What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (2014) by Randall Munroe

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Overview of “What If?”

A very brief description of “What If?”

Randall Munroe’s webcomic about science, technology, language, and love has a large and passionate following. Every week millions of fans of Munroe’s stick figures visit xkcd.com … and many of them ask him a lot of strange questions. For example, what if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there was a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last? This book is a compilation of his most popular questions and answers - complimented by his signature xkcd comics.

What Munroe sets out to do / Purpose of the book

In pursuit of answers to reader’s questions, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion. 

The intended audience of "What If?" / Who will benefit most

People who love science

People who love learning

People who enjoy thinking about how and why the world works

People who want to become better problem solvers

People who love comics

People who want to spend time listening to someone who is really smart and really cool

Who probably WON’T like this book?

People who think hypothetical questions are unnecessary

People who don’t care how or why the world works

People who hate science and math

People who don’t like stick figures

How does this book specifically benefit Men? 

As a man, people are always going to be asking us why things happen the way they do. The world is a complicated and challenging place and much of what is happening is overwhelming to people. Books like ‘What If?’ help Men to hone our problem solving skills and help us to make better choices. Plus Men need a good sense of humor and xkcd and Randall Munroe is hilarious!

Is this book Easy, Average or Difficult to read? / How long is it?

Easy to follow, but the math/physics/chemistry/etc can get very challenging when Munroe breaks down the science behind the answers. Thankfully, you can always skip over the dense math stuff and just read the summaries. And of course there’s always the comics! 

321 pages, Audiobook: 6 hrs, 36mins

What are the overall book reviews? Is the book well-known? Popular? Significant?

Amazon Books: 29,172 Ratings - 4.6 Stars

Kindle Ranking:

#7 in Science & Scientists Humor

#15 in Physics (Kindle Store)

#34 in Trivia (Books)

Audible: 13,396, 4.5 stars

Audible Ranking:

#123 in Physics 

#246 in Trivia

#320 in Biological Sciences

Book-To-Movie Translation 

It's probably a good thing a movie version of "What If?" doesn't exist. In pretty much every scenario the world ends!

Bio of Randall Munroe

Munroe is an American cartoonist, author, and engineer best known as the creator of the webcomic xkcd. 

Munroe was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, and his father has worked as an engineer and marketer.

He was a fan of comic strips in newspapers from an early age, starting off with Calvin and Hobbes (Jay’s personal fav comic)

Graduated in 2006 with a degree in physics.

Worked as a contract programmer and roboticist for NASA at the Langley Research Center, before and after his graduation with a physics d