What If? - Randall Munroe
One of the first reviews I posted on this blog was for internet cartoonist Randall Munroe's book How To, a book where the author took common real-life problems and provided scientifically reasoned bizarre solutions for them. The example I mentioned in that review was crossing a river by such means as freezing or boiling the river, or flying over via kite.
This book, which Munroe wrote earlier than How To, takes the opposite approach: Munroe answers the bizarre and absurd questions written by his viewers with straight-forward scientific logic. Topics in this book include whether swimming in a pool that has nuclear radiation stored at the bottom would be safe, how much power Yoda has, and what would happen if all of the rain from a rain-storm fell in one giant drop. Even slightly more straightforward questions, such as how high a human could throw something, are run with to their most ridiculous-and-yet-scientifically-plausible limit, with lashings of humour throughout.
Munroe is most well-known for his online comic xkcd, which is populated by stick figures, and these decorate the book, providing more punch-lines and visual commentary to add to the proceedings.
As a fan of Munroe's comic myself, I appreciated What If?, even though I had previously read a good number of these on Munroe's blog.
Happy to have a copy of my own, though. And it is well worth checking out.
Completed 8 May 2026.
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