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. Farout dude. I love the way your brain functions! Alas my brain used to function like yours but I burnt it out forecasting weather. All kneel to the GFS…NOT 😉

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  2. I hope he goes into more depth and answers some of the interesting questions better. Most of the old answers were good in a Mythbusters kind of way: a question worth doing is a question worth over-doing. Such as a flashlight on the moon illuminating Earth: “what if we used more power?”

    The more recent answers seem to be much more lackluster, like he has run out of steam and does not make the answers fun and entertaining to read.

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  5. Is there a general estimate to how long this book is and how much it will cost? :3

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  7. Hey xkcd, think you could manage to ship this book to me somehow, was wondering about your shipping, have been unable to get most mail for several months, what types of shipping do you have available… do you offer delivery by ninjas that may be ideal?

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  10. This is something I will definitely buy…

    When I’m not so poor.

    But I will buy it! Let me just add you to the list I’m compiling of authors whose books I plan on purchasing when I’m not so poor.

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  11. @Insanity, I just pre-ordered it from Amazon for $17, and they list is as hardcover with 320 pages.

    @George, he clearly says “This book features my answers to those questions, along with revised and updated versions of some of my favorite articles from the site.” So no, it’s not 100% new material. It’s some (unknown) new material, as well as some questions from this site that have been revised and updated.

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  12. So THIS is why you never answered my “what if”, you were saving it for the book!! 😉 looking forward to it!

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  15. Would it be possible to pre-order a copy of this in e-book kindle format? shipping is way too expensive where I live, even for something magnificent like what you are writing.

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  18. Hey!
    Unfortunately, I can’t say: “I’ totally buying this!” even though that was the sincere and honest impulse and firm decision the moment I only saw the anouncement. But … I’m totally pre-ordering it and have already done so. Wonderful! Thanks a lot Randall!

    By the way, your book is as of now, 5:54 a.m. 3/13/2014 Number 1 (!) bestseller on Amazon.de in the category “English books”. Congratulations!

    Cheers, Jean from Luxembourg (you might be able to find that country on a map but you’d need a high.resolution version… Look between France, Germany, and Belgium)

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  19. I hope that you can get it up on amazon.ca as well. Amazon.com won’t ship up here.

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  24. Pingback: What if I wrote a book? | Golden Gate Daily

  25. NNnnnnooooooo!! How am I going to get my hands on a an actual, physical manifestation of this, when none of the suppliers ship to the tip of Africa? I really, really want one!

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  26. Just pre-ordered a copy on Amazon. Looking forward to getting it in September.

    I’m glad I finally got to support your work in some way.

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  28. I only buy e-books anymore. I’ll get the Nook version if I have to, but illustrations are much better rendered (and expandable) in Kindle’s MOBI format. Please make this available as a Kindle e-book.

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  29. I just pre-ordered this off Amazon UK for my husband. Interestingly, it’s £17, which means the currency exchange wasn’t taken into account when pricing 😦 BUT – if it’s released on September 2, that will make a nice belated birthday gift for my husband! 😀 He can spend hours going through the archives here.

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  30. So if I pre-order this book and then move away, will you still be able to deliver it to me? Ninja delivery service could handle it…

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  33. Regarding mouseover text, the books come with a brand-new technology that lets you hover your index finger over an image to have a holographic display of the alt-text in 3d above the picture.

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  36. Will there be a DRM free ebook? like the humble bundle version of xkcd vol 0?

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  38. „Was wäre wenn?“ Lach! Ich wusste nicht, dass Randall deutsch konnte ; ) DH und weiter so!

    VG, Sven

    P.S: gibts auch die XKCD-Seite irgendwo auf deutsch?

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  41. Yay! Great idea! but shipping to Australia is too expensive, and “free shipping” applies to US addresses only. I would like to buy the hard cover version to have it as an entertaining coffee table / guest entertaining-book (if we ever get any guests), so I won’t buy it the ebook version.

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  43. Wow, you really have a serious number of followers! On the german version of Amazon you’re the most sold english book, my congratulations!
    (Of course I have also already pre ordered it!)

    Thanks for your wonderful work on what if?, I really look forward to reading the new articles every Tuesday

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  45. Hey, did you know Dr Karl referenced one of your “What Ifs” in his book “Game of Knowns”? I was reading it the other day and he directly mentioned the xkcd machine gun backpack and then proceeded to spend the next 3 pages basically just rewriting that “What If”, although in the context of a hoverboard rather than a jetpack.

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  47. @catterflyworx. I feel your pain. Also sitting down here at the very tip of Africa. Generally a wonderful place to be imo, but it does have it’s downside with this. 😦

    Hopefully one of our book retailers will get it and not load the price too much. (Yes, I’m an eternal optimist.)

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  49. If Amazon.com won’t ship to you, try Indiebound or the other Amazons that list it (.co.uk or .de). And if you’re still stuck, we are a small independent bookshop in Ireland. We’d be happy to ship anywhere in the world. If you’d be interested in ordering through an independent Irish bookshop, visit http://www.sheelaghnagig.com and fill in our contact form. If there’s interest, I’ll put an order pag on our website. Do note that shipping is quite expensive for hardbacks of the weight of What If?

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