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‘Nerd royalty’ Ben Goldacre
‘Laugh-out-loud funny’ Bill Gates
‘Totally brilliant’ Tim Harford
WHAT IF you still had so many more strange questions about the universe?
And WHAT IF Randall Munroe, former NASA roboticist and xkcd creator, were prepared to move mountains, fill the solar system with soup and alter the space-time continuum to answer them?
Whether it’s how to make a lava lamp out of lava or feeding the inhabitants of New York to a T. Rex, welcome to the weird, wonderful (and sometimes terrifying) world of WHAT IF? 2
‘Laugh-out-loud funny’ Bill Gates
‘Totally brilliant’ Tim Harford
WHAT IF you still had so many more strange questions about the universe?
And WHAT IF Randall Munroe, former NASA roboticist and xkcd creator, were prepared to move mountains, fill the solar system with soup and alter the space-time continuum to answer them?
Whether it’s how to make a lava lamp out of lava or feeding the inhabitants of New York to a T. Rex, welcome to the weird, wonderful (and sometimes terrifying) world of WHAT IF? 2
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Reviews
PRAISE FOR WHAT IF?
Nerd royalty
Brilliant
With this book you're a kid with a chemistry set all over again...required reading for grown-ups
Smart answers to silly questions: Randall Munroe reveals all
Randall Munroe [is] the guru of absurd science questions . . . What If ?2 is stuffed with questions that are fanciful in the asking, but perfectly - and playfully - informative in the answering. The questions throughout are equal parts brilliant, gross, and wonderfully absurd and the answers are thorough, deeply researched, and great fun. Do you need any of this information? No. Are you happy - indeed, delighted - to have it? Almost certainly yes. Science isn't easy, but in Munroe's capablehands, it surely can be fun.
PRAISE FOR WHAT IF? 2
One of my favourite books of the year.
Head-scratching . . . seemingly simple conundrums lead to the most fascinating of rabbit holes.
*Staff's Favourite Books of 2022* A dense litany of thoroughly researched explanations of intensely silly hypotheticals. 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.
One of my favourite books of the year