mattdsteele@bookwyrm.social reviewed What If? 2 by Randall Munroe
Zippy read, but the YT channel might be the ideal form for these
3 stars
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)"
