The Thinker’s Toolbox

The Thinker’s Toolbox (working title) is a nonfiction graphic novel in which I try to distill the core lessons of twelve essential fields and present them in a series of interconnected, light-spirited cartoon narratives. medallion Essentially, it is a general education curriculum and an entertainment piece rolled into one. The organization of the book is intimately tied to a circular medallion dividing these twelve fields into four "houses." Each field is denoted by a special symbol and name, and each house has an elemental sign (earth, air, fire, water) making the whole scheme stylistically (but not methodologically!) similar to astrology, i ching, and other semireligions. The key ideas here are (1) to commandeer the innate emotional appeal of iconography and hidden meanings and use them as delivery devices for educational content, (2) to develop a coherent and engaging broad-spectrum curriculum, (3) to build a scaffold for future content, educational and otherwise, and (4) to blur the lines between instruction, exploration, and play.

Chapters available online:

Chapter 1 – Quantitas
Chapter 2 – Logos
Chapter 3 – Lingua
Chapter 4 – Bushido
Chapter 5 – Ars
Chapter 6 – Moksha
Chapter 7 – Physik
Chapter 8 – Vivitas
Chapter 9 – Psyche
Chapter 10 – Techne
Chapter 11 – Opus
Chapter 12 – Ethik