"Average Joe" recommends...

He may be shy, but he's very accomplished. "AJ" is a bookseller, computer guru and a teacher of many levels of classes from elementary ages through graduate level courses. He told us that he finds "The Manga Guide to..." series, put out by No Starch Press, to be very useful and engaging to his students. Here are a few examples on our shelves now:

Rin and Ami have been skipping molecular biology class all semester, and Professor Moro has had enough-he's sentencing them to summer school on his private island. But they're in store for a special lesson. Using Dr. Moro's virtual reality machine to travel inside the human body, they'll get a close-up look at the fascinating world of molecular biology.

Join them in The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology, and learn all about DNA, RNA, proteins, amino acids, and more. Along the way, you'll see chemical reactions first-hand and meet entertaining characters like Enzyme Man and Drinkzilla, who show how the liver metabolizes alcohol.

Together with Ami and Rin, you'll learn all about:

• The organelles and proteins inside cells, and how they support cellular functions
• The processes of transcription and translation, and your genes' role in synthesizing proteins
• The pieces that make up our genetic code, like nucleotides, codons, introns, and exons
• The processes of DNA replication, mitosis and cytokinesis
• Genetic technology like transduction and cloning, and the role of molecular biology in medicine

Whether you need a molecular biology refresher or you're just fascinated by the science of life, The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology will give you a uniquely fun and informative introduction.

Think you can't have fun learning statistics? Think again.

The Manga Guide to Statistics will teach you everything you need to know about this essential discipline, while entertaining you at the same time. With its unique combination of Japanese-style comics called manga and serious educational content, the EduManga format is already a hit in Japan.

In The Manga Guide to Statistics, our heroine Rui is determined to learn about statistics to impress the dreamy Mr. Igarashi and begs her father for a tutor. Soon she's spending her Saturdays with geeky, bespectacled Mr. Yamamoto, who patiently teaches her all about the fundamentals of statistics: topics like data categorization, averages, graphing, and standard deviation.

After all her studying, Rui is confident in her knowledge of statistics, including complex concepts like probability, coefficients of correlation, hypothesis tests, and tests of independence. But is it enough to impress her dream guy? Or maybe there's someone better, right in front of her?

Reluctant statistics students of all ages will enjoy learning along with Rui in this charming, easy-to-read guide, which uses real-world examples like teen magazine quizzes, bowling games, test scores, and ramen noodle prices. Examples, exercises, and answer keys help you follow along and check your work. An appendix showing how to perform statistics calculations in Microsoft Excel makes it easy to put Rui's lessons into practice.

This EduManga book is a translation from a bestselling series in Japan, co-published with Ohmsha, Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan.

Rereko is just your average high-school girl from Electopia, the land of electricity, but she's totally failed her final electricity exam! Now she has to go to summer school on Earth. And this time, she has to pass

Luckily, her ever-patient tutor Hikaru is there to help. Join them in the pages of The Manga Guide to Electricity as Rereko examines everyday electrical devices like flashlights, heaters, and circuit breakers, and learns the meaning of abstract concepts like voltage, potential, current, resistance, conductivity, and electrostatic force.

The real-world examples that you'll find in The Manga Guide to Electricity will teach you:

• What electricity is, how it works, how it's created, and how it can be used
• The relationship between voltage, current, and resistance (Ohm's law)
• Key electrical concepts like inductance and capacitance
• How complicated components like transformers, semiconductors, diodes, and transistors work
• How electricity produces heat and the relationship between current and magnetic fields

If thinking about how electricity works really fries your brain, let The Manga Guide to Electricity teach you all things electrical in a shockingly fun way.