My Account Log in

1 option

How to : absurd scientific advice for common real-world problems / Randall Munroe.

LIBRA Q173 .M867 2019
Loading location information...

Available from offsite location This item is stored in our repository but can be checked out.

Log in to request item
Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Munroe, Randall, author.
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Science--Miscellanea.
Science.
Problem solving.
Genre:
Trivia and miscellanea.
Self-help publications.
Humor.
Physical Description:
307 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Place of Publication:
New York : Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2019.
Summary:
"For any task you might want to do, there's a right way, a wrong way, and a way so monumentally complex, excessive, and inadvisable that no one would ever try it. Munroe has created a guide to the third kind of approach. He provides highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole. Cartoonist Randall Munroe (xkcd) explains how to predict the weather by analyzing the pixels of your Facebook photos. He teaches you how to tell if you're a baby boomer or a 90's kid by measuring the radioactivity of your teeth. He offers tips for taking a selfie with a telescope, crossing a river by boiling it, and powering your house by destroying the fabric of space-time. And if you want to get rid of the book once you're done with it, he walks you through your options for proper disposal, including dissolving it in the ocean, converting it to a vapor, using tectonic plates to subduct it into the Earth's mantle, or launching it into the Sun. By exploring the most complicated ways to do simple tasks, Munroe invites us to explore the most absurd reaches of the possible and helps us better understand the science and technology underlying the things we do every day."-- Provided by publisher
Contents:
Introduction
How to jump really high
How to throw a pool party
How to dig a hole
How to play the piano
How to listen to music
How to make an emergency landing
How to cross a river
How to move
How to keep your house from moving
How to chase a tornado
How to build a lava moat
How to throw things
How to play football
How to predict the weather
How to go places
How to play tag
How to ski
How to mail a package
How to power your house (on Earth)
How to power your house (on Mars)
How to make friends
How to blow out birthday candles
How to walk a dog
How to send a file
How to charge your phone
How to take a selfie
How to catch a drone
How to tell if you're a Nineties Kid
How to win an election
How to decorate a tree
How to build a highway
How to get somewhere fast
How to be on time
How to dispose of this book
How to change a light bulb.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 292-299) and index.
ISBN:
9780593086377
0593086376
9780525537090
0525537090
9781473680333
1473680336
OCLC:
1109803187

The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.

Find

Home Release notes

My Account

Shelf Request an item Bookmarks Fines and fees Settings

Guides

Using the Find catalog Using Articles+ Using your account