift for anyone that likes horses!! I ordered several copies for my friends for Christmas. Enough said!!!

I didn't realize it was like a cartoon type book. I was very disappointed in it. Would recommened it for the younger horse lovers in your family who enjoy reading cartoons but who can learn something from it also.

Anyone that deals with horses on a daily basis will enjoy this little book of quips. I don't think I read one thing in it that is not true. However, it will take a good reader only 30-45 min to read. I have passed it to all my horse friends and all have enjoyed it equally.

It is a fun read but more geared to children.

If you think you know Dr. Seuss, but haven't looked into his earlier career as a talented political cartoonist -- then you don't know the full range of the Dr.'s work!

Baby Boomers who memorized Seuss' poetry more completely than almost any other texts on which we were raised will enjoy seeing how Seuss spent his "war years" in the 1930s and 1940s.

His sharp-edged sense of satire skewered the rising Fascist tide in Europe -- and he threw a number of well-aimed darts at the handful of Americans who were in sympathy with early Fascist aims.

Now that this book is in paperback, which means it's a little less expensive, it's a great choice for fun reading about "our past," it's great as a gift -- and it's great for discussion groups to read, especially if you like to chew over global issues in your group.

Although the subject matter often is dark -- this is not a heavy book and it's vividly illustrated with Seuss' cartoons!

This book is an amazing part of history. Few people would have guessed that the famed and loved childrens story teller Dr. Seuss would have been a major force for WWII political cartoons. The books is sectioned by times and people and there is a description (both historical and chronological) for every cartoon. The images are moving and the book is a must for any collector of Seuss or lover of history.

I recieved my book quickly and in excellent condition. I'm very pleased with this service. I will continue to order from amazon.

Richard H. Minear examines and shows readers another side to Dr. Seuss. The cartoons discussed and shown in DR. SEUSS GOES TO WAR: THE WORLD WAR II EDITORIAL CARTOONS OF THEODOR SEUSS GEISEL portray a somewhat dehumanizing portrait of the axis powers during World War II. They are a 180-degree turn away from Seuss works that have enchanted and delighted many children and adults. However, these WWII era cartoons draw a picture of what fears and persceptions many had during the war. Art Spiegelman comments that these are the "lost" collection of cartoons by Seuss that were drawn for New York's PM newspaper from 1941-1942, and specifically served as a propaganda tool; the cartoons earned a Pulitzer Prize for Dr. Seuss.

However, they are much more controversial to present day standards, and capture the mindset of the time in which they were drawn. And the enemy were portrayed as animal-like, a flock of cats, and fumbling human-like characters with gross depictions, which share similarities of how political cartoons had been drawn during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. These cartoons are yet another collection and historical picture of the past, and cannot be compared to the Sunday funnies.

Minear attempts to keep an objective eye on his examination and commentary of each cartoon. However, Minear's commentaries through out the book have an inkling of being subjective and opinionated when he discusses how the Japanese are portrayed . He is often critical of Seuss's consistency and accuracy of the historical record.

Nonetheless, DR. SEUSS GOES TO WAR should be required reading in any history class that discusses World War perspectives. The issues in the book are historically, politically, and socially significant to World War II, and will help bring an understanding of this particular time in history.

Long before he started writing children's books, Theodor Geisel did advertising ("Quick Henry, the Flit!"), and even editorial cartooning. This book collects a large number of his WWII cartoon, and offers a fascinating commentary on those cartoons and on the man who drew them.

The militancy of these cartoons stands in stark contrast to the gentle goofiness of, for example, "One Fish, Two Fish." Of course, he took on Hitler, Mussolini, and other Axis leaders, using ridicule as his weapon against them. Other cartoons blast the appeasers and not-our-problem isolationists of the time. Interestingly, other cartoons came out with strongly anti-racist themes - a bit radical for the time, but he treated exclusion of blacks from wartime industry as a form of sabotage or treason. Minear's commentary offers helpful insight into the times in which the cartoons arose, and into some of the controversy they engendred, making its points with clear cross-references to specific cartoons.

It's hard to see these today as serious political statements. Too many of us grew up on The Cat in the Hat and other of Geisel's later work. When we see his distinctive lines and style, they can no longer carry the adult clout that they did in the 1940s. It's hard to see his artwork through the eyes of these cartoons' original readers, and to see the outrage that Seuss both satirized and ignited. It's worth the effort, though. WWII was a very different time than today, and did a lot to shape what today has become. Minear's book examines a unique facet of that time.

//wiredweird

The final word on guided climbing. If you want to know the truth about being dragged up Everest, this is the book for you.

I've been following Tami Knight's work for years, when she used to be published in Canadian mountaineering magazines. She was our little secret for years, and whenever we saw an American sitting there bemused by some Canadian mountaineering foible, we'd laugh and laugh and laugh. Then we read Tami and really laugh.

Anyway, given recent events on the Big Momo, people might think this book rude, crude and mean. It is. So is Tami Knight. Which is why it must be read. Knight puts her finger right on the main problems with mountaineering nowadays and pushes for all she's worth. Get this book now, before the Ethics Committee has it pulled.

Well, I agree this is the irreverence that the Everest genre was waiting for! I laughed quite a bit, and smiled at much of it.

The Dianas (Princesses that is) expedition really tickled my funny bone the most. How inspired to take two such icons, both ludicrously unattainable for most mere mortals, and marry them.

Humour is such a subjective thing, you will either love it or hate it. But don't condemn this take on Everest because of a misapprehension of what it is about. It is a cartoon book. It does actually say more about the reality of the sponsorship and money side of 'personal Everests' than all the thousands of words I have read on the subject thus far.

I thought I was buying another adventure narrative when I purchased this book, instead it is a bunch of comics that are, well, not comical. I just want you to be forewarned that this is not a real book.

And I thought only my hairdresser knew for sure what happened on that fated mountain. Read Tami's new book to find out what everybody else in the world failed to reveal. Or make up!

If you are looking to change your cartooning style or just want to learn how to draw "retro" styled cartoons, this is your book! Christopher Hart teaches you how to draw retro-styled cartoons by comparing the classic style and the retro style so you can pinpoint where you need to draw differently to achieve that retro look.

As always, a great learning guide for the beginner or the experienced cartoon artist.

This is another great title from Christopher Hart. In this book, he takes a look of some of the cartoons and animation that is popular today. This seems to be an era of the "retro" look and feel and Mr. Hart uses this book as a resouce to explore and teach these cool cartooning techniques!

Gift this book to yourself or the retro cartoon fan in your life!

You can't go wrong with this book. It really covers the subject matter completely.

Christoper Hart you did good!

Like all of Chris Hart's books, Cartoon Cool is filled with hack drawings and bad drawing advice.
If you really want to draw in the Retro style, here's a tip: Go look at the cartoons and the artists that inspired the retro style in the first place. Ed Benedict, Mary Blair, M. Sasek, 50's era Hank Ketcham, Gene Dietch.
These are the people that Craig McKracken and Genndy Tartokovsky and Lynne Naylor are inspired by.
Google the names. You'll have a wealth of material at your finger tips.
Here's another tip: REALLY learn how to draw things the way they really look.
You can't abstract something unless you know what it looks like.

Great for 8-15 age range. Artwork is fun and isn't intimidating to novice drawers. I'm a little out of the target age range and target skill set in my opinion, but even still I did pick up some clear, concise, and insightful tidbits on the style. If anyone is looking for drawing books for their kids, I'd keep Christopher Hart's name in mind.

I bought this book for a friend & scanned through it to see what it actually offers. I admit, I spent more time than I thought in checking things out because it made me laugh out loud. Some of the comedy is based on oddly innocent perceptions of what sex is about - with the right skew of absurdity and is so refreshing. Frankly, for the experienced, the book offers a few thoughts to consider about serious parts of sex - AND reassured me that I was "OK" with what I knew & practiced. The cartoon drawings are endearing and humorous along with the easily understood & straightforward text. My friend will be in good hands with this book in-hand.

This book is informative without being overly silly. I'm over 40 and I learned things in it about myself that I didn't know. As a mom, I also appreciate the fact that when my child is ready to know more about sex, this will be an interesting and informative resource to be consulted.

Thought-provoking, educational, and very funny! All of Gonick's books are top-notch and this one is no exception. Gonick handles sensitive topics with humor and clarity, without dumbing down or trivializing the message. Truly a book that will teach you about things you might have been afraid to ask about! The parts regarding sexually transmited diseases and sex-crimes can be a bit rough, but Gonick's style disarms some of the tension here.

If you like any of Gonick's other books, you will like this book. The book nicely handles a taboo topic with Larry Gonick's usual flair of solid information mixed with humor. Highly recommend.

If you are skittish about delving into the mechanics of reproduction with a pre-teen or new teen (probably because they would rather talk about this with a parent even less than...well, any other thing in the freakin' universe), this is a perfect book to surreptitiously leave on a bookshelf. I bought it and had it in my bedroom to review before turning it over to my son. A couple of days later, I realized that it was missing, and found it hastily tossed beneath the bed -- so the Theory of Pubescent Auto-gravitation to Sex Information definitely works. However, this is a last resort. If you find it difficult to talk directly, the best alternative is really a balanced "abstinence PLUS full disclosure" seminar run by people the kids can talk to. My church offered one like this and I believe the kids respond much more positively to being treated with respect regarding serious subjects. This book has that same idea behind its surface goofiness.

I'm not a very avid reader, but this one is pretty fun to read, and it's pretty basic(definitely not difficult reading!).

I would recommend it! It's pretty nice to get a foundation on some fairly important history. It's relative to other important facts in history or in life.

I love reading philosophy and I prefer the method of looking at the origins of a philosophical topic and see its development. The problem of this book is that it tries to cover 4000 years of philosophical history in a thin book, plus the pages are littered with pictures and drawings (something Plato would not appreciate) which cut out space even more.

Having so much history of philosophy crammed into a small book with pictures hardly does the history, nor the philosophy, justice.
With all that is in Plato the book reduces his philosophy to a brief discussion over one kind of Form theory. He's also mistaken in his beliefs that Revelation and the Gospel of John are two different authors (Apostle John and John of Patmos). Also, I felt his work on Kant was very shallow since there's far more in Kant than what a few pages can give. Now I'm not saying he should give all the information on them that there is to give, nor to give us a thesis for each philosopher, but it would be nice to show that these people have far more to say than what the book gives. Perhaps a sneak peek, or a short list of other topics and theories covered?

I gave it two stars because I'm open to the idea that someone might find this to be a good place to start, or valuable to the student who's only taking philosophy as a requirement rather than because of personal interest. However, there are far better intro books and history of books out there. The pictures were simply too much for me.

Lastly, for a book that costs over forty dollars there are better book. It's too much money for such little information on each philosopher.

I have the 1988 edition so I can't vouch for this edition.
But I have to say if it is anything like this one then by all means grab it. A very readable style with plenty of humours illustrations that make this an unputdownable book. Don't let the cartoons fool you though, you will learn alot.

'Looking At Philosophy: The Unbearable Heaviness of Philosophy Made Lighter' by Donald Palmer lives up to the promise in its title; It is a very brief overview on the history of philosophy, covering most major philosophers through history, starting with the Greek philosophers, and ending with the modern philosophies.

It is an extremely light read. I found myself reading far ahead of the assigned chapters, simply because I was enjoying myself. The illustrations are humorous, though sometimes silly, especially for a text book.

The light reading can also be problematic. I found myself referring to other resources for a full understanding, because the author did not cover (I felt) enough ground on most subjects, leaving me without only a surface understanding of the concepts.

This book would be better suited to a high school class, rather than a serious, college course.

Overall, the text was refreshingly enjoyable, though oftentimes fell short.

I bought this book for my Philosophy 101 class. I tried to sell it back but the bookstore wouldn't let me. Although I hated the idea that I wouldn't be getting my 30 bucks back, little did I know that this book would serve as an important tool for my Literary/Criticism class (which I am currently taking). It definitely clarifies complicated theories with a touch of humor added to the descriptions. There are also sketches in the book that are also humorous, yet provide the reader with a mental image on the topic at hand.