XKCD creator Randall Munroe has announced his latest science book: What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, which will delve into new out-of-the-box questions that Munroe attempts to answer with hard scientific facts and research.
What If? 2 follows 2014’s original What If? book — which itself was borne out of an XKCD spinoff blog — that saw Munroe examine absurd questions (like whether you could build a jetpack that ran off downward-facing machine guns or if there’s enough paint to cover the entire surface of the earth) with rigorous scientific accuracy, accompanied by Munroe’s signature stick figure comics.
The new volume will continue in What If?’s absurd scientific footsteps, attempting to answer new questions from readers like how you’d ride a fire pole from the moon to Earth, or what would happen if you tried to build a billion-story-high building or solve global warming by having everyone on earth open their freezer doors.
Munroe took a break between the first and second What If? books to publish How To, a spiritual successor to What If? that attempted to answer more mundane questions (like “how to charge a phone” or “how to mail a package”) in his signature over-the-top scientific style. But What If? 2 looks to see a return to even higher heights of absurdity by once again throwing out even the very pretense of practicality.
What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions will be out on September 13th.