The Bottom Line
Pros
- Easily accessible to young audiences, yet still comprehensive
- Quality artwork and writing.
- Includes a Q&A section about Einstein, as well as a timeline of his life.
Cons
- Manga-style format may be off-putting to those not familiar with it.
- Some oversimplification of concepts and minor historical inaccuracies.
Description
- Paperback, 143 pages, 2002 (English translation 2006)
- Manga-style comic format (right-to-left, top-to-bottom reading format)
- Volume in Digital Manga Publishing's Edu-Manga series of educational manga books.
- Written by Isao Himuro
- Illustrated by Kotaro Iwasaki
Guide Review - Edu-Manga Albert Einstein
This installment of the Edu-Manga educational series covers the life of renowned physicist Albert Einstein. The manga style of comic is different from traditional comics, in that the book is read backward from what we are used to, with the spine at the right side as you read from right-to-left, top-to-bottom. Once you get the hang of this, though, it is pretty easy to navigate.Once getting over the hurdle of how to read the volume, the book quickly becomes entertaining as it recounts the life of Albert Einstein from a very young age, when he had trouble speaking and was very shy. It shows Einstein receiving the proverbial compass which sparked his interest in physics and also makes clear how his thought experiments regarding traveling at the speed of light had a bearing in later years on his scientific achievements.
The volume does a very good job of making it clear that Einstein was an outsider for most of his life, especially in his native Germany. His fierce individualism is also well portrayed in this volume, as he bridles against authority of all times, whether it is military or academic in nature.
As Einstein matures and his science comes to be the dominant thread of the story, the writers do an excellent job of portraying complex topics in an understandable and accurate way. There are some historical inaccuracies, but they are relatively minor as such things go. For example, Einstein himself did coin the terms "theory of relativity" or "space-time" in regards to his theory, as portrayed in the manga.
Still, despite these minor issues, the book does a good job of portraying Einstein in a light which can be understood by young readers. If you know someone who likes to read comics or manga, I would recommend this as a fine way to introduce them to the wonders and complexities of this significant figure in physics.
