Customer Reviews

Two Fisted Science: Stories About Scientists

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In response to a previous review ("Inappropriate and unhelpful"):

1. Swear words? What swear words? There are none in my copy.

2. I've seen this book in young adult and adult sections of libraries and bookstores. It's perfectly appropriate for both sections. And I've seen the author speak to an audience of kids about his books and they gobbled it up.

3. Comics are not required to be funny. Was "Maus" by Art Spiegelman funny?

4. It's easy to find something to be offended by in just about any book, but it's hard to see where the writing and art here are in any way inappropriate to the subject matter. Let's not forget that these stories are based on scientists' real lives. You think scientists are perfect human beings? That's part of what makes these stories interesting to read. They're fallible, like you and me.

Besides, while the book may not be funny, it's certainly a lot of fun to read because of the comics format. What better way to get your kids interested in science?

All the stories in this collection of "graphic fiction" were written by Ottaviani, but the artwork was supplied by ten artists, including Bernie Mireault and Scott Saavedra. The stories are based on real events (reportedly real, anyway) about Einstein, Russell, Bohr, Heisenberg, and others - and especially Richard Feynman, who was not only one of 20th century physics's major minds but an amateur locksmith, talented musician, social philosopher, and world-class storyteller as well. Some, like "turtles all the way down," are smile-inducing classics, while others, like Heisenberg's approach to Bohr on behalf on the German nuclear effort in World War II are somber and reflective. Feynman's own recounting of his brief, tragic marriage during the Manhattan Project is especially affecting, and the tale of his safe-cracking activities at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge are a hoot. Oh, and you'll even learn some physics theory along the way, or at least get a taste of how physicists view the world. I hope another volume like this is in the works.

Comics like "Two-Fisted Science" serve nothing but a good purpose. They remind us that comics - like other art forms - can be about anything, and are not captives of the humor, fantasy and adventure genres.

A science-themed comic is especially appropriate, as the art-text combination inherent to comics would seem perfect for conveying complex/cosmic ideas. This collection features some terrific artists - notably Bernie Mireault, David Lasky, Colleen Doran and Sean Bieri - but I was a bit disappointed in the writing. Ottaviani's stories so intent on being unorthodox and different that they instead become meandering and confusing. Oftentimes I was unsure of what exactly was at stake for each story and why we should care about what was being told. And I would expect to actually learn more about SCIENCE in such a book. Also, the organization of the book into seemingly random sections, and the clumsy, unimaginative publication design diminished the effect.

I give the book high marks for effort, nice artwork, and the especially interesting portraits of Richard Feynman, but overall I'd rate "Two-Fisted Science" a noble failure.

We have given this book to various friends who have enjoyed the hard science topics in the 'comic book' format. We also have given it to nieces and nephews, who may not realize that they are being exposed to science and history. We can chat with them about it later, to see how much they have absorbed and to encourage them to reread it (comics are fun after all).

Jim Ottaviani loves science and has a knack for finding tales that are intriguing and usually entertaining. "Two-fisted Science" is a short volume of graphic art that gives us several good short stories. We hear how Einstein, for all his genius, unable to wrap his head around quantum physics. We see how unsecret was atomic secrecy in the Soviet Union after the war. We see Galileo trying to pull a fast one on Church authorities who were trying to limit his inquiries. And we see Danish physicist Neils Bohr and German physicist Werner Heisenberg, meeting behind Nazi lines to discuss Nazi plans to build the Bomb.

Ottaviani's wrote most of the stories, with other artists doing the pen and ink work .The stories are almost lucid, evidently an Ottaviani trademark. I think of myself as well read, but I always feel as if I'm just missing some key bit of background info when reading his work. It might have helped, for instance, to know that Heisenberg worked for the Nazis and Bohr's mother was Jewish. And Bohr's reference to the Neupfadfinder movement left my completely at sea.

Those who read Ottavianio's "Fallout" will recognize the stories of Richard Feynman, retold here almost word for word, but drawn by different artists. The Feynman material takes over half of this book. This will either be irritating to those who know the story, or fascinating to see how different artists treat the same source materials. For me, I found it baffling that Ottaviani would tell the same stories twice.

"Two-fisted Science" is an admirable, but flawed attempt to make scientists seem like ordinary humans. The dashes of science that it doles out are tantalizing but thin. Sigh.

Written in cartoon format, I thought this book would be a lighter approach to a straight, dry, biography of scientists. However, it is written more like a series of political cartoons than cartoons for kids. The cartoons are barely understandable if the biography of the scientist is not already known, so using it as an initial reading is impossible. Further, some content is offensive. On the second page of cartoons, a scientist is walking along a bridge, thinking, when someone mistakenly believes he is getting ready to jump, saying, "No woman is worth committing suicide over." The pictures show a scantily-clad woman (with bare bottom in one frame) that he is now picturing in his mind. Irrelevant and inappropriate! Plus, I didn't have to go far to find swear words in the captions. Yikes! My kids will never see this book! It is not even appropriate for high-school age kids. (In fact, it isn't even funny to adults!)