One of the things that's nice about goodreads is that it lets you embed pictures. ...And one of the nice things about xkcd is that it has lots of pictures licensed under CC Attribution/Non-Commerical - meaning I can post as many as I want to this review.I'm pretty sure that if you're here, you already know about xkcd. But hey, why the heck not? Right? XKCD is why this Randall Munroe character is famous.The book comes from his "what if" blog, which is also very good.I took the book into work with me to show it around - you know - hipster-esque and what not. I'm reading this trendy, new book first.But the guys at my table were all like, "Yeah... I can see myself reading like 2 or 3 of these and then putting the book down..." Everyone more or less nodded in agreement - even though they thought the book was cool.Then I looked at the book a little bit more closely, flipped through a little bit and thought, "Huh... that sounds about right. That's probably what I'm going to do..."I'll add that one guy in my group really hate hypothetical questions... This is mostly because kids in arguments try to prove points by using them stupidly. You know: "But what if Hitler hadn't killed the Jews? Would you like him then?" or "What if Martin Luther King Jr.used violence? You have to admit, it's pretty crazy that we've given this guy a holiday, right?" He has a point.So, I took the book home - slightly shamed that I hadn't realized it was more for coffee tables than actual reading.But then I picked it up and read a couple. And a couple more. Next thing I know, a couple of days later the book is done - and I really enjoyed it. ...And I learned a lot. Well presumably.I did come on here hoping that some of the reviews would challenge Munroe's math. Or any of his conclusions. I mean, if I did on a couple of these, there are bound to be some flame wars in the comments sections of these review right? If I could take issue with a couple... I ama math guy.In case there aren't any flame wars yet, let me start one: On page 114 in answer to the question, "If everyone on the planet stayed away from each other for a couple of weeks, wouldn't the common cold be wiped out?" he says,Then he has a footnote which reads,But that can't be right? Can it? It's tough to tell whether he's serious or not, because sometimes the footnotes are jokes, and other times they're not.But here, it made me question the math of the rest of the book. He's very meticulous in his calculations throughout, but here he doesn't factor in seasons, or how vast the globe is... Wouldn't it make more sense that when we have the virus we average more than one infection - and then people stay away from us - and are more cautious in general - which is why the number goes back down but doesn't die out completely?It took me a while to get over this, undermining the whole book for a couple seconds. Seriously, if he had just said "but not before you infect, on average, on other person." I wouldn't have thought twice about it.Of course, I doubted him on other footnotes: pg 134That can't be right can it? That's another of his jokes? Right? Munroe also interspersed "Weird (and worrying) questions from the what if? inbox. ...Honestly, most of these weren't any weirder than the questions he was already answering. And sometimes I think they only seemed weird, but I think he may have missed the trail.Like on page 236, the question is,There's a stick figure that says ..."Asking for a friend... former friend, I mean."But I think it's a legitimate question. And I'm pretty sure it comes from the movie SCREAM. - wasn't it a major plot point? So, Thomas, (the person who asked the question) wherever you are - I don't think you're a weirdo. (...Yeah, yeah, yeah... spoiler alert, if you're reading this in 1996... Although, I'd be willing to wager if anyone can travel through time, it's Munroe. He's sure studying that stuff. And Einstein. And Schrodinger. Also, probably J. Robert Oppenheimer.)And the book is so dated. He mentions the "new-fangled writing section" of the SAT on page 278. That was dropped way back in 2016 . - Time travelling - am I right?Finally, Munroe - if you're reading this -just take the plunge and watch Dragon Ball Z already. You may hate it, but don't knock it till you've tried it, right?Seriously - loved the book. Thought I would like it, didn't think I would love it. Didn't think I would read it the whole way through - finished it in under 3 days....Also, shouldn't this go under like... a sci-fi shelf? Since the questions are hypothetical... Isn't this exactly what science-fiction is? It's just not told in narrative form in this case?