Q. What is the total nutritional value (calories, fat, vitamins, minerals, etc.) of the average human body? – Justin Risner

The CO 2 released from the comet would raise the temperature of the Earth for centuries. It wouldn't just cancel out the cooling effect of the ice—over time, the comet's greenhouse effect would deliver as much heat as if you'd just let it slam into the planet and vaporize. [5] Although letting a comet slowly decay on the surface would definitely be preferable to a high-speed impact, as any dinosaur from the end of the Cretaceous can tell you. In the introduction section of the book, Randall Munroe recounts wondering as a child whether "there were more hard things or soft things in the world", concluding that "the world contained about three billion soft things and five billion hard things". The conversation that was produced by this question impressed Munroe's mother to such a degree that she wrote it down. Though Munroe later stated that his question was rather meaningless, he used it as an example of how "thoroughly answer[ing] a stupid question can take you to some pretty interesting places". [7] But what's really crazy, is how Munroe takes bland questions and hypes them into incredible zingers. For example, " If every person on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at the same time, would it change color?" The answer, of course, is "no". But Munroe never stops with an answer like that. He ups the ante, increasing the power of the laser pointers, to the point where he becomes really dangerous!The book is a collection of questions he has answered as well as questions he did not answer for the good of society as a whole. Answered questions include "If every human somehow simply disappeared from the face of the Earth, how long would it be before the last artificial light source would go out?" and "How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live?". These are the questions that I always ask while out in the world but I tend to forget as soon as I'm home. Or out of the shower. Definitely shower thoughts.

If every human somehow simply disappeared from the face of the Earth, how long would it be before the last artificial light source would go out? The edge of the crowd spreads outward into southern Massachusetts and Connecticut. Any two people who meet are unlikely to have a language in common, and almost nobody knows the area. The state becomes a chaotic patchwork of coalescing and collapsing social hierarchies. Violence is common. Well, not really. The story is apocryphal in all probability, like George Washington and the cherry tree. But it does illustrate an important fact.

Customer reviews

It was DELIGHTFUL. This is the PERFECT book for Wil Wheaton to read. Now I feel like perhaps I have misjudged him in his audiobookery skills. One of my favorite aspects of listening to this was when he would find a question or answer amusing and let his giggles come through. It was so cute and fun and personable and I loved it. Second favorite was when he would break the 4th wall and describe a comic to the reader as "Randall has included a comic here depicting..."

Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator. What would happen if everyone on Earth stood as close to each other as they could and jumped, everyone landing on the ground at the same instant?Trying to thoroughly answer a stupid question can take you to some pretty interesting places.Randall Munroe, ex-NASA employee and author of the wildly popular webcomic XKCD, decides to look at several, undoubtedly, absurd questions and find scientific answers to them. Sometimes he would just "read" the comic as text, sometimes sort of "act it out"... but regardless it felt so seamless that I almost didn't feel like I was missing anything by not dusting off my decorative eyeballs and putting them to work for this one. Den einzigen Punktabzug gibt es leider im Bereich der Verständlichkeit. Gerade zu Beginn wirkte der Stil leider etwas holprig und sprunghaft. Manche der Fragen las ich zum Beispiel und war dann verwirrt von der Antwort, da ich etwas total anderes unter der Frage verstanden hätte als Munroe (oder der Übersetzer bzw. die Übersetzerin) wohl darunter verstanden hat. Das wurde gegen Ende des Buches aber besser. Nothing is too absurd for him - whether it be the logistics of finding your soulmate to what happens if our moon suddenly disappears - Munroe answers it all. But I’ve never seen the Icarus story as a lesson about the limitations of humans. I see it as a lesson about the limitations of wax as an adhesive.I absolutely loved the tone of voice throughout the book. There’s no material safety data sheet for astatine. If there were, it would just be the word “NO” scrawled over and over in charred blood.His hilarious deadpan just absolutely cinched this book for me. It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the sudden stop at the end. Who knew that physics could be so fun?