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. 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] If the source you are referencing is missing a publisher or place of publication, use the words '[no publisher]' or '[no place]' in your Reference list.

If, Volume 2: (500 New Questions for the Game of Life) (If

The edge of the crowd spreads outward into southern Massachusetts and Connecticut. Any two people who meet are unlikely to have a language in common, and almost nobody knows the area. The state becomes a chaotic patchwork of coalescing and collapsing social hierarchies. Violence is common. Sources:How 1% Performance Improvements Led to Olympic GoldFrom paupers to kings: The lottery-funded revolution Habit FormationImplementation Intentions to Reduce Smoking: A Systematic Review of the LiteratureEffectiveness of the use of implementation intentions on reduction of substance use: A meta-analysisWhen Intentions Go PublicEffect of Intensive Handwashing Promotion on Childhood Diarrhea in High-Risk Communities in Pakistan Of course, I doubted him on other footnotes: pg 134 "Although it'sa little different, if you drip superglue on cotton thread, it will catch fire." That can't be right can it? That's another of his jokes? Right? In her first book, artist Sarah Perry has created twenty magical watercolors that are an open invitation to the imaginations of children. Beautifully produced in full color, these fantastic images conjure up a world of limitless possibilities where anything can leaves turn into green I find his book about one standard deviation better than similar attempts at similar things. I'm thinking of Leyner's books: Why Do Men Have Nipples?: Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini and Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex? More Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Whiskey Sour. Both are using humor and science and the strategy of funky questions. There are a couple differences, that matter. Mark Leyner isn't a scientist. He's a soft postmodernist author that is playing doctor explaining awkward questons. Monroe is a scientist that is using the scientific method and humor to explain absurd, and sometimes practically nonsense questions. While both of these books can be considered humor books, I tend to favor the one written by a scientist who can draw (kinda) dinosaurs and a pyramid of giraffes. Personal preference I guess.I think I probably would recommend this one, especially to creative readers who are looking for jumping-off points for their own stories. Supposing you did Drain the Oceans, and dumped the water on top of the Curiosity rover, how would Mars change as the water accumulated?" If you still have doubts, let me remind you of numerous disaster movies — there is always only ONE GUY who saw it coming! Do you really want to ignore me? I took the book into work with me to show it around - you know - hipster-esque and what not. I'm reading this trendy, new book first. The pictures on the inside covers include silhouettes. Can you create your own silhouette pictures?

References with missing details - Harvard - LibGuides at

If you suddenly began rising steadily at 1 foot per second, how exactly would you die? Would you freeze or suffocate first? Or something else? There is a common myth, most likely spread by geeks, that what they do is somehow pretty important to Western civilization. If you're easily impressed by this kind of propaganda, you might expect that markets will crash as geek traders neglect their buy signals, nuclear experiments will explode as geek scientists look away from their control panels, and terrorists will strike with impunity as geek intelligence analysts fail to turn up for work. All that sounds pretty bad. 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. a b Chang, Kenneth (2014-11-03). "He's Glad You Asked". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2014-11-08. What if is a non-fiction book that -as the name implies- gives answer to some absurd hypothetical questions. The book was fun to read until at some points it wasn’t. The author is apparently a genius, I don’t know how can he think in that way. And the dedication and time that he puts to answer these questions is amazing.

This anniversary version of IF, Sarah Perry’s iconic children’s picture book, is a wild ride of color, weird images and clever text. Feels a bit psychedelic actually. It holds your attention through its originality and beautiful illustrations. A must-have for those who dig fantastical art.