xkcd: volume 0

How can you not love it. Funny and witty, it makes you think, makes you happy, and sometimes a little sad. Buy it because it is a good book. Buy it because the author is so good and puts so much time into freely giving away their material (online). Extra thought: its a good, easy little gift as well. No too big and not too expensive, but will surely brighten your friends day!

I bought this book for a friend who is a big fan of xkcd. He loved it! There are no new comics, but there is some new content. Several of the pages contain codes, though we haven't found out what they say yet. Of course, the comics are funny too. This comic has a lot of jokes related to the science field. You will probably like the comic better if you're into that kind of stuff; however, there are a lot of non-science related jokes as well, and the drawing is kind of cute, however minimalistic.

It may seem strange to pay for something that can be found for free on the internet but I brought this as a gift for my brother. He likes the Cyanide and Happiness comics and these are along the same lines but a little more... niche...? They play more on I suppose intelligent sarcastic jokes which is perfect for my brother. If in doubt just check out the website for a taste of the book - or just put the hyperlink in a card and call it a present if you're cheap.

Classic xkcd. It's all online and at this point all the extra puzzles in the book have been worked out by avid readers (well, when I say all, all the ones that can be confirmed ;) - well worth it for fans and might also interest webcomic enthusiasts more generally. I'd be interested if another book is even really possible given some of the comics Randall has created more recently... possibly not as some of them clearly demonstrate the potential for webcomics to become a new medium unto themselves; interactive, video, sound and story based experiences... not quite games since the story is set in stone but the discovery of the story may not be. Excellent work either way.

I'm not a web-kid, nor did I go to university, nor am I familiar with computer linguistics and lingo nor mathematical terms and jargon...so why, considering this is a funny book full of them, did I buy this? In short despite, the mass of calculations and information printed onto the page, the human side of these sketches always manage to shine through. If anything, Munroe's simplistic scientific style, adds a lot of character to the strips that the stickmen don't 'show'. His musings on love, life, critique on college/university subjects and life in general are all humorous (and in some cases, mind stretching...) It might well help having a diploma to read this, but I still enjoyed it all the same...

Some of these jokes need some research to get fully and that makes them all the more funny. Even the title is a joke as computer sequences start from zero not one. It is amazing how much expression can be got in a stick man (and woman). I've seen many of these before on the web and the author does talk about being confused why people would by a book of cartoons freely available on the web, but his extra commentary makes the book well worth it.

This book is simply a gem of excellently conceived, interesting, funny and sometimes quite profound humour. It sometimes needs a bit of insider knowledge - of computers or maths - to get the punchline, but that just makes it even better. Such simple lines, such profound humour. Get it, get it! :-)

I bought this for my teenage, self-proclaimed geek, son, thinking it might keep him quiet for a short while, but it has kept him amused for considerably longer than expected. He periodically picks it back up and has another chuckle over one cartoon or another.

Ich finde das Buch sehr gelungen. Die Comics im Internet haben mich schon umgehauen und als ich sah, daß es die Comics auch als Buch gibt, musste ich zuschlagen. Der Humor ist allerdings sehr speziell und nicht für Jedermann. Man sollte entweder einen Informatikhintergrund oder naturwissenschaftliche Kenntnisse bzw. Interessen mitbringen. Manche von den Comics, vor allem die rein mathematischen verstehe ich nicht. Trotzdem habe ich an denen, die ich verstehe einen Heidenspaß. Für Leute, die sich für solche Themenbereiche interessieren eine klare Kaufempfehlung. Wenn geplant ist, das Buch zu verschenken, nochmal genau überlegen, ob es tatsächlich geeignet ist.

I'm a long time fan of xkcd.com and this purchase is a great way for me to just say thank you for all the work Randall has done. This is an amazing collection of comics from his earlier years and many of them are as funny as ever. Randall makes it clear that much of these is available at his website for free, but those of us who hanker for the feel of dead-tree edition will love this none the less. Randall also adds various tidbits to the book that wasn't in the website. Extra puzzles are sprinkled all over the pages of the book and though I'm not much in terms of solving them, reading the solutions online is surprisingly satisfying. This is really a no brainer - buy it!

Although all the comics are published in the web (and can be viewed freely!), to have them on physical form is a nice way to say thank you to the author. Besides, there are plenty of notes from the author that make the comics even funnier. Definetly a must-have if you are a fan of his or an avid reader of nerdy-web comics such as SMBC or PhD comics.

Extrêmement bien construit, riche, dense... aucun regret quant à cet achat! Munroe souligne au début de son livre qu'il lui semble absurde pour qui que ce soit, dans la conjecture économique actuelle, d'acheter des planches imprimées d'une BD disponible gratuitement et légalement en ligne... Et il a raison. Mais bien entendu, il ne parle pas de son livre: cet objet est en effet bien plus qu'une simple reproduction de sa BD sur papier! Il contient des codes, des renvois et liens en pointillés entre ses planches, des anecdotes et annotations souvent plus complètes que celle du site... Pour tous les afficionados du webcomic, pour tous les scientifiques avérés, avertis, ou simplement curieux, et pour tous les explorateurs de l'humour (absurde, binaire, Newtonien, etc.), cette édition est un petit bijou!

Imprescindible para la estantería de cualquier "friki" que vive conectado permanentemente y cercano a la cultura informática, geek, redes, programación,... La mayoría de las viñetas (si no todas) están disponibles por internet, pero desde mi punto de vista eso no le quita valor en absoluto.