What If? cover art

What If?

Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

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What If?

Written by: Randall Munroe
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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Buy Now for $19.81

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About this listen

From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd comes this hilarious and informative book of answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask.

Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love have a large and passionate following. Fans of xkcd ask Munroe a lot of strange questions. What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent of the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there were a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last?

In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by signature xkcd comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.

The book features new and never-before-answered questions, along with updated and expanded versions of the most popular answers from the xkcd website. What If? will be required listening for xkcd fans and anyone who loves to ponder the hypothetical.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2014 Randall Munroe (P)2014 Blackstone Audiobook
Biological Sciences Physics Science Funny Witty Mathematics Technology Inspiring Thought-Provoking Comedy Joke Writing
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Stuff you want to ask, and stuff you can't believe anybody would ask all explained, extrapolated and then the extrapolation explained, in exacting detail. I found it entertaining. Actual physics and chemistry applied to crazy premises. Wil Wheaton as always does an excellent job on the narration. Some people might find the science a bit dense, I found it entertaining. To let my biases be known, I typically like things narrated by Wil Wheaton and I am a fan of XKCD so I appreciate the author's humour.

Entertaining for your inner geek

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Never heard more ridiculous questions with non-ridiculous answers. Wil Wheaton does a great job narrating as well.

Interestingly Amusing

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Fun science and really interesting stuff. My only gripe is that Wil Wheaton didn't really do it for me as the voice.

Really enjoyable listen

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the scales of consequences are just epic !!!
he explains consequences to such levels, it's just mind blowing

and even if it sound dumb at fort, you may learn nice stuff about phisics

great narrator !!!

epic stories

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I read What If? years ago and loved it. Listening to Wil Wheaton narrate it made it an even better book! His comedic timing and delivery are brilliant.

When I saw that this title was included in the Audible Plus Catalogue I knew I had to listen to it. It comes with a PDF of the comics, so if you love Randall Munroe’s humorous drawings, you won’t miss out on them.

Some of my favourite questions answered are:
1) What if you built a periodic table using the actual elements?
2) What if everybody had a soulmate?
3) What if someone was rising a foot a second?
4) What would happen if a hair dryer with continuous power was turned on and put in an airtight box? (It’s funnier than it seems)
5) What if we drain the oceans?
6) What if Richter 15?

Perfect Narration

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