Book Thoughts: What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

Welcome back to my fourth installment of "Book Thoughts." Today, I'll be discussing a humorous and informative non-fiction science book. I say "non-fiction" even though, I must admit, this book is somewhat difficult to place for reasons I will get into later. This is a book I saw almost a decade ago and thought it looked interesting. I finally got around to purchasing and reading it. This is the first book in the "Book Thoughts" series where I have zero connection to the book or author in any way (other than following his humorous social media pages). I simply thought it would be a fun read. I was not disappointed. Without further ado, I present to you, my "Book Thoughts" on "What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" by Randall Munroe - creator of the infamous "xkcd" comics.

Book cover of the novel "What If" by Randall Munroe. Disclaimer: This book cover and book is entirely owned by Randall Munroe and is not affiliated with me in any way.

What exactly is "what if?" How does one classify a list of absurd questions and their often equally absurd, yet scientifically accurate, answers with drawn comics sprinkled throughout? In some sense, I might be tempted to classify this work as a textbook. However, that wouldn't do it justice. I might be tempted to pay good money to attend any class that would use this as its text book. It would almost be better to describe it as a "research paper." Or several research papers stuck together. It's really a book that you have to read for yourself to appreciate. There's no "plot" to this book, only an unwavering desire to answer life's most vexing questions. For an example of the type of questions and answers on offer in this book, the very first question presented is: "What would happen if the Earth and all terrestrial objects suddenly stopped spinning, but the atmosphere retained its velocity?" The short answer to this is, "Nearly everyone would die." However, short answers are insufficient for this book. What follows is a several page response explaining, in detail, all the disastrous consequences, with pictorial comics illustrating points. If that doesn't intrigue you, this book also explores what exactly would happen if you tried to build the periodic table of elements out of each of the elements (Hint: it's not boring). I won't spoil all the other strange yet intriguing questions. How did the author come up with all of these questions? He didn't. His audience did. Each question is one posited to him by one of his millions of fans of his xkcd comics. Each question is credited to the user who asked it. The answers, however, he did come up with. Many of these answers involved scientific research and asking scientists in the appropriate fields. All of his references and citations are given within this book if you would like to dig even further into a given topic. If you're looking to laugh, learn, and ponder all at the same time, this is the book for you. While the questions may be absurd (to varying degrees), the answers are genuine, scientific, and insightful. You never know when you might need to know the answer to one of these questions. Better pick this book up just in case. Check it out "What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/What-If-Scientific-Hypothetical-Questions/dp/0544272994