Well, this book is not a collection of jokes. In its 12 chapters, it teaches most of the important topics of introductory chemistry, even including a little organic and biochemistry at the end (just as the textbooks do!), without stinting some of the more challenging stuff (such as equilibrium, electrochemistry, thermochemistry, and chemical kinetics). Each page has at least four or five cartoons as well as essential tables and graphs, and there is enough text to hold the project together. The subjects are treated with humor, but the science is correct and the attitude is wonderfully light-hearted. The cartoons are the work of Gonick, who claims parents and in-laws who are chemists, but the science is largely due to Criddle, a professor in the Environmental Engineering and Science Department at Stanford University. Gonick, the staff cartoonist for Muse magazine, has done books similar to this in physics, genetics, and statistics, but with different co-authors.

These guys have won me over. I would be happy if my own introductory students learned as much chemistry as is in this book, and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good supplement to an introductory chemistry course.