#13 in Popular science
What If?
- 320
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 22 weeks on the list, peaked at #1
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About the book
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 of questions and answers originally published on his blog What If?, along with several new ones. The book is divided into several dozen chapters, most of which are devoted to answering a unique question. 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. In 2024, a 10th anniversary edition of the book was released.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.6 across 120 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 45% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Popular science average of 8.3. That is how 8.4 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.6 | 111 | 93% |
| Google Books | 8.0 | 9 | 8% |
Frequently asked
How long is What If??
It has 320 pages — shorter than 54% of the ranked books in Popular science.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Popular science — with scores between 8.3 and 8.5, closest to this book.
