"You know, I love this series. I have the book on Mathematics and the book on Chaos. You can read them in one sitting, they're in comic book format, and they give the basic info you don't seem to get in university..." (See Reviews section: Cultural Studies)

"...what pictures they are! Borin Van Loon's clever and exhaustive illustrations should be the required text for anyone who wants to design educational graphics."('Harvard Crimson' review: See Reviews section below)

The Introducing... series

Click the cover for its own webpage (shown in chronological order of publication in the UK - apart from 'DNA')...
Darwin cover icon-IntroGenetics-IntroBuddha--IntroSociology-IntroCultStudies-IntroMaths-Media Studies icon-IntroCritTheory---IntroHinduism-DNA original cover

Borin Van Loon has created fourteen Beginners-style books over the years; several are relaunched by Icon Books in their Introducing... series with new livery.  Icon Books was formed in 1991 expressly to publish a groundbreaking series of illustrated guides to topics such as Freud, Marx, Darwin and Einstein. The books became a huge success throughout the world, especially following titles on Postmodernism and Stephen Hawking in 1995. The series - which has sold in excess of 3 million books - has been hugely aclaimed for its innovative and truly brilliant combination of words and pictures.

The series is a unique blend of authoritative text by notable authors and stunning visuals, comic strip, typography and illustration creating the perfect introduction to abstruse, 'difficult' and jargon-ridden topics. Van Loon's eclectic approach is perhaps best exemplified by the Mathematics and Sociology books which are pure collage works from a myriad sources. It's the fulfillment of a long-held ambition to create one of these books in this way - barely picking up a pen or brush - and now he's done two! Elsewhere dip-pen and brush drawings enrich the mix.

Richard Appignanesi, poet, novelist, impressario and series editor of the 'Introducing' series, took the precursor of these books, 'Marx for Beginners' by the Mexican artist, Rius, and working with writers, designers and illustrators established a whole new genre in publishing: the documentary comic book. The series now comprises nearly a hundred titles - a remarkable achievement. Richard's novel has a cover-painting 'Domestic Interior' by Borin Van Loon.

Reviews

(A Review section now appears at the bottom of each book's page.)

<< ... the "Introducing . . ." series surveys a number of heady topics in a lavishly-illustrated format. Readers wanting light but not insubstantial overviews of such topics as postfeminism, postmodernism, and semiotics will find them herein. [They] tend to be written from a British point-of-view, but for North Americans that can be enlightening. >> (The Cultural Construction Company Book Club Queue)

The Beginners / Introducing Books -- "Their cartoon format and irreverent wit make difficult ideas accessible and entertaining."- Newsday

I was led to graduate studies by a fascinating comic book that raised intellectual questions within a fun format. So, I place a lot of stock in illustrated books -- sort of like hefty comic books with thought-provoking content. For a fun exploration of some of the ideas presented above, try the illustrated/comic book series "Introducing..." or "...For Beginners." Some of these include:
Introducing the Enlightenment, by Lloyd Spencer and Andrzej Krauze. Cambridge: Icon. 2000.
Introducing Media Studies, by Ziauddin Sardar and Borin Van Loon. New York: Totem. 2000.
Introducing Cultural Studies, by Ziauddin Sardar and Borin Van Loon. New York: Totem. 1998.
Postmodernism for Beginners, by Jim Powell. New York: Writers and Readers. 1998.
(Excerpt from "A Guide to Philosophical Discussions of Community Media" by John W. Higgins, "Community Media Review", 25:2 (Summer 2002).

A verbal 'review'...
While attending the launch of The Health Matters Gallery in London's Science Museum in 1994 (opened by Dr James Watson), Borin was standing near to his huge mural on DNA (executed in 'Introducing...' style using collage caricature and cartoon), he met a genetics researcher who had first become inspired to study and graduate in the subject by reading Borin's 'DNA for Beginners'. Such is the power of books; this chance meeting somehow makes it all worthwhile.

A blast from the past (Borin's first ever 'Beginners' book - which hasn't got its own page yet)...
Capitalism for Beginners. LeKachman, Robert and Borin Van Loon.
Highly readable, and illustrated with cartoons. Explains the theories of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and others.
(http://www.newparty.org/econo.html#leka)

This is another of the excellent documentary "comic books" published by Pantheon Books. However, just because it is a "comic book" and uses well-selected illustrations to drive home its point (often with considerable good-natured humor), do not think that it isn't also an insightful and well-researched guide into the workings of the capitalist system. This book isn't a piece of "free market" propoganda. The author consistantly points out the shortcomings, absurdities, and out right injustice of the system. In fact, his examination of why so many Americans continue to support the capitalist system, when it is clearly contrary to the best interests of 9 out of 10 of us, is among the best I've seen. After reading this book you will know the basic textbook concepts of economics. You will know mecantilism from monetism, and microeconomics from macroeconomics. You will be familiar with the theories of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, F.A. Hayek, and Milton Freidman. You will understand the law of the falling rate of profit, and how paying lower wages can only temporarily offset this. You will know what a multinational corporation is and how they operate. Indeed, the author's warning about "corporatism" (in 1981) is down right prophetic. Some people might be tempted to write this book off as dated or obsolete because it was first published in 1981. On the contrary, because of the good old "business cycle" conditions are once again very simular to those of the early eighties.... The author is no wild-eyed radical. He was a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the City University of New York.[5 star review] (http://www.fetchbook.info)

DNA for Beginners [plans are afoot to revise and republish this title!] ...

>DNA for Beginners is simply the best introduction to genetics you can buy. Sylvester and Klotz write in The Gene Age that molecular biologists "stand out among scientists as intensely visual, as imaginative rather than analytic."  DNA for Beginners puts this visual imagination into pictures. And what pictures they are! Borin Van Loon's clever and exhaustive illustrations should be the required text for anyone who wants to design educational graphics.
A documentary comic book from the prolific Writers' and Readers' Publishing Cooperative. DNA for Beginners succeeds better than similar introductions from the same publisher such as Marx for Beginners or Freud for Beginners, which deal with less visual subjects. Although titled a "comic book," DNA for Beginners should not be confused with science-inspired pulp serials such as "DNA gents" (which details the adventures of a handful of artificial people created by a giant corporation to do its dirty work.) Thoroughly researched, simply written, beautifully laid out, DNA for Beginners is in fact more serious than most popular science writing. With Van Loon's magnificent drawings to grab the reader's attention, the text can remain simple and straightforward and avoid the eye-catching exaggeration all too common in science journalism. Authors Rosenfield [and Ziff] provide precision with an English brevity of expression.
But it is Van Loon's versatility and imagination as an illustrator which makes DNA for Beginners so entertaining and understandable. The range of his models is extraordinary. He draws on Auguste Rodin's Thinker, Andy Warhol's soup cans, Thomas Nast's cartoons of Victorian social commentary, and dozens of other artists' works. Caricatures, engravings, photographs, and a diagrams are all intermingled without ever clashing. Gregor Mendel's famous pea plants, study of which led to the discovery of genes, show up as Jolly Green Giants.
Even the scientists are portrayed with an astonishing diversity of styles; at different times Van Loon pictures Francis Crick and James Watson, discoverers of the double helix structure of DNA, as Batman and Robin and other fictional characters]. In addition, the comic book format is the only one in which the arcane and often ridiculous jargon of molecular biology makes sense.
... Even the most sparkling writing could never explain molecular genetics without a good set of pictures; DNA for Beginners is thus far better for anyone interested in genetics out of pure curiosity.
(http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=200950) [This review has some typos and omissions in its web version: indicated by square brackets.]
'The Harvard Crimson' review (no writer credited, sadly). 23.1.1984

>If you want to understand how DNA works
and proteins are made and implications of biotechnology to society then this book can explain complex terms such that an idot can understand it. I have been interested in biotechnology and how it works. I would rate this book on the top of my list.

>Recomended for any student of Biological sciences. During my first degree (Biochemistry & Mol. Biology), this was one of the best and most user-friendly of textbooks. Placed next to Stryer and Voet & Voet. Though still relevant, it is begining to date and I would encourage the authors do a revised edition covering the past twenty years.

>Can be understood by nonscientists. This book is best appreciated by aspiring biologist. Book lacks most current information concerning genetics, i.e. Gene Cloning and the Human Genome Project. Overall is an outstanding easy read that accurately covers many important concepts in genetics. (4 and a half stars)
(All three reviews above from http://www.fetchbook.info)

Reviews of individual titles gleaned from the Web appear on relevant pages.

Darwin...
Genetics...
Buddha...
Eastern Philosophy...
Sociology
Cultural Studies...
Mathematics...
Media Studies...
Critical Theory...
Science...
Psychotherapy...
Hinduism

DNA

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