What If?2

Author Randall Munroe
Narrator Wil Wheaton
Publisher John Murray Press
Run Time 6 hours and 35 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Humour, Popular science, Strip cartoons.

Listen to a sample

What to expect

WHAT IF... one man decided to answer all the unanswerable questions, using science.
The Sunday Times-bestselling author and xkcd creator, Randall Munroe is here to provide the best answers yet to the important questions you probably never thought to ask

The millions of people around the world who read and loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger.

Planning to ride a fire pole from the moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking the landing.

Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone's freezer doors at the same time? Maybe it's time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics.

Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, built a billion-storey building, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on a geyser as it erupted? Okay, if you insist.

Welcome (back) to the mind-blowing world of What If?

Unfazed by absurdity, Randall consults the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airplane-catapult design to clearly and concisely answer his readers' questions. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances.

Filled with bonkers science, boundless curiosity, and Randall's signature stick-figure comics, What If? 2 is sure to be another instant classic adored by inquisitive readers of all ages.

(P)2022 Penguin Random House Audio

Critics Review

PRAISE FOR WHAT IF?

Nerd royalty

BEN GOLDACRE

Brilliant

Rolling Stone

With this book you’re a kid with a chemistry set all over again…required reading for grown-ups

Smart answers to silly questions: Randall Munroe reveals all

Guardian

PRAISE FOR WHAT IF? 2

Randall Munroe [is] the guru of absurd science questions . . . What If ?2 is stuffed with questions that are fanciful in the asking, but perfectly – and playfully – informative in the answering. The questions throughout are equal parts brilliant, gross, and wonderfully absurd and the answers are thorough, deeply researched, and great fun. Do you need any of this information? No. Are you happy – indeed, delighted – to have it? Almost certainly yes. Science isn’t easy, but in Munroe’s capablehands, it surely can be fun.

Time Magazine

One of my favourite books of the year.

Financial Times

Head-scratching . . . seemingly simple conundrums lead to the most fascinating of rabbit holes.

WIRED

*Staff’s Favourite Books of 2022* A dense litany of thoroughly researched explanations of intensely silly hypotheticals. Perfect if you enjoy it when stuffy figures of authority crack a smile. Or if you like it when black holes form. That happens a lot.

Newsweek

One of my favourite books of the year

Tim Harford

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