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Preview
  • What If? 2

  • Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
  • By: Randall Munroe
  • Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
  • Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (149 ratings)

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What If? 2

By: Randall Munroe
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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Summary

WHAT IF...one man decided to answer all the unanswerable questions.

The Sunday Times best-selling author and xkcd creator Randall Munroe is here to provide the best answers yet to the important questions you probably never thought to ask.

The millions of people around the world who read and loved What If? still have questions, and those questions are getting stranger.

Planning to ride a fire pole from the moon back to Earth? The hardest part is sticking to the landing.

Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyone's freezer doors at the same time? Maybe it's time for a brief introduction to thermodynamics.

Want to know what would happen if you rode a helicopter blade, built a billion-storey building, made a lava lamp out of lava, or jumped on a geyser as it erupted? Okay, if you insist.

Welcome (back) to the mind-blowing world of What If?

Unfazed by absurdity, Randall consults the latest research on everything from swing-set physics to airplane-catapult design to clearly and concisely answer his readers' questions. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances.

Filled with bonkers science, boundless curiosity, What If? 2 is sure to be another instant classic adored by inquisitive listeners of all ages.

©2022 xkcd inc (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
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What listeners say about What If? 2

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant book!

Crazy ideas carried remorselessly through to logical conclusions.
Highly entertaining, thought-provoking and humorous too.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Well worth a listen!

Citation... Just brilliant, interesting and fun to listen to! Highly recommended whilst in the car!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

okay but I liked the first book better

Okay but I liked the first book better. Too many questions are just trying to be shocking rather than being interesting.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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great book (I call first review)

Need I say more? Great series! Truly amazing and easy to listen to anytime and anywhere!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amusing and Informative

I love these books. The author manages to take the most ridiculous questions and turn them into a teaching experience for all ages.

Added bonus: brilliantly performed (as was What if 1) by Wil Wheaton!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Good but the first was better

the weird and worrying question section had so many good questions that could have been answered over some of the actual answers, but well worth the listen... Will Wheaton wasn't as bad as people seem to think though

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Generally excellent

Generally fab, but a few questions are given unnecessarily blunt dismissals, or the clear subtext of the question misinterpreted.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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What you'd expect

I read the first one physically a few years ago and although I've forgotten all of it, I know I really enjoyed it. Great concept for a book!
I went through this one quite quickly, it has the same feel to it from what I remember. It was clever, informative, funny and bonkers! I did really miss seeing the cartoons.
I understand what the other reviews are saying about Will's narration, it was a little overdone and off-putting at times although generally speaking didn't put me off.
In my opinion, I think I'd rather have read the physical copy but this way I can do the washing up and laundry at the same time!

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Great book . But the narrator needs to stop talking like an over exited 5 year old

I love Randall Munroe’s book I have listened to all his books on audible but Will Wheaton is seriously over acting and sounding way to exited when I just want to listen to a man or woman scientifically tell me what would happen if there was a mole of moles

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

More scientific factiods enthusiastically narrated

Randall Munroe + Wil Wheaton = fascinating facts made fun and narrated with a perfect amount of enthusiasm. People who complain about Wil's narration can't have listened to the first book in this series or anything else that Wil has narrated before.

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