The Manga Guide to Electricity

In this volume of No Starch Press's The Manga Guide series, the authors tackle the subject matter of electricity. The scientific principles were discovered and refined in the 1800s, but it was really in the twentieth century where electricity came into its own as the driving force of the modern economic system. They combine a fictional storyline with non-fiction science education information, to create a narrative which may well be more accessible to many students - especially those who are fond of manga storytelling styles - than traditional textbooks.

The book tells the story of Rereko, a girl from the land of Electopia, "a word in which electronic devices are a little bit more advanced than they are on Earth." The problem with Rereko is that she is "a bonehead about electricity" (her words), so she is teleported to Earth for summer school. (Run with it. This is just how manga "plots" work.)

The narrative of the book chronicle's Rereko's time on Earth, studying electricity with her instructor, Hikaru. There's not much in the way of a story here, to be sure, but the whole goal is to provide a vehicle for discussing the electrical concepts ... and it certainly does that well enough. Interspersed with the comic pages are pages with explanatory text, like short, one-page essays, many of which also include relevant diagrams and the occasional equation or table of values.

As mentioned above, the plot is fairly weak, but the point of the book is the science, and that's pretty spot on. It is a fairly comprehensive look at the subject of electricity, with most of the major topics covered. At the end of the book, the reader should have a fairly good grasp of the science of electricity and electromagnetism, so it certainly serves the job of a primer on the subject.

"Part 1: What is Electricity?" covers the following main subjects (some of them further broken up into more detailed sub-headings or grouped under broader collective headings):

• Electrical Units
• How Electricity Works
• Electrical Current
• Conduction
• Static Electricity
• Electrical Voltage and Potential

"Part 2: What Are Electric Circuits?" covers the following main subjects:

• Parts of an Electric Circuit
• Ohm's Law
• Series and Parallel Circuits
• Direct Current and Alternating Current
• Resistance

"Part 3: How Does Electricity Work?" covers the following main subjects:

• Electricity and Heat
• Current and Magnetic Fields
• Fleming's Rule
• Electromagnetic Waves
• Electricity and Magnetism
• Electricity and Coils
• Electromagnetic Induction
• Capacitors

"Part 4: How Do You Create Electricity?" covers the following main subjects:

• Generators
• Batteries
• Thermopiles
• Power Plants and Various Sources of Power Production

"Part 5: How Can You Conveniently Use Electricity?" covers the following main subjects:

• Semiconductors
• Diodes
• Transistors
• Converters and Inverters
• Sensors

Published in paperback in 2009.
206 pages, with a prologue, 5 sections, an epilogue, and an index
Cover price: $19.95 US/$19.95 CDN

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.