What If? 2

By Randall Munroe

What If? 2 - Randall Munroe
  • Release Date: 2022-09-13
  • Genre: Humor
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 106 Ratings

Description

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

An NPR Best Book of 2022

"The questions throughout What If? 2 are equal parts brilliant, gross, and wonderfully absurd and the answers are thorough, deeply researched, and great fun. . . . Science isn’t easy, but in Munroe’s capable hands, it surely can be fun." —TIME

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of What If? and How To answers more of the weirdest questions you never thought to ask

 
The millions of people around the world who read and loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger. Thank goodness xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to help. Planning to ride a fire pole from the Moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone’s freezer door at the same time? Maybe it’s time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics. Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, built a billion-story building, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on a geyser as it erupted? Okay, if you insist.

Before you go on a cosmic road trip, feed the residents of New York City to a T. rex, or fill every church with bananas, be sure to consult this practical guide for impractical ideas. Unfazed by absurdity, Munroe consults the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airliner catapult–design to answer his readers’ questions, clearly and concisely, with illuminating and occasionally terrifying illustrations. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances.

Reviews

  • Don’t listen to Dan

    5
    By Hdodndb
    This book is laugh out loud funny. Randall Munroe just knows how to make things interesting. Is any of the information in here useful? Absolutely not. Is it fun and entertaining? Most definitely! I don’t think this is as good as the first “What If” but it is worth a read for sure.
  • Only geeks could like this book, maybe!

    3
    By Dan Vermilion
    The book is filled with very uninteresting questions. It was probably sent to MIT for review but the physicist/editor fell asleep by the third chapter. If you read it, people will avoid you at parties — even the geeks.