What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

SPECIAL UPDATED 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE MILLION-SELLING POP SCIENCE CLASSIC

WHAT IF... one man decided to answer all the unanswerable questions, using science.

'Randall Munroe is nerd royalty' BEN GOLDACRE
'Brilliant' ROLLING STONE 'Smart answers to silly questions: Munroe reveals all' GUARDIAN
'Required reading' NEW YORK TIMES
Randall Munroe is the creator of the wildly popular xkcd.com. His readers ask him a lot of strange questions:

What would happen if absolutely everyone jumped at the same time?
How could we build a Lego bridge between London and New York? What if my DNA vanished?
How long could a submarine last in space?
What are the odds of meeting my soulmate?

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

Welcome back to the mind-blowing world WHAT IF? . . . Now with 10 x the science and 10 x the jokes

Featuring brand-new 2-colour annotations and illustrations, this special anniversary edition will leave you feeling much smarter, whether you have a Nobel Prize or not.