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S'està carregant… What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (2014 original; edició 2014)de Randall Munroe (Autor)
Detalls de l'obraWhat If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions de Randall Munroe (2014)
  
Books Read in 2015 (132) Books Read in 2020 (313) » 11 més
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While I knew most of the answers already from the web column, it was never boring. (  ) SpookyFM | Jan 18, 2021 |  Kind of a fun book about bizarre hypothetical questions and attempts to answer them in a scientific way. Premise was usually interesting, and it was well researched. Unfortunately, it got annoyingly repetitive. Here's generally how it went: "Interesting question" "Reasonable answer" "But wait, what if we increased the scope by a million bajillion? If this happens, the hypothetical subject will have so much energy that it will turn into a plasma and destroy the western hemisphere of the earth." Every, single, answer would devolve into this, and eventually it all just seemed so meaningless. Regardless, there really were some interesting tidbits, and I did enjoy it, but a lot of it was repetitive and over the top. (  ) Andjhostet | Jan 11, 2021 | This was a really good book of “stupid questions” taken to absurd extremes and answered in a scientifically rigorous way. The author is the creator of the xkcd comic, and a former NASA scientist, and is very good at doing analyses of weird situations (e.g. what happens if you throw a baseball at a batter at higher and higher speeds, ending up at 0.9c), clearly presenting some interesting scientific concepts. This would be a great gift for someone who is not yet interested in science and math. (  ) octal | Jan 1, 2021 | I sat down last night at 9:30 to read and realized it was midnight before looking up... definitely the most engaging, fun science book I’ve ever encountered. If this sort of thing were around (or that I knew about it) when I was a kid, it’s possible I’d be an engineer or something. Fabulously educational. Highly recommended. ( ) nrt43 | Dec 29, 2020 | A delightful and engaging read that explores some of the common and decidedly uncommon hypothetical questions that people have asked XKCD author Randall Munroe. I quickly read the book in about two days and enjoyed sharing what I learned with family members at the dinner table. While fully understanding the explanations require at least an intermediate comprehension of mathematics and physics, the general idea behind each Q&A set can easily be understood and enjoyed by all ages. ( ) johnxlibris | Dec 28, 2020 | Pertany a aquestes col·leccions editorials
"Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe's iconic webcomic. His stick-figure drawings about science, technology, language, and love have a large and passionate following. Fans of xkcd ask Munroe a lot of strange questions. What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there was a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last? In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, complemented by signature xkcd comics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion. The book features new and never-before-answered questions, along with updated and expanded versions of the most popular answers from the xkcd website. What If? will be required reading for xkcd fans and anyone who loves to ponder the hypothetical. "-- No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
 Google Books — S'està carregant…Cobertes popularsValoracióMitjana: (4.19)
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What if?-type thought experiments, physics, NF
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