What if I wrote a book?

For the last couple years, I’ve been answering your science questions on What If.

Today, I’m excited to announce that the What If? book is coming!

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions will be published September 2nd by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Starting today you can pre-order it from your favorite bookseller (Barnes & NobleAmazonIndie Bound).  There are also foreign editions, including a UK and Commonwealth edition and a German edition.

As I’ve sifted through the letters submitted to What If every week, I’ve occasionally set aside particularly neat questions that I wanted to spend a little more time on. This book features my answers to those questions, along with revised and updated versions of some of my favorite articles from the site. (I’m also including my personal list of the weirdest questions people have submitted.)

Preorder today to get a copy as soon as it comes out!

1,117 replies on “What if I wrote a book?”

  1. I really enjoyed your book but on page 234 line 1, in between character numbers 12 and 13 there should be a comma its really bugging me

    how it is now: 1000,000,000
    how it should be: 1,000,000,000

    Liked by 3 people

  2. I am half way through the book, and it is terrific. However, while I was reading, my son noticed an error on page 35 as he was peeking on the side. Ammonia is incorrectly listed as an element. My periodic table loving 8 yo boy blurted out, “Ammonia is not an element!”

    Liked by 3 people

  3. Hi! I am not a bot! Just wanted to, you know, point that out.
    Thanks for writing a book.

    Like

  4. I’d love to read it but I couldn’t find the ripped torrent or an illegal copy of it anywhere… So, can I get a free copy or do I have to keep scrounging the interwebs till I get a bootleg.

    Thanks …

    A smartass.

    Like

  5. What if you live in a small town on the Big Island of Hawaii, your house is currently cut off and the only reliable form of delivery IS a river of lava? Will there be a version for us? Note: last night’s pizza was burnt to a crisp, I hope you can do better than that.

    Like

  6. Damn! – I just spent a year learning Fremch*, Are you sure you’re not going to release a Fremch version?

    *Fremch: Language spoken by small, nervous, non-violent but extremely arrogant primates with a fondness for dairy products (particularly cheese).

    Liked by 1 person

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