Reviews - What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

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3.77k reviews for:

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

Brilliant and hilarious book. I did the audio book for this and once again I'm pretty much in awe of what an art form audio books have become. It was read spectacularly by the one of a kind Wil Wheaton and he was quite fabulous. This book is totally absurd and yet somehow, actually educational anyhow (in a very strange and probably completely unpractical way - but still, educational!) The questions are ridiculous. The answers are absurd, yet scientific, and delivered with exceptional humor (citation needed). I really loved all the critical thinking that only super smart and experienced scientists could provide. There is so much to consider in some of these answers and it always felt like most if not all of the stones were overturned. But I can't tell you how many times I said to myself ....huh, I wouldn't have thought of that .... as I was going through this. Some of the ones that really stood out to me, the soul mate question, printing wikipedia, the speed bump, the machine gun question (of COURSE with help from some Texan whereas the author described his arsenal as a virtual Mad Max society level - jesus we're so embarrassing) flyover states, reading Tweets (seems even more stupid today now that Twitter is a right wing spam site and nothing more, how quickly the times change) Yoda, lightning strikes, and the one where you just floated away. It's hard to do any of this justice in a review b/c the whole thing is just so wonderful and analytical and humorous and incredibly well researched and written - all I can say is, just go read it and experience it for yourself. Unless you're a total bore of a person I imagine anyone could enjoy this book at least on some level. And pretty much everyone will learn SOMETHING. I freaking loved it. Bring on the sequel.

valiant24's review against another edition

funny fast-paced

nicolamichelle's review against another edition

4.0

I loved this gloriously funny, informative and clever book on scientific answers to absurd questions. It was brilliant ! And so funny. The author has a great sense of humour. With some amazing illustrations too.

Want to know what would happen if everyone on earth was to jump all at once at exactly the same time? When would the last artificial light source go out if everyone on earth was suddenly to disappear?
How many humans would a T-Rex have to eat a day to survive? All questions you want to know the answer to I’m sure!

This is probably a book I’ll return to and read every now and again as it’s a nice easy, effortless and funny read with plenty of informative content and some great science!

me_shell_my_bell's review against another edition

5.0

This was a really riveting read! The way every scenario was explicitly laid out obviously broken down and each aspect thoroughly thought out and researched, but then the delivery of the answers was unwrapped and almost comedically well timed, which all made for an enjoyable dive into science blended with creativity and humor— just a great outlook to have towards life.

janetl69's review against another edition

3.0

I really wish we could give half or quarter stars, because once again this was an interesting concept (3 stars) but the follow thru didn't do it for me (2 stars). The cartoons were entertaining as we as a lot of the footnotes (3 stars), but there was so much math & scientific explanations that it did a good job of putting me to sleep (1 star). With the above break downs, that means I should give it 2.25 stars, but I'll round up to 3.

piusgreg's review against another edition

4.0

This book genuinely made me laugh out loud; I can't remember the last time that was true of anything I read. Munroe's science and research expertise are well complimented by his sense of humor, which makes this book definitely worth a read for anyone looking for something light-hearted, but still probably practical in some way (maybe)

homsyharris13's review against another edition

5.0

I love this book. It provides real and honest scientific answers to questions people have regarding real world items. This book makes you think, it makes you listen and understand science. It should be taught in school and allowed for children to experiment to understand the science up close.