Book Review: Neurocomic

[Joey Stark]

Book Title: Neurocomic
Author: Hana Ross and Matteo Farinella (illustations)
Genre: Graphic Novel, Non-fiction, Science

I have mixed feelings about this neurology-based graphic novel.

The book follows our protagonist through the brain, meeting different scientists who made significant discoveries about its structure and function along the way.

I do think that the artwork was great. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but it was a bit surrealist at times and very stylistic which was impressive combined with its effectiveness at illustration different neurological processes. The front cover artwork was particularly beautiful.

As a visual guide to scientific processes, it worked quite well...for a few. I got the feeling it aimed to be accessible to those unfamiliar with neurology and interesting to those who are. Somehow though, it managed to oversimplify AND overcomplicate things.

I think the main problem was that Neurocomic aimed to reduce complicated processes and theories into simplified illustrations and explanations. The problem with this is that a lot of neurology isn't simple and so it just hints at complex matters before moving on very fast, which ends up being more confusing. It often ended up not defining terms properly (I'm assuming because it would have been too long) and summarising things like neural plasticity in a couple of paragraphs. Some things that could have been really interesting are mentioned (like psychopathology) but then never explored at all. The result is a book that ends up being a bit inaccessible to people unfamiliar with the subject and too reductionist for those who are.

I did, however, find the visual guides to things such as synapses and action potential really helpful. I imagine it would help me a lot to visualise it if I needed to academically. I'll definitely keep it around for this reason.

Overall a disappointing read that could have, and SHOULD have been potentially really interesting.