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A review by cavalary
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
4.0
It's an enjoyable and quick read, but you do need to know what to expect. Randall likes taking things to extremes, the answers often leading to scenarios that range from deadly to depicting widespread devastation or even the destruction of the Earth, while at the same time making a point of not taking many things seriously. That works in a webcomic and in answers posted on that comic's site, but may bother in a book, unless you know exactly what you're going to get.
Some of those "weird (and worrying) questions" didn't strike me as being worse than those that were answered. As for some some of the answers that stood out to me, the one about the common cold definitely seems different now than when it was written, while the one about Facebook was unusually considered. And ending on a, shall I say, low note, going to the other extreme, describing the low end of the scale when the question had actually been about a planet-destroying scenario, was somewhat comforting.
Some of those "weird (and worrying) questions" didn't strike me as being worse than those that were answered. As for some some of the answers that stood out to me, the one about the common cold definitely seems different now than when it was written, while the one about Facebook was unusually considered. And ending on a, shall I say, low note, going to the other extreme, describing the low end of the scale when the question had actually been about a planet-destroying scenario, was somewhat comforting.