What If? 2

Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions , #2

Hardcover, 368 pages

English language

Published Sept. 13, 2022 by Riverhead Books.

ISBN:
978-0-525-53711-3
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
60190659
ASIN:
0525537112
Goodreads:
60190659

View on OpenLibrary

View on Inventaire

(3 reviews)

The #1 New York Times–bestselling author of What If? and How To provides his best answers yet to the weirdest questions you never thought to ask.

The millions of people around the world who read and loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Thank goodness xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to help. Planning to ride a fire pole from the moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone’s freezer door at the same time? Maybe it’s time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics. Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, built a billion-story building, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on a geyser as it erupted? Okay, if you insist.

Before you go on a cosmic road trip, feed the residents of New York City …

4 editions

Zippy read, but the YT channel might be the ideal form for these

Read through this over the course of a weeklong camping trip. I've been enjoying these since they first started as blog posts, these continue that trend. Some of my favorites include Losing Weight by reducing Earth's size (and gravity), and why compasses don't just point towards the nearest MRI machine.

That said, I reluctantly feel the best format for these explainers might be the YouTube channel (which has published many of these scenarios). The narration and videos are well-done and provide a similar quick bite of pop-sci, in a more accessible way. But if you do read through the book, don't skip the foot notes. One of my favorites is the footnote for "It's very hot close to the Sun" cited as "Santana, C., I.Shur, R. Thomas, Smooth (1999)"