What if I wrote a book?

Posted bydavean 1,117 Comments on 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 & Noble, Amazon, Indie 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. Any chance for an ebook?

    I put all my paper books in the trash bin a year ago. (Ok, maybe several trash bins.)

    Like

  3. Hello, I am now pre-ordering! I will also buy this in eBook form if available, but I like my paper books.

    Like

  9. can i see the list of questions you wanted to answer first?

    nb: what irrationals (root 2 PI, etc have you dropped on your foot today?
    infinities? ( electronic, prob’yties?)

    or just planks?

    pat

    Like

  10. I am apparently the only human on earth that still finds turning real paper pages more enjoyable than staring at a headache-inducing screen whilst reading…
    Thanks for the paper-first philosophy!
    (Would honestly pay twice for both, but if you want an eBook version, why can’t you just come to the webpage…?)

    Like

  15. Do you have any control over Amazon prices in the EU? Turns out it would be cheaper to by from Amazon.com and pay for shipping across the pond.

    Oh, and while I support those who want a Kindle edition, I think this is suited to dead trees.

    Like

  19. Buy the paper version! Support the forestry industry! Help grow a new home for Bambi!

    Like

  21. How do you do mouseover text in a paper book?

    For the record, I love paper books. I just worry about not getting all of the insight of mouseover text on the cartoons! 😉

    Like

  22. Wonderful idea..

    I’ll be pre-ordering.. after a question:

    Roughly how many “what if” will there be in the book – I see it has 330 odd pages, would that equate to about 100-140 “what if”?

    That would be great value for money.

    Like

  23. @Josh

    This

    >I am apparently the only human on earth that still finds turning real paper
    >pages more enjoyable than staring at a headache-inducing screen whilst reading…

    together with this

    >if you want an eBook version, why can’t you just come to the webpage…?

    tells me you probably never looked at an ebook reader for more than a few seconds, since you seem to think that reading an ebook on a, say, kindle screen is practically the same as reading a webpage on your notebook’s display. hint: it is not 🙂

    Like

  25. @andomar….you put all your books in a trashbin? Instead of, I don’t know, donating them?

    And for that matter, wtf is wrong with you? Paper books are awesome!

    Like

  26. +1 for kindle edition. I’m going to buy the paper edition, but while I often travel with a bagful of physical books, having the top 10 books I’m reading on me at all times is only conceivable with e-books.

    Like

  28. In case it wasn’t clear, but an e-book version would be much appreciated 😉

    Like

  29. Do you know anything about the quality of the german translation?
    The quality of translations to german are often erratic, so it would be good to now prior to my purchase in wich language i buy it.

    Like

  32. WHAT IF your publisher made it available in Canadia as well, so I didn’t have to pay an additional 50% of the cost for shipping and handling, of which you get nothing?

    Like

  34. will I be able to get this in a european iBooks store? (preferably in the german store, but in english)

    Like

  36. I agree generally, that an e-book version would be great. I happen to have a large library of both paper books and the digital variety (about 1.2 times more digital), and I must admit that carrying around the electronic edition is far less troublesome. As my paper collection requires several large people and several large vehicles to move in a timely manner. Where as the electronic variety fits entirely on my 7-inch android tablet.

    Like

  38. Preordered! I support the lumber/paper industries, but I would also love a Kindle/ebook edition!

    Like

  40. Will the book be kid-friendly? In the sense that there is no inappropriate language, not in the sense that the science is dumbed down.

    Like

  41. @Dave MacRae:

    Amazon.com lists the English version of the book for about 17 USD which is about 12 EUR. Amazon.de lists the English version for about 17 EUR.

    Including standard shipping (averages 18-32 business days) costs of about 8 USD (about 6 EUR) it costs about 1 EUR more (12 + 6 = 18) than if you order per Amazon.de.

    Like

  42. Alt text! Title text! Mouseover text! What happens?

    In other news, What If? is often the most awesome part of my Tuesday. A whole book of them will be like months, maybe years of Tuesday awesomeness compressed into a solid rectangular object. This is the most awesome part of my Wednesday and it’s not even 9:00 yet.

    Like

  44. Wow, so much fervour for ebooks. I presume this is merely sampling bias – all those wanting electronic formats are going to say something, but those who want the (to be released) paper format don’t bother saying anything…?

    Anyhow, good to hear about this, and am very much in favour of paper, paper is great! Looking forward to reading this!

    Like

  46. I’d really miss the rollovers if it was only paper. Maybe it will have captions under the images? Or maybe footnotes, ala Terry Pratchett?

    Like

  47. JKE – I love you. PAPER RULES! There is nothing like turning the pages of a book you actually hold in your hands. And a book never runs low on batteries. BONUS! Put your other books on an e-reader and get this one on paper.

    Kudos for a print-first edition!

    Like

  48. +1 for paper. Heat-sensitive paper with finger-over text if you can manage it. But even regular paper is good.

    Like

  50. How many new questions (not answered in the What If comic series) do you answer in the book?

    Like

Comments are closed.