"What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" by Randall Munroe

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Copyright: 2014
ISBN: 9780544272996

    This book was an absolute delight to read, however I'm still having issues even after finishing it three days ago with regard to some of the weird questions people will ask.

    Randall Monroe is the creator of the xkcd web comic, and its associated what if blog. The questions range from the relatively normal to some that are so far out in left field that it's hard to believe people would actually think of things like this. However Mr. Munro does a wonderful job i'm explaining how things work in the real world.

    Some of the topics covered are global wind storms, the risks of swimming in a nuclear  spent fuel pond, using machine guns as a jet pack, how a submarine would fair in orbit, the effects of hitting a speed bump at ridiculous speeds, building a bridge from London to New York with Lego, printing out Wikipedia, the odds of guessing all question right on the SAT exams, and many more.

    Some these questions may sound a little odd and off the wall (and some are really odd and there are no walls anywhere near), all are answered honestly but with a good deal of humour.

    There are hints in the book that additional volumes might be coming out, and if so I will definitely be looking for them. I'll also be signing onto xkcd.com and checking this out. After all I've got some weird questions too.

Highly recommended.