Books I've Read This Week

I had to return The Children of the Sky back to the library but here are some other books I read.

For the Love of Physics is a great read that explains physics in laymen's terms by Professor Walter Lewin. It is well worth the read if only for the chapter in which he explains rainbows and how to spot the easier. As an added bonus you can get all of Professor Lewin's entertaining lectures on physics courtesy of MIT's open course ware.

Scalped Vol. 1: Indian Country by Jason Aaron is a series I've been meaning to check out for awhile. Set in a fictional Indian reservation undercover FBI agent Bad Horse returns home to take on a corrupt reservation chief and casino owner while dealing with his activist Mom and ex-girlfriend. It sounds very soap operaish but this was a great crime comic.

Kamandi Last Boy on Earth Omnibus Vol 1 by Jack "The King" Kirby is pretty amazing. Published during a time where the Planet of the Apes movies were hot properties the similarities are obvious. Kamandi is the last reasoning member of the human race. After his grandfather dies his leaves the bunker he's lived his whole life to explorer the world where he encounters Lions, Tigers, Apes, etc. that have evolved to become the dominant species on earth while humans have regressed to near unthinking animals. Each and every one of the 20 issues in this omnibus is just bursting with ideas. There is so much going on in these pages that it is too hard to get it all into one blog post. At the end of the first issue there is a map of North America so you can see Kirby had a plan for where he wanted to take this series. Also, while this comic was being published Jack Kirby was doing two other monthly books so he was producing upwards of 60 pencilled pages of art. These days, it's hard enough to get an artist to do 20 pages a month consistently. The pure draftmanship of this book is outstanding.

See you next Friday.