XCKD’s Randall Munroe announces What If? 2, with more scientific answers to life’s most absurd hypothetical questions


XKCD creator Randall Munroe has announced his latest science book: What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, which will delve into new out-of-the-box questions that Munroe attempts to answer with hard scientific facts and research.
What If? 2 follows 2014’s original What If? book — which itself was borne out of an XKCD spinoff blog — that saw Munroe examine absurd questions (like whether you could build a jetpack that ran off downward-facing machine guns or if there’s enough paint to cover the entire surface of the earth) with rigorous scientific accuracy, accompanied by Munroe’s signature stick figure comics.
The new volume will continue in What If?’s absurd scientific footsteps, attempting to answer new questions from readers like how you’d ride a fire pole from the moon to Earth, or what would happen if you tried to build a billion-story-high building or solve global warming by having everyone on earth open their freezer doors.
Munroe took a break between the first and second What If? books to publish How To, a spiritual successor to What If? that attempted to answer more mundane questions (like “how to charge a phone” or “how to mail a package”) in his signature over-the-top scientific style. But What If? 2 looks to see a return to even higher heights of absurdity by once again throwing out even the very pretense of practicality.
What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions will be out on September 13th.
XKCD creator Randall Munroe has announced his latest science book: What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, which will delve into new out-of-the-box questions that Munroe attempts to answer with hard scientific facts and research. What If? 2 follows 2014’s original What If? book — which…
Recent Posts
- How Claude’s 3.7’s new ‘extended’ thinking compares to ChatGPT o1’s reasoning
- ‘We’re nowhere near done with Framework Laptop 16’ says Framework CEO
- Razer’s new Blade 18 offers Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs and a dual mode display
- Samsung’s first Pro series Gen 5 PCIe SSD arrives in March
- I tried adding audio to videos in Dream Machine, and Sora’s silence sounds deafening in comparison
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010