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  • What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

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Randall Munroe
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What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

by Randall Munroe (Author) Format: Hardcover
4.4 on Goodreads
18,293 ratings

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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.
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  1. Part of series
    What If?
  2. Print length
    368 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Riverhead Books
  5. Publication date
    Sept. 13 2022
  6. Dimensions
    18.36 x 2.95 x 23.55 cm
  7. ISBN-10
    0525537112
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0525537113
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Popular Highlights in this book
What are Popular Highlights?
Previous page
  1. “Stand on the other side from where the physics is happening” is actually a good general rule for scientific equipment.
    Highlighted by 628 Kindle readers
  2. A mirage is a reflection of the sky; light from the sky comes down near the surface and then bends up toward your eye, so it looks like it’s coming from the ground.
    Highlighted by 284 Kindle readers
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From the Publisher

From the author of WHAT IF? and HOT TO: what if? 2 by Randall MonroeFrom the author of WHAT IF? and HOT TO: what if? 2 by Randall Monroe

A practical guide for impractical ideas.A practical guide for impractical ideas.

Full of the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airliner catapult designFull of the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airliner catapult design

And the answers to more of the weirdest questions you never thought to askAnd the answers to more of the weirdest questions you never thought to ask

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Review

Praise for What If? 2

“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

"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

"Picking this book up now and then enlivens life by letting you briefly consider the effects of, say, putting an indestructible 20-meter-wide glass tube all the way down to the deepest part of the ocean. Plus, Munroe’s illustrations turn stick figures and flowcharts into the stuff of existential hilarity." —NPR 

"Entertaining. . . . combines Munroe’s true research and truly funny prose with his signature stick-figure illustrations." —The Washington Post

"Perfect if you enjoy it when stuffy figures of authority crack a smile. Or if you like it when black holes form. That happens a lot." —Newsweek

"One of my favorite books of the year." —Tim Harford, Financial Times

"It's an absolute delight! It's the coolest way to learn how the world actually works." —Hank Green (on the Dear Hank & John podcast) 

“A delight for science geeks with a penchant for oddball thought experiments.” —Kirkus

Praise for Randall Munroe and What If?

“Randall Munroe is a national treasure.” —Phil Plait
 
“Extreme astrophysics and indecipherable chemistry have rarely been this clearly explained or this consistently hilarious.” —Entertainment Weekly “10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year”

“Consistently fascinating and entertaining...Munroe leavens the hard science with whimsical touches... An illuminating handbook of methods of reasoning.” —Wall Street Journal

“It’s fun to watch as Munroe tackles each question and examines every possible complication with nerdy and methodical aplomb.... The delightfully demented What If? is the most fun you can have with math and science, short of becoming your own evil genius.” —Boston Globe

About the Author

Randall Munroe is the author of the New York Times bestsellers What If? 2, How To, What If?, and Thing Explainer; the science question-and-answer blog What If?; and the popular web comic xkcd. A former NASA roboticist, he left the agency in 2006 to draw comics on the internet full time. He lives in Massachusetts.

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About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Randall Munroe

Randall Munroe

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Randall Munroe is the creator of the webcomic xkcd and author of xkcd: Volume 0. Randall was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, and grew up outside Richmond, Virginia. After studying physics at Christopher Newport University, he got a job building robots at NASA Langley Research Center. In 2006 he left NASA to draw comics on the internet full time, and has since been nominated for a Hugo Award three times. The International Astronomical Union recently named an asteroid after him: asteroid 4942 Munroe is big enough to cause mass extinction if it ever hits a planet like Earth.

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