If..., Volume 1: (Questions for the Game of Life)

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What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is a 2014 non-fiction book by Randall Munroe in which the author answers hypothetical science questions sent to him by readers of his webcomic, xkcd. The book contains a selection [Note 1] of questions and answers originally published on his blog What If?, along with several new ones. [1] The book is divided into several dozen chapters, most of which are devoted to answering a unique question. [Note 2] What If? was released on September 2, 2014 and was received positively by critics. A sequel to the book, titled What If? 2, was released on September 13, 2022. [6] Conception of the blog [ edit ] Then he has a footnote which reads, "Mathematically, this must be true. If the average were less than one, the virus would die out. If it were more than one, eventually everyone would have a cold all the time. But that can't be right? Can it? It's tough to tell whether he's serious or not, because sometimes the footnotes are jokes, and other times they're not. Q. What would happen if you were to gather a mole (unit of measurement) of moles (the small furry critter) in one place?"

What If? (book) - Wikipedia

But the colorful watercolor illustrations reveal even more. What can you discover? And what is your own “What if” idea? So much of a fan that when I heard about this book, I went so far as to abuse my power as an author to get an Advance Reading Copy of the book, so that I could enjoy its deliciousness sooner. And... y'know... taunt people on the internet. After a fair share of assumptions and equations, it’s blatantly obvious that Yoda is a much better power source than Luke Skywalker. But a word of caution before we change our power grid to Yoda-based: “So Yoda sounds like our best bet as an energy source. But with world electricity consumption pushing 2 terawatts, it would take a hundred million Yodas to meet our demands. All things considered, switching to Yoda power probably isn’t worth the trouble—though it would definitely be green.” Munroe, Randall (2014). What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. ISBN 978-0544272996.Please remember that an old or antique book is not necessary valuable just because it's old. Common books like the works of William Shakespeare, prayer books, bibles and encyclopedias were printed in huge quantities during the Victorian era and usually have little value. This story presents many "what if" scenarios like cats flying and magnetic turtles. The pictures are beautiful and the story is soft, simple and sweet. This book is definitely for a very young audience, but it's a very fun book. I could see three to five year olds bonding with parents and reading buddies over this joyful little book. Although intended for young readers ages four through seven, this magical picture book, a twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the original publication, is sure to delight readers of all ages. Two new “what ifs” have been added for this edition: What if turtles were magnetic . . . and What if dreams were visible . . . . And don’t miss the surprises awaiting you in the Readers Guide to the Secrets of “If . . .”

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a b Desat, Marla (2014-09-09). "Review: What If? Answers All Your (Literally) Burning Questions". The Escapist. Archived from the original on 2016-06-06. The keyword field is useful if you know the illustrator's name or some other defining aspect like the book's binding (perhaps it's leather or cloth). If everyone on the planet stayed away from each other for a couple of weeks, wouldn't the common cold be wiped out?

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In 2008, an economist and a law professor proposed a radical new approach to politics: Telling people not to do bad stuff. Well, this amounts to the question of, what per cent of reviewers would simply stop typing when the time ran out, instead of finishing up what they were saying and ignoring the stupid rule. But what's really crazy, is how Munroe takes bland questions and hypes them into incredible zingers. For example, " If every person on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at the same time, would it change color?" The answer, of course, is "no". But Munroe never stops with an answer like that. He ups the ante, increasing the power of the laser pointers, to the point where he becomes really dangerous!

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Nothing is too absurd for him - whether it be the logistics of finding your soulmate to what happens if our moon suddenly disappears - Munroe answers it all. But I’ve never seen the Icarus story as a lesson about the limitations of humans. I see it as a lesson about the limitations of wax as an adhesive.I absolutely loved the tone of voice throughout the book. There’s no material safety data sheet for astatine. If there were, it would just be the word “NO” scrawled over and over in charred blood.His hilarious deadpan just absolutely cinched this book for me. It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end. Who knew that physics could be so fun? Despite my best intentions, I read half the book that night. It cost me precious sleep I couldn't afford to lose. But I don't regret it. Not a bit. Since 2012, Munroe has been answering unusual questions sent in by readers of xkcd on his blog What If?. The concept was inspired by a weekend program organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in which volunteers can teach classes to groups of high school students on any chosen subject. Munroe signed up after hearing about it from a friend and decided to teach a class on energy. Though the lecture felt "dry" at first, once Munroe started bringing up examples from Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, the students became more excited. The entire second half of the class was eventually spent solving mathematical and physics problems. Munroe wrote the first entries a few years before the start of the blog, based on questions he was asked that day. [7] [8]

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What If? is mainly composed of answers Munroe gives to readers' hypothetical questions on various scientific topics. The questions tend to be rather unusual, assuming an improbable scenario and inquiring a logical conclusion to the situation. The first question Munroe answered for the blog was the following: [9] a b "What if? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions". xkcd.com . Retrieved 2022-09-26.

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Who poses the greatest threat to democracy? Is it the movement that openly identifies with the symbols, goals and policies of fascist governments? Or is it the median bureaucrat at the Department of Health and Human Services?What would happen if everyone on Earth stood as close to each other as they could and jumped, everyone landing on the ground at the same instant? Trying to thoroughly answer a stupid question can take you to some pretty interesting places.Randall Munroe, ex-NASA employee and author of the wildly popular webcomic XKCD, decides to look at several, undoubtedly, absurd questions and find scientific answers to them. If you found out for certain there is a Heaven and a Hell, how would you change your life? If you had to name the one thing that most frightens you about growing old, what would it be? If you could have only one part of your body massaged every day, what part would you choose? If you could have any view in the world visible from your bed, what would it be? If you could suddenly find out that one work of fiction was actually true, what book would you select? If you could name the sexiest words anyone could say to you, what would they be? If you could put anyone you know on Prozac, who would you choose? If you could be the house cat or lap dog of any person on earth, whose would you choose to be? Second, for best usage of footnote text EVAR. (Really, I couldn't imagine reading this in ebook format - the footnotes made me giggle so frequently that if they were a pain in the tushie to read on an ebook, so much greatness would be missed.) The book is a collection of questions he has answered as well as questions he did not answer for the good of society as a whole. Answered questions include "If every human somehow simply disappeared from the face of the Earth, how long would it be before the last artificial light source would go out?" and "How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live?". These are the questions that I always ask while out in the world but I tend to forget as soon as I'm home. Or out of the shower. Definitely shower thoughts.