What If? (International Edition)

A reader comes away from Randall Munroe's book, which is subtitled "Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions," with the sense that Munroe likes to blow things up and burn them to the ground, and that may well be the case. Many of his answers are accompanied by the standard disclaimer—do not try this at home—except when says, "If you do do this at home, please send me the video." Munroe is a former robotics expert with NASA who "dropped out" to draw web comics. His most famous creation is xkcd, where three times a week he publishes a new comic, many of them presenting a fascinating—or ludicrous—take on math, physics, technology or life. His drawing style is at once simplistic and instantly recognizable. His people are stick figures, but that doesn't diminish their cleverness. This book is illustrated with similar drawings, often to provide the punch lines to jokes delivered in the text or to demonstrate a point. Since he's obviously very clever and resourceful, and seems willing to tackle enormous questions, his readers and fans often ask him questions. Some of these are, quite frankly, disturbing. These he relegates to interludes between batches of chapters with the appropriate heading "Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? Inbox." Usually he answers these questions with a simple NO! or a scream, or a comic of the author reporting the questioner to the police, the FBI or Homeland Security. The other questions are of the sort that college kids might come up with late at night in dorm rooms or geeks would get into heated arguments over at ComicCon. No one asks Munroe who would win in a fight between this superhero and that one, but maybe he's keeping those for the follow-up. Many questions are about a matter of scale. How many of these objects would you need to do that? What would happen if something this big suddenly showed up or plummeted to the earth? A disturbingly large number of them ask what would happen to a person if something cataclysmic happened, like the sudden disappearance of all of their DNA (his answer unexpectedly segues into the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer). Some questions have straightforward, simple answers. "What would happen to the Earth if the Sun suddenly turned off?" Everyone would freeze to death. However, Munroe is rarely content to stop there. He expands on these answers, taking them to a logical (or, some might say, illogical) extreme. He ups the ante, going far beyond what the person submitting the question had in mind—far beyond what is even remotely possible, so the answers become thought experiments. Many of his answers end with the extinguishing of life on earth or the destruction of the planet. But there's a method to his madness. He isn't just speculating. Okay, he does occasionally speculate, but he usually relies on hard science, with a few assumptions. While the book is entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny, it is also educational. There are very few formulas (the book does have an extensive bibliography where there are, no doubt, more than enough equations to satisfy those who demand more rigorous proofs), and Munroe takes some numerical shortcuts, but one is left with the impression that he has given these questions a great deal of thought and conducted considerable research. This would be a terrific book to give to someone with a burgeoning curiosity about the nature of things, as it demonstrates how entertaining science can be. Many of the answers are astonishing and counterintuitive, until Munroe lays out the reasoning behind them. What would happen to a glass of water if the lower half of the liquid were suddenly replaced by a vacuum. Not at all what a person might anticipate. If humanity were to die off (there he goes again), what would be the last remaining manmade source of light? Again, he digs deep, pursuing some unexpected avenues. Plus, for people who appreciate Munroe's unique, twisted sense of humor, the book is drop dead funny. But, as humorist Dave Barry often says, don't try to duplicate his experiments at home. By his own admission, he is not an expert on these subjects. Because he is willing to consult true experts, he just sounds like one.

Absolutely great book, so fun & funny while accurate and informative. Get's ya thinking and chuckling at the same time. So appreciate his humor and diligence in working out the math for us all. Seems the bad reviews are about the condition of the physical book they received. That's not a reflection on the author or content, but on the sellers. So get the book for yourself and gifts, it's great!

Randall Munroe is the creator of the popular webcomic xkcd. Awhile ago he started a new section on his site called “What If”. This book is a compilation of the What If posts from his site. They are funny, and sometimes absurd, scientific answers to strange questions people post to him. I listened to this as an audiobook. It is narrated by Wil Wheaton and Wil does a great job narrating it. For me it is easier to listen to non-fiction books on audiobook (it just holds my attention better). However, I also own the book in hardcover and being that Munroe is a cartoonist there are a lot of cool pictures in the hardcover book that are funny and help to explain things. So while the audiobook was very well done and engaging, keep in mind you aren’t getting to see the funny drawings. This is the type of book that makes a good coffee table book and is fun to read one scenario at a time. When I listened to a whole bunch of scenarios in a row it all started to blur together a bit. It provides answers to questions like “How long would you live if your cells stopped dividing?” and “What would happen if the moon went away?” The book reminds a bit of the Mythbusters TV show because Munroe always had to take the scenario to the point of ultimate destruction or explosion (which is hilarious and highly entertaining). The book is written in a very humorous and snarky tone (which Wheaton reads perfectly in the audiobook). There are sections throughout called “Weird and Worrying Questions from the What If Inbox” that are also hilarious. These sections feature bizarre and disturbing questions that Munroe provides brief and sarcastic answers to. For example “How many cats yowling would it take to bring down a fighter jet?” Overall this is a humorous scientific read that provides scientific answers to bizarre questions. It reminds at times of the Mythbusters TV series in that nearly every scenario is taken to the point of giant explosions or mass destruction. I would definitely recommend to fans of the Mythbusters TV series, fans of xkcd, and fans of snarky science humor.

As a long time fan of XKCD, I thought I knew exactly what I was in for when I bought this book as a gift for my younger brother. In fact, I am very impressed with what I recieved! The quality of the book immediately caught my attention after unpackaging it. There are plenty of little jokes added to the dust jacket, cover, and even the end paper inside the covers! Some images of these are included in the Amazon pictures here, but I didn't look at them to closely before buying the book. Everything is written in the classic humour style of Munroe's comic. The hardcover has a little bit of a gloss to it that I appreciated. In terms of the actual content of the book, I was expecting verbatim explanations of the free content from the What-If webpage, with a few added questions that I hadn't seen before to flesh things out. This is more or less what I got. However, as I skimmed through (prior to gifting it to my brother, I just HAD to check out the new stuff quickly) it seemed like it was more detailed than I remembered. I think that some of the text might have been updated or added to, even on previously available explanations. I could be wrong, but that doesn't change how awesome the book is! This book is great for anyone who appreciates a good laugh, or is curious about science and the world around them! Lots of other people have already mentioned this, but the writing style is INCREDIBLY accessible for fans of all ages and levels of understanding. My brother is only 12, but he loves the book and regularly gets excited talking with me about things he's read in it. I'm an Engineering student myself, and really appreciate the way technical accuracy and accessibility manage to be combined. It's not an easy thing to do!

The tagline says it all really - "Serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions" - this book is very accessible, and will be enjoyed by anyone with a high-school level of science knowledge. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and am certain I will read it again in the future, with the same amount of child-like glee I read it with the first time through! A great gift for a geek or scientist you know - they'll get laughs and smiles out of it, and proudly place it on the coffee table afterwards.

Esse livro traz um tipo de entretenimento diferente do que é comumente encontrado no mercado editorial, já que ele se dispõe a responder perguntas altamente incomuns e improváveis, através de uma análise muito bem fundamentada. Não se engane, porém, ao pensar que isso só pode ser feito de forma maçante e enfadonha, as ilustrações (familiares para quem acessa o xkcd diariamente) dão o toque de humor necessário para completar as respostas às perguntas "E se?". Recomendo fortemente pra quem se interessa por ciência e tecnologia. Como mencionado em avaliações anteriores a minha, o e-book decepciona bastante ao não fazer com que as citações funcionem, visto que elas são parte fundamental da resposta e sendo largamente utilizadas em alguns casos. As constantes viagens ao fim do capítulo se tornam um pouco trabalhosas demais.

元NASAのロボットエンジニアであり、人気ウェブコミック「xkcd」の作者でもあるランドール・マンローによる『What If?』は、「もしも〜だったら？」という突飛な疑問に対して、驚くほど真面目かつ科学的に答えるユニークな一冊です。 セール中だったのであまり期待せずに購入したのですが、想像以上に楽しめました。ウェブコミックの読者から寄せられた奇抜な質問に真剣に答えており、思わず笑ってしまう場面も多く、同時に科学の勉強にもなります。 もともと子供向けに書かれているため、ところどころに数学や化学の専門用語は出てきますが、全体としては平易な表現が多く、図や挿絵のおかげでスムーズに読み進められました。

You will probably find this book in many 'best books of 2014' type lists, and putting it in such lists is completely justified. This book is hilariously entertaining and scientifically correct (in an approximate sense). What makes the book work is Randall Munroe's smart sense of humor that makes lot of the science in the book utter fun. For somebody like me from a Physics background, there is always an apprehension when picking up a book which has 'serious scientific answers' in its title. But it was a joy to read through Munroe deconstructing absurdly hypothetical questions while making it a whole lot of fun. This book is enjoyable at different levels depending on the technical expertise of the reader, but I'm sure the book will appeal to anyone with its humor and science. Definitely one of the best books I read in 2014. Highly recommended.