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What If?

Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Feb 28, 2018SkokieStaff_Steven rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Randall Munroe’s “What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions” reminds me of those recipes in which sneaky cooks insert healthful ingredients into comfort foods, such as cauliflower into mashed potatoes. In this book, Munroe inserts informative lessons in physics, mathematics, and scientific reasoning into startling scenarios that are as much fun to contemplate as they would be horrific to live through. While it’s hard to pick a favorite, I especially enjoyed his description of what would happen if all the rain in a rain storm were concentrated into a single drop. The short answer: you wouldn’t want to be standing under it. Just about all his hypothetical situations end in cataclysm, which is a great part of the fun. Fans of this book will want to check out “xkcd,” Munroe’s collection of cartoons from his website of the same name, which is just as brainy and amusing as “What if?” but definitely intended for an adult audience.