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Jim Ottaviani

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

https://gt-labs.com/

Twitter

gtlabsrat

Genre

Comics & Graphic Novels, Science

Member Since

April 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jim_ottaviani

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I've worked at news agencies and golf courses in the Chicagoland area, nuclear reactors in the U.S. and Japan, and libraries in Michigan. When I'm not staying up late writing comics about scientists, I'm spraining my ankles and flattening my feet by running on trails. Or I'm reading. I read a lot. ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

I was raised in a fundamentalist home, literally taught the story of "The Flood" as science/history in the school I attended, and am now trying to educate myself about science as a 40-something. Could you recommend some good, basic texts with which to start? (Reading your books helped sparked my interest to try this, btw; thank you!)

Jim Ottaviani Hi Gwynfor,

Thanks for the note, and how exciting that you've decided to open the doors to this world!

(Also, I'm delighted that books I've written are …moreHi Gwynfor,

Thanks for the note, and how exciting that you've decided to open the doors to this world!

(Also, I'm delighted that books I've written are how you got interested in learning more...thank you for the compliment, since this is the best possible result of making them, from my perspective.)

Where to start, then? There are many right answers, and I don't know what will work best for you. But since you asked me — ask other people too! — I'm going to offer a couple books I have in my own library that are written for non-specialists, and most (though not all) have a strong biographical arc to them. None are hardcore science books. Think narrative as the main course, with science as both the sides and dessert!

If any of these pique your interest, you'll find more to read in these books' bibliography and/or you can head over to your local community college to go deep.

Natural history/evolution
"The Beak of the Finch" by Jonathan Weiner
"Why Fish Don't Exist" by Lulu Miller
"An Immense World" by Ed Yong

Physics
"Einstein" by Walter Isaacson
"In Search of Schrodinger's Cat" by John Gribbin

Math
"How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking" by Jordan Ellenberg
"Men of Mathematics" by E.T. Bell (dated title, and written in 1937, but a good introduction nonetheless)

Astronomy/Cosmology/Space
"Galileo's Daughter" by Dava Sobel
"The Universe in a Nutshell" by Stephen Hawking
"Packing for Mars" by Mary Roach (everything by her is fun to read)

Chemistry
"Bright Earth" by Philip Ball

General/Science and Society
"Seeing Further" by Bill Bryson (ed)
"The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes

Comics
Anything and everything by Jay Hosler
The "Science Comics" series published by First Second
(note: Jay's a friend, and First Second has published many of my books, so I'm probably biased. But I've bought many with my own money, so I'm the opposite of a paid advertiser :)

I could go on and on here, but I hope this is enough to help get you started. And...thanks again!

Jim(less)

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Who are the other scientists whose biography you plan to cover in the times to come?

Jim Ottaviani Thanks for asking: I'm working on a book about scientists who study water — oceans, lakes, and more — right now!…moreThanks for asking: I'm working on a book about scientists who study water — oceans, lakes, and more — right now!(less)

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Jim Ottaviani’s books

Average rating: 3.78 · 20,906 ratings · 2,796 reviews · 22 distinct works • Similar authors

	Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author), Maris Wicks (Illustrator) 3.84 avg rating — 7,409 ratings — published 2013 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Feynman by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author), Leland Myrick (Illustrator) 3.81 avg rating — 7,152 ratings — published 2011	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Imitation Game by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author), Leland Purvis 3.60 avg rating — 1,981 ratings — published 2014 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author), Maris Wicks (Illustrator) 4.04 avg rating — 864 ratings — published 2020 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hawking by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author), Leland Myrick (Illustrator) 3.55 avg rating — 768 ratings — published 2019 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	T-Minus: The Race to the Moon by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author), Zander Cannon (Illustrator), Kevin Cannon (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) 3.73 avg rating — 556 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Naturalist by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author) (Adapter), Edward O. Wilson, C.M. Butzer (Illustrations) 3.92 avg rating — 355 ratings — published 2020 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Suspended In Language: Niels Bohr's Life, Discoveries, And The Century He Shaped by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author), Leland Purvis (Illustrator), Roger Langridge (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) 3.82 avg rating — 307 ratings — published 2004 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fallout: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Leo Szilard, and the Political Science of the Atomic Bomb by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author), Janine Johnston, Jeffrey Jones (Artist) 3.51 avg rating — 305 ratings — published 2001 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Einstein by Jim Ottaviani (Goodreads Author), Jerel Dye (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) 3.66 avg rating — 257 ratings — published 2022 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Jim Ottaviani's Blog

Back to back: Thanks for the memories, JV

After losing interest for a while, for some reason I decided to follow baseball — specifically the Detroit Tigers, my home team — again about a decade ago. (“some reason” = Kat got interested!) I re-entered fandom in the Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander era, and both gave us reason to cheer, leaving aside Verlander’s time with “those cheatin’ Astros,” as Kat puts it.

JV had ups and downs like an

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Jim Ottaviani wrote a new blog post Back to back: Thanks for the memories, JV After losing interest for a while, for some reason I decided to follow baseball — specifically the Detroit Tigers, my home team — again about a decade Read more of this blog post »
Oct 02, 2026 12:20AM · like
Jim rated a book liked it The Superior Spider-Man, Vol. 1: My Own Worst Enemy by Dan Slott	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 28, 2026 01:01PM · like
Jim rated a book liked it Spies by Michael Frayn	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 25, 2026 09:48AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Spies by Michael Frayn. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Spies by Michael Frayn <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jim rated a book it was ok How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain by Gregory Berns	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 21, 2026 04:47PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of How Dogs Love Us by Gregory Berns. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — How Dogs Love Us by Gregory Berns <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jim and 101 other people liked Veronica-Lynn Pit Bull's review of How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain: "I think I would have been happier just reading the scientific paper; there really wasn't enough material here to justify writing a book. The conclusions that the research reached were gratifying in that they substantiated what any "dog person" alread" Read more of this review »
Sep 21, 2026 04:46PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of How Dogs Love Us by Gregory Berns. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — How Dogs Love Us by Gregory Berns <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jim rated a book really liked it On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 14, 2026 06:19AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Jim rated a book it was ok The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2) by N.K. Jemisin (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 14, 2026 06:19AM · like
Jim has read The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2) by N.K. Jemisin (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 14, 2026 06:19AM · like
Jim rated a book it was amazing Fangs by Sarah Andersen (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 08, 2026 05:39PM · 2 likes · like
Jim rated a book really liked it In Waves by A.J. Dungo	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 08, 2026 05:39PM · like

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Polls

March is Women's History Month in the U.S.A., the U.K., and Australia.
Which women-centric book should we read for March 2017?

This poll will close at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, February 28, 2017.

Pretty In Ink: North American Women Cartoonists 1896-2013 by Trina Robbins

3 votes, 50.0%

Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Bagge

1 vote, 16.7%

Not Funny Ha-Ha: A Handbook for Something Hard by Leah Hayes

1 vote, 16.7%

Red Rosa: A Graphic Biography of Rosa Luxemburg by Kate Evans

1 vote, 16.7%

Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas by Jim Ottaviani

0 votes, 0.0%

6 total votes

3 comments

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