Science Comics: Dogs by Andy Hirsch, is a graphic novel that explains the science and history of Dogs in the fashion of a story. We follow a dog named Rudy as he time travels throughout history, looking for his tennis ball. At first, Rudy discusses where dogs fall in the taxonomic system, as well as how genes and alleles work, bringing certain wolves earlier in history to be more friendly towards humans, and making them eventually turn into dogs. Rudy then talks about the senses, and how dogs have less cones but more rods (night vision), as well as much better hearing and smell than humans. Throughout history, dogs have been helpful in multiple purposes, like shepherding sheep, sniffing out specific humans, and even alerting a sick person before they themselves even know that they’re sick. Near the end of the book, Rudy goes into great detail about why there are so many breeds and how different breeds have been naturally or artificially selected for specific adaptations.
This book was very interesting, and I learned plenty of things about dogs, as well as general science, too, like how genetics and selection work. It was still fun to read because of the way the novel was told. I liked how a lot of things were told in good detail, explaining many things better. One thing the book said that I found interesting was that there is no direct linear correlation between dog years and human years, and puppies develop much faster than human babes, but in old age dogs only age twice as fast as humans. Because of all this, I give this book a five out of five.