…and this is a 
Have you got kids? Are you tangentially related to any young people? Are you young yourself? Do you know anyone who just likes a good story and interesting science?
Well, then, I'm sorry, but reading this article will cost you $12.89. Jay Hosler has a new book out (illustrated by Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon), Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), and I'm afraid it's going to be required reading for everyone, and you're also all probably going to end up buying multiple copies for gifts.
Really, it's that good. It's a comic book about aliens from Glargalia explaining the history of life on earth to young Prince Floorsh by going over the fundamental concepts and hitting a few of the details. It's entertaining and fun, and sneakily informative.
If you don't simply trust me, check out the extensive excerpts at the NCSE and at Scientific American.
Hey, and if you don't like comic books, don't know any young people, and don't want to read it yourself, buy a copy anyway and give it to your local library. For America.
Life Science
Comments
Posted by: Tualha
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January 10, 2011 11:47 AM
The excerpt I'm reading is about five mass extinctions.
Hmm. "Earth's sixth mass extinction seems to have involved a species that was intelligent but not wise, a large number of nuclear weapons, and a fringe political movement that metastasized in one of the major cultures."
Posted by: Thomas
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January 10, 2011 11:49 AM
lets indoctrinate our children now
Posted by: KG
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January 10, 2011 11:55 AM
Thomas,
That's the Discovery Institute slogan for this year, I assume. But perhaps a bit of basic literacy would help your cause; your cretinous contribution should read:
Posted by: Montanto
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January 10, 2011 11:56 AM
Terrific! Speaking as a cartoonist the possibilities of comics as an educational tool have been tragically under utilized.
Jeff Hosler is good. I loved his Clan Apis, where he managed to frame basic biology and the life cycle of the honeybee in a wonderfully entertaining story.
With any luck this book's success will lead to even better thing.
Posted by: Physicalist
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January 10, 2011 11:57 AM
Remind me to have you shill for my book. You're good.
Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawn2mhn4A1qFo4N_jEUVwcQ3HSsf72Bufpk
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January 10, 2011 11:58 AM
Excellent! I am now off to purchase a copy and will post a review on my Answers in Genes blog ASAP. Thanks!
http://answersingenes.blogspot.com
-Shane
Posted by: Richard Wolford
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January 10, 2011 12:00 PM
Damn reality with all that evidence gets in the way of ideology all the time, doesn't it? If only the universe behaved the way you wanted it to as opposed to the way it actually does.
Posted by: Glen Davidson
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January 10, 2011 12:01 PM
Jack Chick--the sane years.
Wait for Casey Luskin to squeak about how one-sided science is--finding no place for superfluous magic.
Glen Davidson
Posted by: SEF
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January 10, 2011 12:02 PM
There's at least one typo in the version NCSE acquired - the third word from the end of page 57 should be "possibly" not "possible".
Posted by: Q.E.D
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January 10, 2011 12:09 PM
Fantastic Idea. I agree with Montanto @4. In France we take our graphic novels seriously and they are often used educationally. It's just a shame I'm not a big fan of the artwork in the story of life.
Posted by: Richard Wolford
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January 10, 2011 12:16 PM
In the USA we seem to shift towards educational comic shows (animations) as opposed to comic books/graphic novels. My 5 year old loves reading Scooby Doo comics, which is by far my favorite animated series; no matter how many ghosts you saw or how many monsters chased you, there was always a perfectly logical explanation. Always. Until the later episodes ruined a once great show.
Posted by: Ibis3, féministe avec un titre française de fantaisie
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January 10, 2011 12:21 PM
Hmm. Anyone else notice...teacher? male. kid? male. parent? male. animals that have their sex specified? male (except for the nursing mammal, at which the comment is 'eww' by the way).
Posted by: Psych-Oh
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January 10, 2011 12:23 PM
Looks interesting. I'll try it and see what the kidlets think. Other great evolution books for kids are: Born with a Bang, Mammals Who Morph, and From Lava to Life. My daughter loves these and we read them over and over.
Posted by: Howard
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January 10, 2011 12:26 PM
Excellent ! A copy for my Grandson. He's only four, but I'll keep it on the top shelf until he's ready. I can hardly wait.
Posted by: chrisbloom7
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January 10, 2011 12:33 PM
I would also recommend Steve Jenkins "Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution". It's fantastically illustrated and a very good read for kids. My 6-y-o really enjoys it. http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0618164766?tag=betteraddons-20
Posted by: Randomfactor
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January 10, 2011 12:34 PM
I love the suggestion at the end, but be advised that most times when you donate a single copy of a book to a *PUBLIC* library it ends up at their "friends of the library" sale. (Not a bad thing, but not what's intended.)
So make sure you give it to a *SCHOOL* library. They sure as hell need it.
Posted by: Menyambal: Making sambal (it isn't dragon magic).
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January 10, 2011 12:35 PM
For science in comic-book format, see Larry Gonick's work. His Cartoon History of the Universe books should be in every bookshelf in the world.
Posted by: Montanto
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January 10, 2011 12:41 PM
Anything by Larry Gonick is also to be recommended. Best known for his Cartoon History of the Universe Series. He's done comic non fiction on everything from Statistics to the Environment.
Unfortunately the science in the first Cartoon History shows it's age a little badly. (among other things it includes the aquatic ape theory)
Posted by: Menyambal: Making sambal (it isn't dragon magic).
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January 10, 2011 12:44 PM
Whoa! I touted Larry Gonick, then clicked on the sample of the featured comic. The artwork is very similar to Gonick's younger days, I think.
Posted by: supertec
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January 10, 2011 12:53 PM
If by "indoctrinate our children now" you mean "inform and enlighten our children about the amazing, beautiful and complex way we, and all other forms of life, naturally came to populate the planet that sustains us, without reference to any supernatural explanation", then yes. We should.
Perhaps a little spelling and punctuation lesson might help the next time you post here.
Posted by: Andy Allen
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January 10, 2011 1:10 PM
I ordered this last week for my young son who is very much into comic books at present. It should arrive today, in fact.
Also arriving today are Praying Mantis eggs for my daughter, who wants to be a scientist/biologist when she is older (and whose hard work at school towards that goal is making me a very proud dad).
I'm glad my love of science is rubbing off on them - my home is getting more and more Pharyngula-friendly by the minute!
Posted by: NewEnglandBob
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January 10, 2011 1:18 PM
The book goes on my "possible books to buy/acquire" list. This list gets looked at when the current pile of new/reread books dwindles down - most likely around April.
Posted by: mewton
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January 10, 2011 1:19 PM
Actually it was more like $18 with shipping, looks well worth it as an introduction for my sons though. Please keep suggesting good resources like this for kids, there is no way my kids are not going to get a good background into science but things like this just make it easier, and FUN!
Posted by: lofcutus
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January 10, 2011 1:38 PM
The guys at Big Time Attic (creators and publisher of the book) are fantastic. If you are planning on going to a locally owned comic shop in your area to get this be aware that they will not get them until the last week of January, whereas book sellers got this book, Jan 4.
I would also recommend "Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards: A Tale of Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the Gilded Age of Paleontology" by the same crew. A great read!
Posted by: juliaem
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January 10, 2011 1:48 PM
There was a very similar book (alien characters and everything!) published a few years ago by Mark Schultz called "The Stuff of Life: A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA" Its main focus is, of course, basic molecular genetics, but it does talk quite a bit about evolution as well. Definitely a fun read, but it's probably more appropriate for high schoolers than young kids.
Posted by: Greg Peterson
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January 10, 2011 1:57 PM
It really is a great book--finished it last night. It has most of my favorite examples used to illustrate things about evolution--Lenski's bateria, Tiktaalik, ice fish, domesticating silver foxes, etc. Very helpful glossary, too. A really outstanding effort. If I have one quibble, it's that I wish they would have more strictly limited references to their previous book on genetics. Even though this book uses the same characters and situation as a framing device, reference to the earlier work makes "Evolution" seem like more of a sequal than it needed to. A single reference to "Life" would probably have sufficed to call attention to that (also excellent) work, and beyond that, the authors would have served the reader better by assuming she had no access to the previous book.
Posted by: Inky
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January 10, 2011 2:21 PM
I, too, saw this post and wanted to throw in Larry Gonick.
http://www.larrygonick.com/html/pub/books/his1.html
Come to think of it, I think I owe a copy to my high school library. (Sorry!!)
Posted by: Crewvy
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January 10, 2011 3:02 PM
Go to comment 6 on the SA site and then to the smackdown at comment 7.
L O L.
Posted by: Crewvy
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January 10, 2011 3:05 PM
Go to comment 6 on the SA site and then to the smackdown at comment 7.
L O L.
Posted by: Crewvy
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January 10, 2011 3:07 PM
OOOps sorry .
Double post.
oooops sorry , double post.
Posted by: JBlilie
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January 10, 2011 3:21 PM
My favorites for young kids are these:
For smallest kids:
Our Family Tree: A Story of Evolution by Peters and Stringer
For kids a little older:
Life Story - The sotry of Life on Our Earth from the Beginning Up to Now by Virgina Lee Burton
And:
Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be by Daniel Loxton
My little guy has enjoyed these for a long time. He is very interested in biology (especially all things fishes and sharks) and I tell him how things are as best I can.
Posted by: DavidCT
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January 10, 2011 3:22 PM
Fans of this WEB site should check out the Amazon link. I checked out the reviews and as no surprise the 1 star rating was from a creationist troll. They will stoop at nothing to spread their stupidity. I think that book review needs to be pharyngulated.
My opinion is mine alone not that of the author of this blog.
Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawnbRtTilIE208NWqc8hFNFHtGVgpLSH08o
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January 10, 2011 3:38 PM
*sigh* Just went to Amazon to look at the book and there is a 1 star review that reads,
People who use this garbage to brainwash innocent, impressionable, vulnerable little children into the death-cult of evolutionism should be arrested for committing child abuse. ,
Teaching science is child abuse?
Wow.
Posted by: johnnykaje
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January 10, 2011 4:41 PM
I just wish the Zoobooks folks would update and republish their Prehistoric Zoobooks line. I was able to take on creationist bullshit at age ten with that, all on my own. Nowadays they just publish a timeline, the activity book and the dinosaur issue.
I've even called and emailed them suggesting it. If we could Pharyngulate them, holy crap...
Posted by: https://me.yahoo.com/a/hGKpRV9y3eMGpiWvuZqCmseagwlT#cfa09
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January 10, 2011 5:32 PM
Gee thanks PZ. I'm now many dollars poorer, but my kids will be much richer for it. :)
Posted by: Twopints
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January 10, 2011 6:38 PM
What is the reccomended age range for this book?
I'm considering buying it for my friend who has two young boys. They'll be too young to appreciate it for a few years yet, being only 3 yrs old and 6 months old, but I'm sure they'll get a lot out of it in future years.
Posted by: bombria
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January 10, 2011 7:35 PM
I must have it but with tax and shipping ($18+)... YIKES!
A little Google shopping can go along way.
Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawmd0JQT5RGH9tw98hgR4Au80-RC1x_9wWY
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January 10, 2011 8:17 PM
fireweaver posting:
DavidCT @ #32: Could you give us the link where you found the cretin troll?
Posted by: skeptifem
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January 10, 2011 8:21 PM
the step spawn is reading her copy right now. We bought a pretty kick ass microscope at barnes and noble too though so that took up a solid 6 hours.
Posted by: pyramus.nb
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January 11, 2011 4:01 AM
Ibis3 (#12), they're not all male. Tiktaalik (in the SciAm excerpt) is called "she", some of the hominids are more female- than male-looking, the gender of the huge majority of creatures depicted isn't mentioned--and that's only the sections I've read. Not everything has to be an ideological battle.
Posted by: sorceror171
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January 11, 2011 9:06 AM
I have "The Sandwalk Adventures", "Optical Allusions", and "Clan Apis" by Hosler and they are all very good. Our kids have really enjoyed them.
I'll be certain to pick this one up, too.
Posted by: Kamaka
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January 11, 2011 5:01 PM
FW @ 38
I came across the same "review", quoted @ 33 above, as I was getting the ISBN from Amazon. It made me laugh! Well, it's gone now...being as it wasn't a review, but a rant, I'm hardly surprised.
Why, what a splendid idea, PZ! Done.
Randomfactor @ 16
Perhaps at your library. At mine, I just ask them if they want the book for their stacks. They mostly say yes; I've given my library quite a few books and DVDs. They do indeed end up on the shelves.
In this case, I just stopped in, asked them to buy the book and gave them $20. They were delighted.
Posted by: Scott Hatfield, OM
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January 11, 2011 7:52 PM
Nice one, PZ.
My similarly-glowing (albeit more detailed) review of this work is slated to appear in a future Reports of the NCSE. The Cannons also collaborated on an earlier work with Mark Schultz called 'The Stuff of Life' that covers genetics at the undergrad level, and which introduces the narrative conceit of the Glargalian scientists. A fun read as well.
Posted by: Ichthyic
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January 11, 2011 7:56 PM
Long time no see, Scott!
how's the world been treatin' ya of late?
Posted by: billy.graey
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January 12, 2011 5:16 AM
I may or may not have had the 1 star review pulled. I marked it as inappropriate and wrote amazon a note, saying that it wasn't really a review. Now it's gone.
Posted by: laughingmn
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January 13, 2011 7:27 PM
Oh, the irony!
How many ways can we screw up little girls?
Customer Reviews - My Princess Bible - Showing 1-star reviews