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What If?
- Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
- Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
- Length: 6 hrs and 36 mins
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What If?
Buy Now for $32.38
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Publisher's Summary
From the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd comes this hilarious and informative book of answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask.
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 of the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there were 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 listening for xkcd fans and anyone who loves to ponder the hypothetical.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
What listeners say about What If?
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mike Reiter
- 2018-11-03
Entertaining for your inner geek
Stuff you want to ask, and stuff you can't believe anybody would ask all explained, extrapolated and then the extrapolation explained, in exacting detail. I found it entertaining. Actual physics and chemistry applied to crazy premises. Wil Wheaton as always does an excellent job on the narration. Some people might find the science a bit dense, I found it entertaining. To let my biases be known, I typically like things narrated by Wil Wheaton and I am a fan of XKCD so I appreciate the author's humour.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2022-02-09
Interestingly Amusing
Never heard more ridiculous questions with non-ridiculous answers. Wil Wheaton does a great job narrating as well.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Daniel Hunton
- 2018-10-12
Really enjoyable listen
Fun science and really interesting stuff. My only gripe is that Wil Wheaton didn't really do it for me as the voice.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- husson nicolas
- 2019-11-01
epic stories
the scales of consequences are just epic !!!
he explains consequences to such levels, it's just mind blowing
and even if it sound dumb at fort, you may learn nice stuff about phisics
great narrator !!!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J
- 2023-10-14
Perfect Narration
I read What If? years ago and loved it. Listening to Wil Wheaton narrate it made it an even better book! His comedic timing and delivery are brilliant.
When I saw that this title was included in the Audible Plus Catalogue I knew I had to listen to it. It comes with a PDF of the comics, so if you love Randall Munroe’s humorous drawings, you won’t miss out on them.
Some of my favourite questions answered are:
1) What if you built a periodic table using the actual elements?
2) What if everybody had a soulmate?
3) What if someone was rising a foot a second?
4) What would happen if a hair dryer with continuous power was turned on and put in an airtight box? (It’s funnier than it seems)
5) What if we drain the oceans?
6) What if Richter 15?
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Fitt
- 2022-02-14
A Lot of Fun
This was a lot more fun and oddly informative than I thought it would be. Will Wheaton was a great fit as narrator.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- kevin
- 2023-05-28
Mind blowing
Funny, informative. Made me think and laugh. This guy is great. I hope he puts out another book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ToxicGingerRose
- 2022-09-14
This is one I have listened to more than once
It's so much fun, and I love that it includes a PDF with all of the comics that are in the book version. And, as always, Wil Wheaton does a perfect job narrating. I buy audiobooks specifically with him listed as narrator because he always kills it!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Customer
- 2022-01-14
Very funny and educational
A fun look at ridiculous situations. It’s entertaining for all ages and education levels. Wheaton is a great reader and you’ll probably learn some things too! (Although questionable how much you can apply)
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cynical Manatee
- 2019-09-30
brilliant writing with the perfect narrator.
for anyone with a science itch or those curious about what would actually happen if your math/physics problems came to life.
this book was fantastically written and if you know will wheaton from his other works, you will quickly see how this genre of books are a perfect fit for him to read to you.
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