Graphics Books

This is not a series with stand alone books, you have to start in the beginning and progress. This book just jumps in and starts where Carpe Diem left off. We're at the start of the war in earnest between the Clan Korval and previously unknown enemies. Things start to tie together and finally Val and Miri get back into the thick of the Liaden worlds. I like this book, but it's definitely a bridge between Partners in Necessity and I Dare. I love this series, it has everything you could want from a space opera and more. Some once described it as Jane Austen in space, but I find it more deadly than that - more like Renaissance Italy in space, lots of machinations and maneuverings and with some love and laughter to leaven the plot. Highly recommended series. A keeper and frequent reread.

This is the fourth volume (out of five -- I think) in a first-rate space opera story arc, set in the Liaden Universe, that began with Conflict of Honors. It's all about Clan Korval, one of the wealthiest and most powerful trade families around, and the people in it, and their growing struggle with the Liaden Department of Interior (which has plans for running things their own narrow-minded way), and with the Juntavas (a sort of galactic Mafia), and their relations and alliances with various Terran groups and individuals. Key to the multiple plots are Val Con yos-Phelium -- who becomes a Scout and then a spy, and then goes determinedly on the lam -- and his lady-love, Miri Robertson, a talented ex-mercenary who thought she was Terran (and still mostly thinks that way) but who has discovered she's actually a lost member of Clan Erob, a smaller Liad family that is closely allied with Korval. Val Con and Miri, now lifemates, have gone to Erob to get her accepted back into the family, and things are moving along well. But what they don't know is that the attempts by Clan Korval, back home, to locate Val Con (who is supposed to take over the family's leadership, whether he wants to or not), have led to an unhealthy interest in Korval by the Department of Interior. "This means war," as they say. The current First Speaker, Nova yos'Galan, invokes "Plan B," which can be summed up in two words: "Everybody scatter!" The family's flagship is even outfitted as a battleship -- and a very powerful one, too. And then all hell suddenly breaks loose, with an attack on Erob's world by the dreaded Xytrang (a combination of Huns and Mongols, with a dash of Klingon), and Miri is suddenly pushed to the forefront, her mercenary experience in great demand. But things get even weirder when Val Con is able to recruit an Xytrang Scout-equivalent to fight on his side. There are loads of interwoven subplots here, plus interestingly developed personal relationships, and lots of classic military ground action. Don't even think about trying to read this volume first, because you will have no idea of what's going on; start at the beginning of the arc -- but keep all the volumes handy because you won't want to wait to start the next volume!

Great read. So much detail in this book; I read it over again after I finished reading it the first time and was just as entertained. I hope the saga continues! More please...

plan B opens with Miri and Val Con in space and headed to the planet Lytaxin. They've put the word out to Val Con's clan to rendezvous there. There is also an invading force of alien warriors that is converging right along with them. plan B is full of widescale destruction, ironic humor and justified paranoia. It will have you ride a wave of human emotions as you are caught up in the story.

I did not know this was book six of the Liaden universe. But if you haven't read the other books, like myself, you won't have too much trouble following the events of plan B, I may have missed some subtly points by not having a background to pull from. But I still found it a very entertaining read and could not put it down.

"A changing array of safeplaces shall be maintained at all times, in the event of immediate, catastrophic threat to the Clan. There is no shame in strategic retreat. Even Jela sometimes ran from his enemies, the better to defeat them, tomorrow.
"Keep the children safe. Honor without love is stupidity."
- This by the hand of Cantra yos'Phelium, Captain and Delm, in the Third Year after Planetfall

This book comes closest to suffering from "middle book" syndrome of all the Liaden books, but only because it's obviously in the middle of a continuing story. Plenty of interesting things occur in this volume, but their origins lie in AGENT OF CHANGE (which introduced Miri and Val Con to each other), a story which was continued in CARPE DIEM. The cliffhanger ending of PLAN B itself leads to I DARE, the next book, so I recommend having that handy before tackling this volume.

If the gentle reader insists on beginning with PLAN B in this series, don't claim that I didn't warn you against such an ill-advised idea.

Val Con yos'Phelium, sometime First-In Scout and ex-Agent of Change, is still on the run with his new lifemate, ex-mercenary Miri Robertson, from Liad's so-called "Department of the Interior", a renegade government organization dedicated to giving Liad its "true place" in the galaxy even if Liad's own culture and people must be sacrificed to that aim. As heirs to Korval's ancient contract to protect the people of Liad, Val Con and his cousins can't let the Department win, even if their own lives weren't at risk as a family heavily intermingled with Terrans.

In this round of their ongoing battles, however, the Department is a relatively minor factor.

As arranged at the end of CARPE DIEM, the cousins are about to rendezvous on Lytaxin, homeworld of Miri Robertson's distant Liaden kinfolk - also, ironically, ancient allies of Clan Korval. (*Every* senior member of Val Con's family thinks it's ironic that he chose his lifemate from the most suitable family possible, and that if he'd *known* she was suitable he'd have taken forever to look in her direction.) Unfortunately, Lytaxin - having just undergone a massive rebellion - is now being invaded by the Yxtrang 14th Conquest Corps, who successfully executed their standard opening ploy of destroying the planetary communication net.

And in accordance with the principle that no good deed goes unpunished, the Yxtrang Explorer whom Val Con once captured and trussed up like a turkey is not only attached to the Corps but has just been captured by Lytaxin's defenders. And guess which Liaden on the planet is the *only* person fluent in Yxtrang?

Various nice touches of characterization and development of the cultures involved, including our first good look at the Yxtrang as well as Miri's first adjustments to interacting with Liaden culture as a Liaden rather than a Terran. We also get a more detailed look at Miri's old mercenary unit (who quite properly ask why Miri and Val Con didn't just tag along with them in the first place, if they were going to end up on Lytaxin anyhow).

Mythology collects the stellar art work of Alex Ross showcasing the worlds finest images of the major DC characters such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. This book highlights key points of the characters beginnings and evolutions with clear and informative writing. Gorgeously illustrated by Alex Ross coupled with wonderfully laid out design work the reader will find it quite difficult to put down this handsome book.Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross

An amazingly illustrated montage of Ross's work. A beautiful book for fans of comic book art and art in general.

AMAZING. Totally worth buying. If you like Alex Ross, you will not regret this purchase. The book includes Ross' comments on inspiration, collaborations, thoughts, insights, and much more. Truly inspiring.

It's a great work, detailing all the work of Alex Ross in DC Comics. In this book, we get the notions of how he figures out the characters, their concepts and ideologies, etc. Moreover, with this book we can see how the Art is transported from the artist's mind to the paper.
There's just one book better than this one: it's hardcover version, much more beautiful.

Wow. I love Alex Ross, and he has soooo many beautiful pieces that they shouldn't have had any trouble finding classic, beautiful images.
This calandar is half filler. Some months are nothing more than pictures of toys based on Ross's paintings. That's ridiculous. I could have settled for the design art that the toys were made from, but I didn't buy a calandar of the artist's works to see lame products several times removed from the actual art.
High hopes led to great disappointment.

Tommy Tomorrow is a genious! His comics do an amazing job of summarizing just what's wrong in politics, while making the situations incredibly humorous at the same time. Very highly recommended.

Ruled by incompetent right-wingers for the last 8 years, liberals like me need an injection of humor. Here we get it, with sharp sarcasm from Sparky the Penguin. Funniest part is when Sparky, the leftist Bush critic, get hits by a toilet and becomes a Republican for about 50 pages. I highly recommend this book to anyone depressed by the current state of America and needing a good laugh. Thank you, Tom Tomorrow!

Tom Tomorrow has done a fantastic job of putting humor into a political situation that one would think impossible to find humor in. "Hell in a Handbasket" is a further example of Mr. Tomorrow's ability to mix biting political satire with the funny bone. He can cut through much of the non-sense that is allowed to float around out there and make that hypocrisy painfully evident. God, I hope he gets some joy out of his own writing and cartooning, because I would very much hate for him to disappear from the shelves. Buy this book if you are leftie, just to keep the insanity away. Buy this book if you are a winger, just to cure yourself of the insanity.

This book is a must read for all the Limbaugh-listening, neocon, Bush-backers out there! Every page is filled with poignant scenes of the Bush administration. The real humor lies in the irony involved--the jokes are so "tragically true" that they make you snicker, rather than laugh. My fellow Bush-BASHERS will agree...the book is a capsulized summary of the darkest period in American politics. Hope you learned your lesson--next time, vote for Democrats!

Kudos to Tom Tomorrow for a very funny chronicle of Life During Bush. I've never been a fan of his penguin character, but the hilarious drawings of the 1950s types that reflexively support Bush and the monsterous GOP agenda is worth the price of purchase.

Whenever events and outrageous revelations of torture, incompetence, cronyism, lies, illegalities and arrogance surface about the Bush administration (seems like it's two or three times a week lately), I often browse though Tom Tomorrow to soothe the outrage with some laughter. Sometimes it's all you can do.

So it is pretty much a fact that Bill Watterson is a comic genius! This collection holds with it the comics with which I grew up and remember from my childhood. Watterson is excellent with a pen, and his wit and intelligence shines through via his solid characters and humor. He balances boyish silliness with concepts bordering both on philosophical and just plain cynical. And somehow it all goes straight to the heart.

If you love C&H, you'll like this book. For me, Calvin is like pepperoni pizza... when it's good, it's really good, and when it's bad, it's still good.

Calvin and Hobbes has always been a good `grounding' read . . . Kinda Zen, kinda common sense, always funny.

This Calvin and Hobbes book is the best i've read by far. Its 250 pages long and each page contains 3 strips.
The strips in this book are especially funny and i am sure you'll enjoy them.
I highly reccomend this book.

I could relate to Calvin and Hobbes, from the moment I first started following the adventures of the devilish, eternal six year old (Calvin) and his scruffy, stuffed pal tiger (Hobbes). Though, many of the plots appear simplistic (example: Calvin makes a mess and his mother yells at him!), there is so much more to the little strips than meets the eye. For starters, Calvin and Hobbes ponders the meaning of life, the voicelessness of children in society, and self image (among other themes).

Though, this comic strip is something that definitely appeals to little children, because it presents a little boy that we all can relate to (or maybe spent time avoiding on the playground if he teased us), and his stuffed animal. Anyone who owned a stuffed animal and knows what an important bond that is for a child, knows the feeling when that toy crosses over from the identity of "inanimate object" to "lifelike being." The creature that we relate to truly embodies the qualities who want in a best friend and companion, and we aren't doing the talking for that creature, because it truly does have a mind of its own! (in the eyes of a child) Wonderful, very funny and beautifully drawn. I've had mine for almost fifteen years and I just went back to look at it today. It feels like no time has passed between now, and the time I first looked at it. Buy this today and make it a part of your collection.

I bet there is a few people who are thinking about buying this for a younger relitive, thinking it's like the 4kids anime....you better back away unless you want your 7-10 year old pulling the perverted prank "panty tank". Yu-Gi-Oh! was originally intended for teens until 4kids messed it up so if your looking for some Yu-Gi-Oh! for your kids try "the pyrimid of light" ani-manga (its colored and has the same dialoge as the movie its self)

This is a good volume, of course it starts the series so don't expect anything too deep.The art is okay compared to takahashi's later style in duelist.The best story in this volume is duel 1:the puzzle of the gods cause that is where it starts.The others are fair but in my favorites includes duel 4 and 5.Note this is not for kids since it's too violent,doesn't feature the cards and the names and storyline are completely different from the edited tv show.

The first 7 volumes of the manga is pretty much what happened in the series that wasn't shown in the US. I recommend this to manga readers 11+ but be warned, there is violence and a lot of swears in this manga. I am 13 years old

Try, for a moment, to put aside all you think you know about Yu-Gi-Oh! and imagine something completely unexpected. Forget about the children's TV series. Don't give the card games another thought. And try to get past the tons of merchandise featuring Yugi's image. Let's begin to reconceptualize the character of Yugi.

That is, essentially, all that is needed in order to more fully enjoy Kazuki Tanahashi's creation, Yu-Gi-Oh! In the Manga, Yugi isn't the tough-talking little Goth boy you might expect. Instead, Yugi seems to be the polar opposite of this characterization - and deliberately so. A comparatively small teen with awkwardly-proportioned hands and feet, the slightly-effeminate Yugi struggles daily with schoolyard bullies, cruel adults, and even the doldrums which epitomize teenage life. While everything seems stacked against him from the get-go, Yugi finds himself optimistic, enjoying life whereas other similarly-affected kids would be beaten down by these oppressive forces.

And this is because he has a mind which is constantly stimulated by the games his grandfather provides him with. You see, Yugi loves puzzles more than anything, and can make a game out of anything. This is the quality that both alienates him from his peers, and gives him limitless courage to face each trial of the schoolyard. In this sense, there's some degree of all of us - after all, who doesn't love a good game? Who among us hasn't daydreamed about getting lost in some fancy labyrinth, or of solving a particularly challenging mind game?

As a result of his passion for puzzles, Yugi becomes someone different from time to time - a personality over which he has no conscious recollection or knowledge. This Yugi is a sadist, one who has no qualms over hurting those who tread upon the weak as a means of poetic justice. This Yugi plays games of a different sort, ones which torture the players unfortunate enough to lose ("Penalty Games," dished out to those who seemingly deserve such extreme punishments - blindness, insanity, death by fire, etc.), but only those who have manipulated others and exploited their helplessness. This Yugi later becomes known as "Yama Yugi" (or, "Dark Yugi").

In creating this series, creator Mr. Tanahashi explains that he had no concept of how popular his little character would become in the marketplace and in the media. Having met with no prior success, Mr. Tanahashi had no way of anticipating what would become of his little "strange story... that centered around 'The Mysterious' in everyday life." The first appearance of the ubiquitous card game based on the Manga does not even make an appearance in this first volume (a 7-issue series which spins off into Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist and nearly concurrently, Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World, and today's hot property Yu-Gi-Oh! GX).

While this book is - as one might expect - very popular with the kids, it certainly isn't the average American-written "kids' book." Inside these pages are tales of abuse, murder, torture... and, sometimes, even some bawdy humour ("Never play basketball in a skirt," says Anzu, the book's female protagnist). Certainly, it is filled with goofy stories light on the plot and occasionally, heavy on the characterizations - so it's a nice, light read. It's a children's title by way of Suzuki Koji, much the same way Hayao Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro was almost a grown-up movie disguised as kids' fare.

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a fun ride, packed with calculated fear and excitement, and endowed heavily with humanizing imagery (especially poignant is the image of Yugi reaching into a box, having nearly completed the 3-D puzzle he had kept with him for eight years, his clumsy hand searching for the final puzzle piece... only to discover it was missing, for all his pains. After watching him get beaten and extorted by a much larger classmate, knowing that the puzzle was what gave poor Yugi the most enjoyment out of life... This painful little scene is almost too much for dry eyes to absorb). It may not be the best of the genre, but it does deserve the attention it has received.

It also deserves a little more respect as well, but with marketing ever the ceaseless beast, this probably isn't too likely.

Many American children, especially those in the 7-12 age bracket, watch Yu-Gi-Oh regularly. Kids love the action and strategy. Parents love the 'appropriate' factor. Teens, however, hate the kiddiness, and anime purists abhor the editing.

Guess what? It's a lucky day for teens and anime fans.

Threats, fist-fights, and disturbing games (with disturbing conclusions) run rampant in this first volume of Yu-Gi-Oh, and although most people will love it, parents need to be warned--this is not for children under the age of 12.

Also, you won't find the card game 'Duel Monsters' anywhere in this first volume--in fact, it doesn't become the main part of the story until later on in the Yu-Gi-Oh anthology. Instead, however, you'll find out the origins of Yugi and his friends (with their original, un-Americanized names). And while all of this was originally created for a Japanese TV show, when 4Kids brought YGO over to the US, they skipped over the first few story arcs, and got right to the card battles.

Also, it's important to note that as this is a manga (Japanese comics, for the uninitiated) graphic novel, it reads from right to left, in traditional Japanese fashion. Of course, this means that you read the panels and text bubbles from right side to left side, but the translated text is written from left to right. It's ok if you don't understand--VIZ (the publishing company) provides a key in the graphic novel to help you learn how to read it. After 30 or 40 pages, reading like this will become second nature, so don't fret about that.

VIZ translates the sound effects, which is nice. The artwork is very nice (though not amazing), consistent, and easy to look at. The translation is very well done, with footnotes explaining any Japanese pop-culture references you might miss.

Overall, I'd highly reccomend it--to anyone over 12, and especially to older Yu-Gi-Oh fans who want to see a little bit darker take on the story.

The author did a great job of covering all of those items many developers use in their CSS but may not have had the time to review in detail. His book reads well and does a good job of reviewing what's supported in many current browsers, plus what "hacks" may be needed to continue to support IE 6 and below. Very well done ...

I was recommended this book by a colleague and it is already proven to be a valuable resource. I had a problem where my DIVs weren't behaving like I wanted them to. And I actually found the answer and it took me just ONE extra selector that knocked my web page in place!!

Now that's worth the money!! I haven't even read the whole book at that point. I highly recommend this book. I'm new to the whole "Missing Manual" series, but can tell that these books are sort of like the "..For Dummies" books.

If you are a CSS designer, I recommend this book. And the cool part about all this is that my boss thinks I'm a CSS Guru, which I'm not, I just know where to go to find the answers!!!

Add this book to your resource library!!

This is a excellent book to learn CSS, Very detailed, well laid out and McFarland adds more information then just teaching Css; Heck it's like all you need to know really is basic Html.

McFarland's book has filled in a lot of missing pieces for me, and a lot of his illustrations have clarified what I have had trouble visualizing from other sources. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book for beginners or intermediate CSS users who want a clearer understanding to take the design process to the next level.

I've been messing around with CSS for a while, but because of some missing details in other sources, I'm using what I've learned to format page elements within tables, never having totally grasped CSS layout concepts, particularly floats. I'm only half way through the book now and have a much clearer understanding of how to solve previous problems.

In addition to being an easy read, the hands-on tutorials have been very helpful. And I love that he's included the hacks to make CSS work in even IE browsers. Many other resources provide only links to websites where you can scrounge around for tutorials.

McFarland provides plenty of links too, but includes important explanations and hacks that keep you from having to roam the web looking for basic explanations that should be included in an instructional manual.

If you've been struggling with some of CSS's quirks, this book could provide missing information that will allow you to move ahead more quickly. I've had a lot of "Aha!" moments as an advanced beginner and am looking forward to many more.

In addition to being a good source of instruction, the book also covers some advanced CSS topics including media style sheets and tips on improving CSS habits. There are three appendices: a CSS Property Reference; using CSS in Dreamweaver 8, and about 7 pages of links to additional information, examples, and advanced tips and tricks.

"CSS: The Missing Manual" was a money very well spent for me.

Sunny Carney

Fantastic book for learning CSS!
Here is the order that I suggest to learn XHTML/CSS styling:
1. Head First HTML/CSS
2. CSS The Missing Manual
3. CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions
So far, I have really enjoyed the first two books, when I finish CSS the Missing Manual, I will move on to number 3.
I have found that these three books ideally complement each other.

I always love Mr Gaiman;'s work. Sandman is probably his opus given the size and the eclectic nature of the themes. The Endless as interpreted by a Master like Gaiman represent an amazing world that weaves the deepest recesses of the collective consciousness, mythology, history and keep it living enough to be interesting. Aesthetically, the books are great and the artwork is just as eclectic as the are the themes. I wish I was exposed to this stuff as a kid...

I found this book a very creative exercise in perception, script and artwork. The story is mainly told from the perspective of one of the "Endless", Dream, with cameos from Destiny, Death, Desire and Dispare (see satirical opening quote from Jack Dee - "Lots of things begin with D") :-) The third brother in a family of seven, these Endless are anthropomorphic personifications of ideals/concepts and exist, apparently, across even species (one of the stories is told from a cat's point of view). The issues dealt with in the varied stories are some of the usual collection of welcoming death, forgivness, murder, society, slavery etc - in other words what appears to be standard fare for any sci-fi buf. However, there are a few interesting twists with takes on several points of history, biblical references and different points of view of the same issues but told from a different species' perspective which is somewhat unusual. The artwork throughout the collection is consistent and uses high contrast in many of the captions to great effect. The artwork on the covering page for each story is quite exceptional and could even be viewed as works in their own right.

All in all, this is well worth a read, whether you are a fan of the comic genre or if you're new to it, this collection will suck you into the world of the Endless...

I was actually surprised by two things reading these first twenty issues of Sandman: by how many of the characters I already knew, and by how much these comics actually tied into the mainstream DC Universe at the time. I'm used to the current age of Vertigo comics where the characters can NEVER cross over into regular superhero books, or vice versa (the days of Swamp Thing teaming up with Superman are gone). Of course, some of these characters can still pop up from time to time (I'm pretty sure Morpheus was in an issue or two of JSA and Starman, and even more recently Destiny was in The Brave and The Bold).
I was also impressed with the overal mythology Gaiman gave this world, one I didn't really knew existed. I was aware that The Endless existed, but I had always just assumed that Sandman was a series of somewhat interconnected tales, almost an anthology series, that featured him as a central character, but nothing much else. Turns out he had a very large story-arc planned through the whole 80 issue run, and I could see elements of what he would later do with American Gods. I'm glad I stuck it out and waited for the Absolute editions.

This is a beautiful book - expensive but worth every penny. Anyone that likes neil gaimon, graphic novels, dark fantasy, or gothic stories will love the stories, illustrations, and whole format of the book. Those who just love wonderful books will also be proud to have this on their shelves.

Comprising Sandman numbers 1 to 20, the Absolute Sandman, Vol. 1 is the first of four oversized, slip-cased hardcover books that will reprint Neil Gaiman's Sandman completely (all 75 numbers, plus some extras). That alone would be highly recommended, but this book has also a new coloring, aproved my Neil himself, plus a new introduction by Paul Levitz, forewords by Gaiman, a copy of the script with sketches for Sandman #19 (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and also sketches from Gaiman and Michael Dringenberg on the Sandman proposal to DC back in the 80s. Ah, and also all 20 covers from Dave McKean.

All of this would mean nothing if the book wasn't really good, and really good it is. Here you'll read the capture of the Lord of the Dreams and his comeback (early collected in "Preludes and Nocturnes"), his encounter with the deadly nightmare "The Corinthian" (previously collected in "The Doll's House), and four short stories from the past of Dream (as seen before in "Dream County" collection). Many great moments from the series are here: the confrontation in Hell with demons over his helmet, the serial killer convention, the encounter with his sister Death, and the already mentioned A Midsummer Night's Dream, the first and only comic book to win a World Fantasy Award.

This book is a work of art, and high recommended. Can't wait to have the 4 of them on my bookshelf!

I bought the first edition of this book called Programming Windows Presentation Foundation (AKA Avalon) at the PDC in 2005 and read it completely on the plane home.

When I heard the second edition was released I didn't think much would have changed, but this is even better than the first edition. It's twice as big and covers all major (and not so major) topics in WPF (inc. an introduction to 3D and Silverlight).

I think this book will proof to be for WPF what Programming Windows, Fifth Edition is for WIN32 programming.

There isn't much yet on the internet about WPF, so if you want to get started using it, you really need a guide.

Not only is the book a well crafted introduction to WPF, I've just discovered that the downloadable source code makes an excellent companion to the book.

Questions that were not answered in another top-rated WPF book I found answered here... so whatever else you buy, get this book!

This book is the most in depth resource into WPF i have seen. And not just that, it gets to the good stuff that you'll actually use in your code and not just filler or lists of properties that you can get from intelisense. The examples are extremely useful.

The other benefit of this book is that it doesn't just tell you how to do things, but why. This is incredibly helpful in finding the best solution to your specific problem.

Thanks guys! great book!
Ralph

I say to ignore those reviews because they do not refer to this book. This is the second edition published August 28, 2007 with 863 pages. Those reviews are based off of the first edition published nearly two years before (September 12, 2005) and with only 447 pages.

Using Amazon's 'Search inside this book' takes you to the 2005 edition also. That shows only 10 chapters while this edition has 17. Most of the negative comments from the 2 and 3 star reviewers seem to have been resolved.

The biggest strength of this book is that it focus on using WPF programatically, not just laying out XAML. This is extremely useful if you are writing an application for 3D data visualization or a database driven application. You get to learn to create event handlers, generate meshes... all programmatically. I also believe that this book is great, not just as a learning tool, but as a reference guide. It is the most comprehensive book on the subject and a must for the aspiring WPF developer.

If you just want to focus on XAML, however, I will have to recommend "Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed" by Adam Nathan.

This book and the other two in this series don't make history less complex but they sure make it readable!

My older sister originally bought me and my younger sister the computer program. That was a few years ago, but it was a nice dry sarcastic, but silly humor.
Then I ordered this book, which has much the same type of humor. I wish it were in color instead of black and white, but otherwise, a fun way to "read" history.

I highly recommend this book. It's well written, it's occasionally funny and very readable. Volumes 1 to 7 starts with the Big Bang, to the evolution, to the first great civilizations (Sumer, Egypt and the Greeks), and ends with Alexander the Great reaching India.

I was so impressed about the presentation that I thought - why isn't there an animated version of this book (and the other volumes)? Wouldn't it be nice for kids to be able to get their history lessons via Cartoon Network?

But then I reached the part about what early Greek women did with their goats and sheep and how the Spartans treated young boys and I thought "well, maybe it's better if it stays in book form".

My only gripe is the lack of an index. Certainly handy when important names and places are regularly mentioned (like any other history book) .

This book is amazingly good. It is funny and educational and incredibly well drawn. You should BUY it.

You know it takes a comic to get to heart of humanity. In most history books you get a narrow point of view, and one that is usually "politically correct" according to the standards of the day. By making a comic version of history, the author can get around all of the "PC"ness of most history books and really hit home with the way humanity *is* and *always was.* The "sheep love" of early humans was a laugh riot. I never learned so much while having such a good time.

I recommend these for history buffs and non-history buffs. Really it's just a good read period. Forget that it's history.

I am an avid manga collector and had been wanting to check out Mars for a long time since I saw a write up on it in Newtype magazine. It did not disappoint. The artwork is lovely and the storyline isn't skimpy or cheesy, it is a manga with substance and relatable charaters, I am 20 and love this manga. I currently own volumes 1-6 and am looking forward to number 7! :)

I thought this is a great romantic seires. Kira and Rei a weird couple yes. Shy and sweet quiet artist girl to Dangerous bad boy that does what he wants. But I loved how the started the first volume. It already showed so things that will come ahead to this couple. Some people look for the art in manga but it wasn't like that for me. I liked the art and this a old manga but has been proveing to this girl that many has loved this series for the beauty of it's story and art. For romance I recommend this book. They already get this couple in some very sweet moments :). I get lost in this series every time I read it. To know more about the series I so recommend buying the fullength series which is 15 books. I love reading them over and over. I hope you find yourself swept away as I was when I read the first book then I couldn't stop reading after that I had to the next one then the next one. You get so later yo.

GREAT MANGA!!!!
I'm in my twenties and this is one of the best mangas

this book rocked. Not gonna drone on like the rest of my reviews except to say read this. I loved how you could tell just how different these two were. Short book, but had me on the edge of my seat all the way. Finished in twenty minutes, but came back to read my favorite parts. And the picture when they kiss and they're sparkling! AWESOME ART MAN! Get this book.

This is Jumaane

If you dig love stories and like manga, this series is a MUST READ. The artwork is very good and the characters are expressed very well, the plot is insanely good, and its fifteen volumes long, meaning that there's a lot more to love! And, the main character drives a Ducati Monster, the awesomest bike in the universe. What more could you ask for???