Book Review: The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino

Oh my god, Italo Calvino is brilliant. I've read two of his books in the past, and I just had a great time. Hence I decided to pick another one, and this time, I opted for his short story collection. As the title indicates, this is a collection of cosmic and at the same time comic short stories. Calvino had been pushing the boundaries of fiction, and this collection was a reaction to the typical formats during his time. In this book, he takes various cosmic events and rewrites them with his trademark comic flair. His main character is the cosmic know-it-all Qfwfq, who, depending on the story, is a dinosaur, a mollusc, a steamer captain, a moon-milk gatherer, and many others. I especially liked the way Calvino takes a relatively intellectual and potentially boring topic, e.g., the notion of linear time, and constructs an entire story about it. Some stories could even be rebranded as physics for dummies, so to speak.

What I find nerdy and amazing is the fact that there are certain mathematical and scientific notions, for example, the notion of linearity in time, or the atoms and their chemical structure, which Calvino then takes and puts a character personality to it. Imagine if you get a story where the main character is an atom, and this atom is complaining about a fellow atom, who happens to have more electrons than the main character. What if this atom has a personality? The possibilities are endless, and the universe that Calvino unlocks to the reader is just massive. Reading this collection for me was pure joy.

I suppose one needs to be scientifically savvy to be able to enjoy this book the most. Calvino provides a short paragraph as an introductory snippet to every story, and these paragraphs typically are taken from scientific material. It provides a hint regarding what the story is about, but I suppose if the reader is clueless about certain cosmic notions, e.g., details about evolution, then reading a story about the evolution of the species would be less appreciated.

In any case, I definitely had fun with this one. I absolutely recommend it to all the nerds out there, who would want a different perspective on science. These stories are not only cosmic, but definitely also comic. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

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