The Complete Cosmicomics

Unique collection worth owning.

As the name would imply, The Complete Cosmicomics deals with all manner of things concerning the cosmos. The beauty of his writing is that he is able to bridge the cosmic nature of the universe with human nature almost seamlessly. His stories have a uniquely human side to them despite dealing with science fiction themes. Some stories may deal with beings that are celestial and not human at all, yet have many human characteristics to them that make them and their struggles relatable. Calvino offers a unique insight on all the themes he covers that is both thought-provoking and refreshing. The Complete Cosmicomics stands as a Blue Giant amongst the stars of the literary universe.

A great story teller takes scientific facts and spins stories around them. His flights of imagination are exciting, educational, entertaining and illuminating.

The complete version of Calvino's Cosmocomics in English translation no longer has to be imported from UK and this is a better bound copy of the UK edition of 2010, right down to the pagination.The translation is fluid and literary, there are a few places where things get a little confused but these are vanishingly rare, and they are hard to spot because of the unreliable narrator.As to the work itself, it is a lesser Calvino work overall, though several of the stories are absolutely first class, others are quite draggy, or even, rarely, completely incoherent. The main problem is that Calvino is writing something that is a sort of flippant riff on the work of Borges but at ten times the length. Some stories, which run around 10+ pages, are perfect, but others just sort of agonizingly beat the concept to death, most however are in between. As to the stories themselves they are cheeky and irreverent while often coming very close to profundity. As an earth scientist they are an interesting view into the scientific ideas still current in the late 60s and though many are outdated, and some even never reputable at all, they are amusingly handled. Occasionally the ridiculousness of the idea's implication is made far more apparent than the scientific literature ever was, so to me this was an added bonus.For the most part these stories are very much of their time, the 60s and 70s, which can rob the, peculiarly of some of heir immediacy. On the whole I enjoyed them, but it was not infrequent that I wanted to abandon a particular story. In short this is a nice collection, if you have already read Calvino and liked him you will enjoy these, but they are not a particularily good introduction to him.

Funny and satirical

Guh, I want to love this so much, because Invisible Cities is the best book ever. And it starts out SOOOOOOO brilliant. Some of these stories are just mind blowingly intelligent and weird.And yet others and just novellas of navel gazing, thousands of words just strung together in a meaningless fashion that it is almost physically painful to read, like a drunken blog post.This is an uncut version of the book, which may be part of the problem. I get the feeling that some of these stories were cut as crap, and that would be an improvement.

Bought this second hand and the quality was great and I got a hardcover! My favorite bedtime stories that can be shared by child and adult alike. Will always keep a copy on my shelf.

I first heard of Italo Calvino from a RadioLab podcast where Leiv Shreiber reads "Distance to the Moon". After listening to that particular podcast about a bazillion times I decided to buy this book. Every story had me smiling or shaking my head in awe of how clever and good it was. This is definitely one of my favorite books.

Los relatos narrados son en verdad de carácter cósmico y, en ocaciones, cómico.Calvino no defrauda con estas historias sobre la historia del cosmos y la Tierra. Es en verdad una obra maestra.

I had to study this for my Open University degree and I loved it so much I’ve bought a new copy to keep. Based on scientific premises, but personified in a wonderfully hilarious way. It’s a must read!

This is one of Calvino’s offbeat writing. The formation of the u inverse through the eyes of a strange character. The science involved is spot on, but made funny by the characters involved. A great concept. Typical Calvino.

Delightful book - super imaginative and thought provoking.

Italian Calvino's major contribution to the cosmic fantasy fiction. This cosmiocomics, a new genre of fiction invented by the Calvino is a successful experiment. His ambition in inventing this new genre was that literature should keep pace with the enormous progress o Science. He wrote these stories between 1963 and 1968when the space race between Russia and America at its peak explains the importance of space and planetary science.It's a complete collection of all the 34 cosmiocomic stories. A must buy for the Calvino lovers.