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A review by opticflow
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
4.0
If there's a scientist in your life, you're probably well accustomed to this sense of humor. If not, prepare yourself for some groanworthy puns. I was not familiar with this blog beforehand but I was impressed with the research. Some questions are deemed too stupid or dangerous to answer, which irks me a bit, as a person who partially answers questions for a living.
There's a lot of weather, geology, and astronomy questions in here, but not much biology or chemistry. I never took a physics class so some of this was over my head, but I still found it enjoyable. Your mileage may vary.
It does specify absurd hypothetical questions, but brings up less absurd questions along the way, and doesn't give an entirely satisfying answer to what happens during lightning storms at sea. Of all the questions, I was most invested in this one, which actually happened to me when I was 12, on a sailboat with a 38 foot aluminum mast pointing directly into a storm. I remember saying some Hail Marys and preparing for 1.21 gigawatts. After reading this I'm no more the wiser of why I'm still alive.
There's a lot of weather, geology, and astronomy questions in here, but not much biology or chemistry. I never took a physics class so some of this was over my head, but I still found it enjoyable. Your mileage may vary.
It does specify absurd hypothetical questions, but brings up less absurd questions along the way, and doesn't give an entirely satisfying answer to what happens during lightning storms at sea. Of all the questions, I was most invested in this one, which actually happened to me when I was 12, on a sailboat with a 38 foot aluminum mast pointing directly into a storm. I remember saying some Hail Marys and preparing for 1.21 gigawatts. After reading this I'm no more the wiser of why I'm still alive.