THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
From the creator of the wildly popular xkcd.com, hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask.
Millions visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe’s iconic webcomic. Fans ask him a lot of strange questions: How fast can you hit a speed bump, driving, and live? When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British Empire? When will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than living? How many humans would a T Rex rampaging through New York need to eat a day?
In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations and consults nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.
From the creator of the wildly popular xkcd.com, hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask.
Millions visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe’s iconic webcomic. Fans ask him a lot of strange questions: How fast can you hit a speed bump, driving, and live? When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British Empire? When will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than living? How many humans would a T Rex rampaging through New York need to eat a day?
In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations and consults nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.
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Reviews
If you're the kind of person whose brain whizzes with questions, What If? may calm the noise. Randall Munroe's done all the hard work for you
I love XKCD's What If -- 'Dear Abby for mad scientists'
XKCD is nerd royalty, the alpha dork, there's no geek more widely cited and loved
Totally brilliant
A masterclass and a great deal of fun... Like all the best lessons, you only realise how much you've learnt once you've finished it
Dangerously absorbing . . . I could not think of a better book
XKCD is nerd royalty, the alpha dork, there's no geek more widely cited and loved
It's totally brilliant and everyone who matters already knows that!
Required reading across the world
With this book, you're a kid with a chemistry set all over again. . . required reading for all grown-ups and a fun reminder that science is really, really cool.
Delightfully free-wheeling and whimsical... despite all the hard facts and gigantic numbers, you really don't have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy What If?
The best bathroom book you'll ever buy... Eminently approachable and full of beautiful expositions on the impossible that illuminate the furthest reaches, almost to the limits, of the modern sciences. The physics is real; and so is the emotional content
Expert research and accessible wit... a favourite among both geeks and laymen
What If? is brilliant, scientifically rigorous and utterly absurd... It. Is. A. Triumph
Fantastic... What If? has solved my gift dilemmas for a large group of people . . . . Here's a "What If?" question from me: What if everyone on the planet simultaneously bought a copy of this book, stopped what they were doing and read it cover to cover, would modern civilization and our global economy collapse? It's an experiment worth trying
Wonderful and incredibly fun
Smart answers to silly questions: Randall Munroe reveals all
Brilliant
Thoughtful, scientific, and highly entertaining
The reader is left constantly subject to outbursts of laughter, lingering doubts concerning the sanity of the human race, and an ever-growing fascination with the way our world and the universe works . . . Though science geeks will be the first to acknowledge Munroe's greatness, even people suffering from a chronic hatred towards anything concerned with math will find the humour and absurdity of What If? hard to resist
Brilliant, funny and fascinating
It will satisfy the curious and arouse curiosity in anyone who's not - and it's got great jokes
Essential