What If? (book)

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Author	Randall Munroe
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Science miscellanea
Published	September 2, 2014
Publisher	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Media type	Print
Pages	320 pages
ISBN	0-544-27299-4
Dewey Decimal	500
LC Class	Q173.M965 2014
Website	xkcd.com/what-if/

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is a 2014 non-fiction book by Randall Munroe in which the author answers hypothetical science questions sent to him by readers of his webcomic, xkcd. The book contains a selection^{[Note 1]} of questions and answers originally published on his blog What If?, along with several new ones.^[1] The book is divided into several dozen chapters, most of which are devoted to answering a unique question.^{[Note 2]} What If? was released on September 2, 2014 and was received positively by critics. A sequel to the book, titled What If? 2, was released on September 13, 2022.^[6]

Cite error: There are <ref group=Note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=Note}} template (see the help page).

^ Munroe, Randall (2014-03-12). "What if I wrote a book?". blog.xkcd.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-06.
^ Cite error: The named reference npr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Munroe, Randall (2014). "Lightning". What if? : serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions (hardback). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. pp. 89–94. ISBN 978-0-544-45686-0.
^ Munroe, Randall (2014). "Orbital Speed". What if? : serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions (hardback). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. pp. 187–191. ISBN 978-0-544-45686-0.
^ Munroe, Randall (2014). "Short-Answer Section". What if? : serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions (hardback). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. pp. 83–88. ISBN 978-0-544-45686-0.
^ "What if? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions". xkcd.com. Retrieved 2022-09-26.

[2] Munroe, Randall (2014-03-12). "What if I wrote a book?". blog.xkcd.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-06.

[npr-3] Cite error: The named reference npr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[4] Munroe, Randall (2014). "Lightning". What if? : serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions (hardback). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. pp. 89–94. ISBN 978-0-544-45686-0.

[5] Munroe, Randall (2014). "Orbital Speed". What if? : serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions (hardback). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. pp. 187–191. ISBN 978-0-544-45686-0.

[6] Munroe, Randall (2014). "Short-Answer Section". What if? : serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions (hardback). New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. pp. 83–88. ISBN 978-0-544-45686-0.

[:0-8] "What if? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions". xkcd.com. Retrieved 2022-09-26.

[Note 1]

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[Note 2]

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