[(The Cartoon History of the Universe: From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome Pt.2)] [By (author) Larry Gonick] published on (November, 2002)

If I had the money I'd but all the output of the late Larry Gonick's brilliant talent. Only a fraction of it gets onto the wider market.

a present for grandson.

Recipient was pleased. Good size.

The trouble with history teaching in schools, especially nowadays, is it is too deep and not wide enough. So you'll learn for example all about the industrial revolution in Shropshire in the 18th century and nothing aboout what was going on in other parts of the world at the same time, or what happened thousands of years previously.What Larry Gonick's series does is provide the width. If your history knowledge is basic, you'll learn a lot, very quickly. If your history knowledge goes to PhD level, you'll still learn a lot because these books will fill in the gaps for you. If you're in the first category you'll love the humour and how easy these books are to read. If you're in the latter category, you'll be impressed that the back of each book contains a proper bibliography.Hugely impressive. Very readable.

Larry Gonick's unique view of history would have made Herodotus proud. His fascinating extrapolation of dry history truly brings it to life. EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS!!!! (The first one too.)

Sometimes a thick book about history can be a drag but with The Cartoon History you can get what you need to understand the times, the politics and the people in an easy to read format while still getting a fair amount of detail. The artwork is excellent, the writing is perfect and the handling of religious history is spot on. No western bias and based on science and historical facts. Genius