What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
By: Randall Munroe
Introduction:
Thanks Kindle for the free book.
Overview:
"From the creator of the wildly popular
webcomic xkcd, hilarious and informative 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 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?
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 reading for xkcd fans and anyone who
loves to ponder the hypothetical."
Book Details:
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Edition edition (September 2, 2014)
ISBN-10: 0544272994
ISBN13: 978-0544272996
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Questions:
- What did you think about the book format?
- Did you learn anything new?
- Have you ever thought about one of these questions or type of questions?
- When you were younger, who did you ask or what resources did you access to answer some of your questions?
- Did you consider this as humor?
Discussion:
- Q&A format not easy to read through in one sitting
- sparked interesting conversations
- have not thought about these physics concepts in a long time, forgot many terms
- parents were pragmatic
- funny/not funny
References:
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