What's So Funny About Science?: cartoons from American Scientist

Science Cartoons #1

by Sidney Harris (Cartoonist)

Cartoons take a humorous look at space exploration, scientific research, pollution, computers, conservation, and evolution

Genres: Humor, Science, Cartoon

130 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1977

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Sidney Harris, a.k.a. S. Harris, is an American cartoonist who draws cartoons about science, mathematics, and technology.
Harris was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 8, 1933, and obtained his degree from Brooklyn College. He then attended the Art Students League in New York before beginning his career as a science cartoonist in 1955.
Harris's cartoons have appeared in numerous scientific journals as well as general-audience magazines. Over 600 of his cartoons were published by American Scientist. Other appearances include Science, Current Contents, Discover, Physics Today, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Harvard Business Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Chicago, Playboy and National Lampoon. Harris has had more than 20 cartoon collections published, and a traveling exhibit of his work has appeared in many museums.
Harris was elected as the 19th honorary member of Sigma Xi, a scientific honor society, in 1997.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Science and humor - hard combination to pull off! But Sidney Harris does a great job of it! If you like some of the jokes that were made on The Big Bang Theory! then I think you will really appreciate this book! Could almost see Sheldon drawing versions of some of these cartoons on his whiteboard - fun + educational = laughs!

[Kamakana · Rating 5 out of 5]

290914: this rating is probably by sentiment. maybe it is not a five for most people, but i read these when i was kid in this book, and his work in scientific american. of course i did not know any scientific subtext, never will be scientist, never found that difficult in getting jokes here. my father was indeed a scientist (chemical physics prof) and so i could share with him, with scientists he worked in the entire u superstructure. i laughed then, i laugh now. i remember the cover joke forever...

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raised to 3.5 stars.

[Daniel Rojas]

741.5973 H316w

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much is funny about science.

[elstaffe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few really great ones (for my sense of humor) and a bunch of fine ones. I feel like I've seen the "and then a miracle occurs" blackboard proof one outside of this book, so it was nice to see it in the context of the rest of the author's art.

Some favorites:
[two scientists looking at a tiny Mickey Mouse-like creature standing upright in a wire cage]: "Somehow I was hoping genetic engineering would take a different turn."

[two professors walking into a lab while talking]: ""We know he didn't discover that new virus – we're just naming it after Rheinblatt because it looks like Rheinblatt."

[staring at a man giving a talk to a long table of other people, with the word MIRV written on the board behind the speaker; thought bubble]
"Multi Independent Retarget Vehicle
Multiple Independent Reentry Vehide
Multiple Independently Rentering Vehicle
Multi Inter-directional Reentry Vehicle
Multi Inter-target Rentry Vehicle
Multiple Inter-target Retarget Vehicle
Multi Independent Rentry Vehicle
Mutiple Independently-targetable Renty Vehicle
Multi Independent-target Reentering Vehicle
Multiple Independent Retargetable Vehicle
Multi Inter-taryet Reentry Vehicle
Multiple-target Inter Rentry Vehicle
Multiple Inter-Retargetable Vehicle
Muttile Inter Returgetable Vehicle
Multi Independent Retarpet Vehicle"

[Robu-sensei · Rating 2 out of 5]

This collection of single-panel cartoons from American Scientist illustrates perfectly the difficulty of creating science humor that appeals both to scientists and laypeople. The best of the cartoons here are worth a decichuckle at most, and there are precious few that merit even that much. Still, this collection is of general interest because it contains the "And then a miracle happens..." comic—the most famous, and most overused, scientific joke of all time.

Disclaimer: I am not a science snob. Anything that makes people more interested in science wins my approval. I am, however, an insufferable humor snob, and it is in this capacity that I wrote the review above.

[Terry · Rating 1 out of 5]

In its day, it was probably a chuckle. Now it's pretty darned dated.