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terpkristin's Reviews > What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
by
by
Great book, very smart and entertaining. If you liked this book and don't read the blog, you're doing yourself a dis-service. And read xkcd while you're at it, too. In short, Randall Munroe uses simple math and physics to answer what if questions (such as, what if a pitcher pitched a baseball at .995 the speed of light?). He researches statistics and does modeling that even my non-math-inclined mother would understand. As a bonus, he cues his references and adds his classic comic style to it, too, to illustrate what he's talking about.
Everybody should read this book. It's chapters are short, making it a prefect bathroom or "short burst" book to read. I'm just sad that I'm done with it.
Everybody should read this book. It's chapters are short, making it a prefect bathroom or "short burst" book to read. I'm just sad that I'm done with it.
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What If?.
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Reading Progress
October 18, 2014
–
Started Reading
October 18, 2014
– Shelved
October 20, 2014
–
20.13%
"Love it. I'll be sad when I'm done and have to rely on waiting for updates to hit the website."
page
61
November 17, 2014
–
63.37%
"i kind of dropped off reading this while reading the S&L pick. Big mistake, I liked this more! ;)
Picked it up again while waiting for documents at work to publish. Yay nerdiness."
page
192
Picked it up again while waiting for documents at work to publish. Yay nerdiness."
December 8, 2014
–
80.53%
"I really should finish this. It's just so good and I don't want it to end. Maybe while I'm recovering from my surgery."
page
244
December 16, 2014
– Shelved as:
2014
December 16, 2014
– Shelved as:
dead-tree
December 16, 2014
– Shelved as:
kindle
December 16, 2014
– Shelved as:
non-fiction
December 16, 2014
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)
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That's one I save to look at over lunch or save to Pocket so I can read while I'm in the doc office or someplace similar. I definitely need my thrice-weekly xkcd fix and I take a new "What If" whenever he posts it.
I eat lunch at my desk while I'm working so I don't have to stay longer. I'm here 9 hours as it is.I read the baseball post and maybe 1 or 2 others. They are interesting, but I just can't fit them into my normal schedule. I'm looking forward to the book though.
I have this sitting on my end table though and I need to get to it. I mostly bought it because I love XKCD and wanted to give him some money.