What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

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Randall Munroe left NASA in 2005 to start up his hugely popular site XKCD a web comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language which offers a witty take on the world of science and geeks It now has 600,000 to a million page hits daily Every now and then, Munroe would get emails asking him to arbitrate a science debate My friend and I were arguing about what would happen if a bullet got struck by lightning, and we agreed that you should resolve it He liked these questions so much that he started up What If If your cells suddenly lost the power to divide, how long would you survive How dangerous is it, really, to be in a swimming pool in a thunderstorm If we hooked turbines to people exercising in gyms, how much power could we produce What if everyone only had one soulmate When if ever did the sun go down on the British empire How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live What would happen if the moon went away In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, studded with memorable cartoons and infographics They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion Far than a book for geeks, WHAT IF Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions explains the laws of science in operation in a way that every intelligent reader will enjoy and feel much the smarter for having read. Free Read What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions author Randall Munroe For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr This is one of the most entertaining books I have ever read And I have read over 10 books.I ve been a reader of XKCD for ages Not just a reader, a fan A big goey, geeky fan So much of a fan that when I heard about this book, I went so far as to abuse my power as an author to get an Advance Reading Copy of the book, so that I could enjoy its deliciousness sooner And y know taunt people on the internet And it worked I got an early copy And I treasured it I petted it It was precious to me Precious Then life got in the way Conventions Promotion for my own book launch I ve been a reader of XKCD for ages Not just a reader, a fan A big goey, geeky fan So much of a fan that when I heard about this book, I went so far as to abuse my power as an author to get an Advance Reading Copy of the book, so that I could enjoy its deliciousness sooner And y know taunt people on the internet And it worked I got an early copy And I treasured it I petted it It was precious to me Precious Then life got in the way Conventions Promotion for my own book launch I had dad stuff to do I had prep work for the yearly Worldbuilders fundraiser Then I had my book tour Through all of this, I carried my precious ARC around, waiting for the time when I d be able to spare ...Q What would happen if every geek in the world received a copy of What If tomorrow morning A Actually, less than you d think.First, a little background about this book If you re a geek, it s unputdownable, a word that, if you think carefully, means cannot be put down You may not be aware of this fact, since the word is nearly always misused So the geek who receives it is going to carry on reading through breakfast, through lunch, while he s supposed to be working, and on through dinner, Q What would happen if every geek in the world received a copy of What If tomorrow morning A Actually, less than you d think.First, a little background about this book If you re a geek, it s unputdownable, a word that, if you think carefully, means cannot be put down You may not be aware of this fact, since the word is nearl...Trying to thoroughly answer a stupid question can take you to some pretty interesting places. Randall Munroe, ex NASA employee and author of the wildly popular webcomic XKCD, decides to look at several, undoubtedly, absurd questions and find scientific answers to them.Nothing is too absurd for him whether it be the logistics of finding your soulmate to what happens if our moon suddenly disappears Munroe answers it all But I ve never seen the Icarus story as a lesson about the limitationsTrying to thoroughly answer a stupid question can take you to some pretty interesting places. Randall Munroe, ex NASA employee and author of the wildly popular webcomic XKCD, decides to look at several, undoubtedly, absurd questions and find scientific answers to them.Nothing is too absurd for him whether it be the logistics of finding your soulmate to what happens if our moon suddenly disappears Munroe answers it all But I ve never seen the Icarus story as a lesson about the limitations of humans I see it as a lesson about the limitations of wax as an adhesive. I absolutely loved the tone of voice throughout the book There s no material safety data sheet for astatine If there were, it would just be the word NO scrawled over and over in cha...AMAZING BOOK I love love love it and frankly, there s no better book to read on the toilet Off the toilet too, but I learned so much and the writing is so engaging and entertaining and just MARVELOUS Of course in the style of xkcd, this and Atlas Obscura would be my go to book gifts this year.My evil plan of reading this book in small doses aloud to my students during math class has worked Several of them have bought their own copies, and they are, I believe, planning to use their math skills for good, and not for world domination.This book opens with the best disclaimer I have ever seen Do not try any of this at home The author of this book is an Internet cartoonist, not a health or safety expert He likes it when things catch fire or explode, which means he does not have your best interests in mind The publisher and the author disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects resulting, directly or indirectly, from information contained in this book That disclaimer really sets the tone for thi...Mr Munroe includes some weird and worrying questions from his website s inbox which he presents without attempting to answer one favourite was If you saved a whole life s worth of kissing and used all that suction power on one single kiss, how much suction force would that single kiss have I guess the answer might be what pharmaceutical products have you ingested during the last four hours or May I speak to your parents Another person named Jon Merrill askedHow fast would a human have Mr Munroe includes some weird and worrying questions from his website s inbox which he presents without attempting to answer one favourite was If you saved a whole life s worth of kissing and used all that suction power on one single kiss, how much suction force would that single kiss have I guess the answer might be what pharmaceutical products have you ingested during the last four hours or May I speak to your parents Another person named Jon Merrill askedHow fast would a human have to run in order to be cut in half at the bellybutton by a cheese cutting wire Answer has to be as fast as I will be running if I ever meet you Jon.And a person called Kenneth askedWhat if every ...One of the things that s nice about goodreads is that it lets you embed pictures And one of the nice things about xkcd is that it has lots of pictures licensed under CC Attribution Non Commerical meaning I can post as many as I want to this review.I m pretty sure that if you re here, you already know about xkcd But hey, ...I highly recommend taking the audiobook route for this one unless you absolutely love very technical science Wil Wheaton s narration was excellent and he delivered Munroe s humor perfectly I loved this so much I bought a hard copy for my coffee table.

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
  • English
  • 05 May 2018
  • Hardcover
  • 303 pages
  • 0544272994
  • Randall Munroe
  • What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions