What if the Earth stopped spinning?
What if you threw a baseball at the speed of light?
What if a rainstorm dropped all its water in a single, giant
drop?
What if you put a hole in the oceans and drained them?
These and plenty of other questions make up the contents of
Randall Munroe’s silly yet well-researched book What if? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.
Munroe, most known for his popular webcomic XKCD,
which delivers nerdy and intelligent humor through stick figures, uses
scientific data and mathematics to answer outlandish questions as accurately as
he can. Usually while scaling up the terms of the questions to make them even
more outlandish.
Munroe’s talent as a writer is his ability to deliver the
complicated and esoteric in a hilariously absurd way that anyone can find
delightful. While his answers are replete with mathematics related to
astrophysics, nuclear forces, and weather patterns, the insane scenarios he
outlines are as easy to laugh at for the everyman as they are for the
scientist. The stick figure drawing of a T-Rex being fed to the Sarlacc Monster
helps.
Something of a cross between Mythbusters, Calvin and
Hobbes, and Bill Nye: The Science Guy,
What if? is an enjoyable collection
of weird ideas that manages to deliver both science lessons and laughs at once.
So whether you read it for the humor, the research, or both, you’ll certainly
enjoy yourself. And you’ll come away with newfound concern for falling, burning
steaks.
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