The Invisible War – a wonderful graphic novel about viruses and bacteria
The Invisible War is an innovative graphic novel set on the Western Front in 1916 inspired by new scientific discoveries about the protective roles of viruses and bacteria living within our mucus
The book is a tale on two scales in which we are introduced to Annie, an Australian nurse who faces the filth and horror of WWI and, simultaneously, we follow a journey into her body and bear witness to a battle between ancient microbial enemies. The work is inspired by very new research (by Jeremy Barr – San Diego State University) into virus-animal symbiosis – described as a ‘second immune system’. It is also an homage to the role of women in WWI.
The Invisible War is the third book from the people who made the excellent The Squid, the Vibrio & the Moon and Zobi and the Zoox. I love the idea of books that actually deliver real science in the context of a story; and not the obvious things about rockets or levers again, but science you just don’t see elsewhere. The books not only help visualise the microscopic world, but also tell stories of cooperation between species – a fundamental but often unappreciated feature of our collective (and continued) evolution.
The book is being crowdfunded on Pozible and is so, so close to hitting its target as I write.
A digital version of the complete novel, plus teaching resources are available FREE to all Australian teachers (History, Science & English – Years 8 –10) via www.scootle.edu.au. The Invisible War will be printed in Melbourne on 100% recycled paper using 100% green energy.
I can’t recommend this highly enough – go and grab a copy now.
I have just downloaded the graphic novel – a graphic novel, this will be my very first – the same day I’ve discovered it. I have *you* to thank for it.
I know this might not mean much coming from some braindead dishwasher from Texas, but for what it’s worth, thank you for sharing this.