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?”

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  5. Is the UK and Commonwealth edition the same book but with British spelling, e.g. colour instead of color, or is there a bigger difference?

    Sounds great!

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  7. Wait, seriously no electronic version? What if I really like the mouse-overs?

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  10. I exp ect mine to be hand delivered and gift wrapped. I am in somerville afterall.

    Congratulations.

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  11. self-made scroll overs:
    2 post-it, attach the first to the upper left corner, write some stuff on it, attach the second on the latter one. tadda.

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  12. Is there a specific bookseller that gives you the largest percentage of profit, or does it not matter?

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  14. You need a bookseller in Canada – either amazon.ca or chapters. Of course if it’s just not showing up yet, that’s fine and you can disregard this. 🙂 Congrats – I’ll totally be buying a copy.

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  16. I’ll order a dozen as I have so many friends who will love it.
    Keep going Randall, you bring sparkles of great humor and fun and novelty and perspective to our sometimes dull lives.

    P.S. Shows available as a Kindle book on the amazon Canada store.

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  17. Only shows as hardcover and paperback on German Amazon. If (and probably only if) there’ll be a Kindle version, I’ll buy it.

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  18. For those looking for it, the Kindle edition is showing up on Amazon. It was a bit hard to find, so here is the link:

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  19. I’d buy it in a heartbeat.. on another note, hard to think it’s been too years. I remember reading the first one like it came off the presses just here lately.

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  22. Freakin’ awesome. Congratluations! Playing catch-up right now; been disconnected for awhile. Maybe I should use the book to catch up?…

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  24. Please tell me the “at high velocity” line is a Tower of Fire reference!

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  28. it is currently #2 at amazon with Rush Limbaugh standing in the way. How about we make this #1!

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  31. What if I want my book delivered by a Velociraptor surfing at high velocity on a river of lava?

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  35. [quote]
    There are also foreign editions, including…
    [/quote]

    Where can I find the other foreign editions?

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  36. PRE-ORDERED! I love your comics and look forward to each new strip and What If? every week. Hard to believe it has already been a couple of years. Thank you for keeping me entertained and educated. Keep doing what you do so well for Science!

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  37. Pre-ordered. I admit that I was tempted to try to find something else on Amazon that was due to release the same day so I could qualify for free shipping.

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  44. Randall: A couple people have asked some useful questions that may do well with a followup post. I have one too!

    Will there be the option of getting a signed copy? Either via a book-tour, or sold on your site? I’d happily pay a premium for such a thing, both for myself as well as for gift-giving.

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  45. I was excited to buy one, but I honestly am deeply disappointed that it won’t be delivered by velociraptor.

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  48. What’s the difference between the standard American edition and the UK/Commonwealth edition?

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