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There are certain things on this planet that you seemed to do fine without, but as soon as you discover, you can't now do without. Diet Dr. Pepper, David Foster Wallace, dark chocolate covered cherries all fit into this category. So, too, does Randall Munroe. He seems to occupy a space near, but not on, that vacated by Gary Larson when the great Gary Larson stopped drawing the Far Side (January 1, 1995). If you are unimpressed by Gary Larsen or the Far Side or do not know who he is or what I'm talking about, hell man, read no further. This book is not for you. I'm not trying to suggest that Gary Larson and Randall Munroe occupy the same ground. They are very different. Their approach to science is different. Their technique. However, the Venn Diagram of those readers of Gary Larson 20+ years ago would closely resemble those readers of Randall Munroe's xkcd.
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?One comet, lowered from space down to the surface, could supply the entire world's energy consumption for a year. Sure, it would release a little CO 2, but it would be nothing compared to the pollution from our current sources of energy. A comet crane generator could cut our energy-related greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero. The comet isn't the important part, the crane is. Can you use a magnifying glass and the moonlight to light a fire?" [no, for reasons that involve the second law of thermodynamics, conservation of étendue, and a bit of astronomy] But I think it's a legitimate question. And I'm pretty sure it comes from the movie SCREAM. - wasn't it a major plot point? So, Thomas, (the person who asked the question) wherever you are - I don't think you're a weirdo. (...Yeah, yeah, yeah... spoiler alert, if you're reading this in 1996... Although, I'd be willing to wager if anyone can travel through time, it's Munroe. He's sure studying that stuff. And Einstein. And Schrodinger. Also, probably J. Robert Oppenheimer.)
What If? is mainly composed of answers Munroe gives to readers' hypothetical questions on various scientific topics. The questions tend to be rather unusual, assuming an improbable scenario and inquiring a logical conclusion to the situation. The first question Munroe answered for the blog was the following: [9] The #1 New York Times bestselling author of What If? and How To answers more of the weirdest questions you never thought to ask It took me a while to get over this, undermining the whole book for a couple seconds. Seriously, if he had just said "but not before you infect, on average, on other person." I wouldn't have thought twice about it. Allain, Rhett (2014-12-19). "Book Review: What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions". Wired. Archived from the original on 2016-04-06.Delightful. . . Randall Munroe has made a career out of sharing his joy in science and engineering. . . . This book and its predecessor inspire us to believe that, even in a vast and mysterious universe, there’s a lot we can figure out with nothing but a sharp pencil, come basic scientific knowledge and a vivid imagination.”— The Wall Street Journal If you suddenly began rising steadily at one foot per second, how exactly would you die? Would you freeze or suffocate first? Or something else?"
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