How to: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems

Available
4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
Bookshop.org has the highest-rated customer service of any bookstore in the world
Product Details
Price
$29.00  $26.97
Publisher
Riverhead Books
Publish Date
Pages
320
Dimensions
7.0 X 9.1 X 1.2 inches | 1.63 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780525537090

Earn by promoting books

Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.

Become an affiliate
About the Author
Randall Munroe is the author of the New York Times bestsellers What If? 2, How To, What If?, and Thing Explainer; the science question-and-answer blog What If?; and the popular web comic xkcd. A former NASA roboticist, he left the agency in 2006 to draw comics on the internet full time. He lives in Massachusetts.
Reviews
"The creator of the popular, extremely excellent and not a little nerdy webcomic 'xkcd' cleverly illustrates a guide of complicated solutions to simple tasks, thinking up Rube Goldbergian solutions to tasks as common as digging a hole." --USA Today

"The mind behind the webcomic xkcd provides a slew of hilariously overcomplicated instructions for everything from throwing a pool party to winning an election, bringing his signature stick figures - and his singular wit - along for the ride. How To is a loving testament to the power of the human brain to take things to absurd lengths." --Glen Weldon, NPR

"[How To] tackles problems from the mundane--such as how to move to a new house--to those that may trouble a mad scientist building her first lava moat. The solutions are often hilariously, and purposefully, absurd. Embedded in these solutions, however, is solid scientific, engineering, and experimental understanding . . . [for] anyone who appreciates science-based, but Rube Goldberg-esque, solutions to life's problems." --Science Magazine

"How To is a pure delight, a salty-sweet mixture of hard science and bonkers whimsy." --BoingBoing

"A brilliant provocation of a book: clamber in for a wild ride." --Nature

"A witty, educational examination of 'unusual approaches to common tasks' . . . generously laced with dry humor . . . Munroe's comic stick-figure art is an added bonus. . . . Apart from generating laughter, the book also manages to achieve his serious objective: to get his audience thinking." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

"An enjoyable treat for fans of logic puzzles, brain hacking, kaizen, mad science, and other forms of mental stimulation." --Kirkus Reviews

"Munroe (creator of the webcomic xkcd; What If?; Thing Explainer) creates another fun series of questions and answers that explore forces, properties, and natural phenomena through pop-culture scenarios . . . With illustrated formulas that humorously explain the science behind Munroe's conjectures, this book is sure to entertain and educate thinkers from high school on up." --Library Journal

"How To is a gleefully nerdy hypothetical instruction book for armchair scientists of all ages." --Booklist