What If?

Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

De: Randall Munroe

Narrado por: Wil Wheaton

From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd comes this hilarious and informative book of answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask.

Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love have a large and passionate following. Fans of xkcd ask Munroe a lot of strange questions. What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent of the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there were a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last?

In pursuit of answers, 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, complemented by signature xkcd comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.

The book features new and never-before-answered questions, along with updated and expanded versions of the most popular answers from the xkcd website. What If? will be required listening for xkcd fans and anyone who loves to ponder the hypothetical.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2014 Randall Munroe (P)2014 Blackstone Audiobook

lots of science without feeling too scientific

being a science geek I considered this might be an interesting book. What I discovered was that the author is creative and funny enough to keep even a non-scientific person engage. I would highly recommend this book for anybody ages 10 and up. some of the material might go over the head of a younger person but the delivery is ultimately consumable and you will find yourself laughing as much as being surprised.

this book is a science ambush and functions well as an evangelistic tool for science and physics specifically.

Not All That Serious

If, like me, you enjoy non-fiction that attempts to explain science, history, economics, or what have you to readers who are not fully educated in those fields, and particularly enjoy them in audio format, then you really can't go wrong with What If, the longtime New York Times best seller. The premise is immediately captivating, as expressed in the subtitle:serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions. Like, what would happen if you drained the oceans, or if the sun was suddenly extinguished?

That the answers are not as completely serious as the subtitle suggests is actually a good thing, especially with the incomparable Wil Wheaton reading the droll explanations, leading us to their inevitable punch lines. For example, the answer about the sun is all about the positives that might result in the absence of sunlight, until the punchline -- we couldn't realize those benefits because we would all freeze to death.

Still, the good thing about answering absurd questions in this way is arriving at backhanded explanations of serious scientific subjects, such as the ways the sun can be a detriment, despite being so essential to life. Unfortunately, not every topic is as informative as this best of examples. To be honest, some of the answers, scientifically rigorous though they may be, are actually as silly as the original questions, and do not really impart any useful knowledge.

In the final analysis, I find What If to be consistently entertaining, but not consistently edifying -- I certainly like to be entertained by these kinds of books, but not at the expense of learning something new.

loved it!

It was filled with facts and laughs! I thought that the story was wonderful. Thanks.

A bit short, but funny!

Not for everyone probably, but for science nerds, or lay science nerds, very entertaining. Quite funny to listen to, but it was shorter than I expected----it finished at about what I felt should have been the 1/2 to 2/3rd's point.

Very good though. A solid funny credit for someone who enjoys science reading. (Mary Roach, etc.)

Awesome listen!

I found this book very interesting and well narrated! The author is brilliant and thorough! His humor keeps it alive and enjoyable!

<weighing> Wheaton:text = toss-up

Wil Wheaton's performance of Randall Munroe's text is a fascinating hoot. This would make a great present for any sciency fan-boy/girl/woman/man/gender-of-choice.

I reached the end with a smile on my face. :)

entertaining and well read

the topics were fun and light hearted, perfect for listening to on a morning commmute. only complaint is that sometimes the voice would drop in volume to emphasise a point, but would cause me to miss what he said, then have to fumble with the phone to skip back 30 seconds and turn up the volume. other than that, exactly what i wanted.

Definitely worth a listen, More worth a read!

What did you love best about What If??

This book is a fantastic exploration of physics, history, science, conjecture, and comedy. Xkcd is one of my favorite Webcomics and I've been reading What-If for a very long time. It's definitely one of those books that is better when its read vs. listened to, only because the illustrations that Randall Munroe draws are immensely funny.

What other book might you compare What If? to and why?

I don't know that there's any other book that's like this one. Comedy and factual scientific information is a pretty niche market.

What about Wil Wheaton’s performance did you like?

I've listened to 2 books narrated by Wheaton. Ready Player One was great as well. He really nails the voice performance in this one as well.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Lots of the stuff in this book moved me. From a bullet with the mass of a neutron star, to the explosion caused by a baseball moving at near the speed of light, forces were exerted on my body moving me away (and, indeed, obliterating me in the process). 10/10 would try to hit that baseball again.

I see why they picked the best part for sample

Sadly the sample was one of few very interesting and halfway educational bits in the book. Pretty much went downhill from there.
Anything by Douglas Adams would be more educational and attention holding than this tale.

boring, kinda. geeky, certainly.

Will Wheaton was the perfect casting for this book. His own intellectual snark and the authors are so similar, it almost seems like Will might have wrote it. Perhaps the author should read a book of Wills? Very intellectually entertaining.