The author of the webcomic xkcd works out
back-of-the-envelope answers to odd scientific questions.
Writing this review seems somewhat pointless. If you're at all
interested in this sort of thing, you've probably already read
What If? on the web and may even have
bought the book. But just in case you're an exception, and because I
promised myself I'd write a review of everything I read…
First of all, for readers of the web version, there's a reasonable
amount of new material here (I recall without citation a claim of 51%,
and that seems plausible). There are quite a few full articles, and
twelve pages of "Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If?
Inbox" (such as "What is the total nutritional value (calories, fat,
vitamins, minerals, etc.) of the average human body?"). Most, but not
all, of the image title text from the web-published articles is
included as notes or captions. I'm not sorry to have bought it.
If you don't read the web version, well, that's the easiest way to
get a taste for the sort of material you'll find here. Munroe selects
from questions submitted by readers, such as "What would happen if the
Earth and all terrestrial objects suddenly stopped spinning, but the
atmosphere retained its velocity?", and answers them in an informal
style with rough but well-researched calculations, leavened by
sketched cartoons.
This sort of enquiring thought is something of which I meet far too
little in real life, and I'm encouraged that the book is apparently
doing well. It's not that I need to know the results of a global
windstorm; it's that I'm interested in the means by which those
results are derived, and the mental tools in use. The book is not
about relativistic baseballs or illuminating the moon with laser
pointers; it's about having the mental agility to answer questions of
that kind by looking at existing science and building from it.
If I had young relatives who were reading but who hadn't yet had
inquiry and creativity stamped out of them by school, I'd send them
copies of this book.
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