Wait But Why Year One: We finally figured out how to put a blog onto an e-reader

by Tim Urban

Since we started Wait But Why in 2013, we've received a bunch of requests from readers to get the blog onto their e-reader. This was easy for them to say—they weren't the ones who would have to figure out how to put a blog on an e-reader. Not an easy task for people with no skills. The good news is, with some grit and determination, we finally figured out how to hire someone to do it for us. So here it is—Year One of Wait But Why, perfect for reading on the go, when you're offline, or as a gift for someone you know will love the blog.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Science, Self Help, Personal Development, Psychology, Humor

1129 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 23, 2015

Reviews

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've reached out for this book because ... I actually plan to read the most recent book by the same author, but as he's a vivid blogger, I wanted to get familiar with the best episodes (that have been turned into the book: "Wait But Why Year One").

Frankly speaking, I'm disappointed:
- the most interesting parts are about showing a new perspective on numbers: e.g., visualizing the span of human life to show that one week is not as little as it seems
- once the author starts philosophizing, his skills are obviously insufficient - he's getting too verbose, even boring
- when he writes about some things he cares about, he follows the most irritating manners of SJW - radical statements, accusing wording, and daring generalization - fortunately, this doesn't happen too frequently
- there are many hand-crafted pictures here, but if you expect XKCD level (of humor, sharpness, quality), ... look somewhere else

In the end, I didn't have even half as much fun I expected ;/ Maybe it's something the fans of Urban's blog would enjoy, but I did not.

[Bálint · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved it. Although this is "just" a compilation of blog posts, I was happy to see and read them in one place. I can't remember the last time I was so sorry that a book ended - this is thought provoking stuff with a lot of sarcasm and humour. Recommended for anyone who takes a few minutes a day and thinks about "the big things in life". And it's not cheesy. Great read and I hope they'll keep up.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and thought provoking work

I fell in love with Wait But Why through one of his longer blog posts. Frankly I find it a little difficult to find the time to read those posts during a work day, so picked up the book. It's excellent. The ebook format isn't perfect for some of his visuals but the subject matter is inspiring, thought provoking and lingers long after reading.

[Artur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such straight to the point and funny writing on important stuff. Not all articles are top notch but some of them are just transforming (the one on religion, the fog, the monkey, the mammoth and more).

[Olga Shnip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was about to put 4, because there were some entertaining but lacking useful information long reads at the beginning (but sometimes this is exactly what you need). Anyway, don’t hurry to draw conclusions as I did. A bit later the topics became truly interesting, illuminating and thought-provoking (e.g. American presidents, types of energy and how electricity works, tipping, fermi paradox, reflection about life, etc.). The type of material that may change your thoughts, your behavior and even who you believe you are.
I also highly recommend it to english learners, since the long reads are easy to understand, yet witty, funny and contain wonderful phrases. Looking forward to reading other work of the author.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best book ever written...

...which is odd as it's actually a collection of blog posts from a website set up by two childhood friends, who are not afraid to ask - and answer - life's tough questions on life, the universe and everything. Interesting, informative, entertaining, hilarious and frank, it brings a fresh perspective to a wide range of topics. Highly recommended.

[Edric Subur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Been such a fan of Tim Urban's articles and was so excited to binge-read all his posts in one go. Never had I laughed so hard reading a non-fiction and still get so much wisdom. Key takeaways:

1. We always think of life in sweeping strokes, but we live in the pixels, not in broad summation. Happiness is determined by how we live the unglamorous folds of the fabric of life everyday.

2. Nothing makes bigotry more ridiculous than the fact that our time and space are extremely vast. The fact that we all exist today, through millions of gene permutations and random chance of events across 13.6 billion years should make us want to hug the person next to us

3. We think we are a conscious sentient but are we? Most of the time the animals and fog in our head are running our life. Being aware that the fog exist is the first step to rising up in consciousness

4. Spirituality and Science can coexist. In fact, it’s trough science, when we get closer to the truth, both how much we know and don’t know that allows us to fully grasp the beauty, intricacy and subtlety of life

5. For each grain of sand, there’s estimatedly 100 earth-like planets or 10 quadrillion intelligent civilizations. But where is everyone?? It’s either we are rare, we are first or we are fucked

For fun: light takes time to travel to our eyes. So when we see the stars we are actually seeing what the stars looked like 100,000 years ago. If at this moment someone on the other side of the galaxy was checking out on Earth, they will be seeing a bunch of Neanderthals running around like fools

[Ivan Chernov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Как и говорит название - это просто перенесённые статьи из блога в книгу без каких либо изменений. Обычно статьи верстаются в связный рассказ из причинно-следственных связей, но здесь у тебя идёт глава про социальные сети, а потом расчёты мишек sour patch в виде куба на 1 000 000 000 деталек в стиле xkcd.

1. Юмор хуже, чем у xkcd.
2. Количество интересных статей не такое большое, когда читаешь их подряд.

Лучше прочитать главную статью Тима Урбана про прокрастинацию. или взять книжку от него про Илона Маска, чем читать эту "книгу".

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a really amazing book with a lot of enlightening themes. I think everyone who is interested in science, philosophy and the meaning of life should read it. The first articles are more funny and entertaining compared with the last ones. The 20 last percent of the book is serious-minded and worth to reread. I’m still really happy after complete all these articles and going to ask the same questions to me like on the last few paragraphs.

[Stephen Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Urban is a must read

Tim’s’ ability to take you on a journey with each of his stand alone chapters / posts is incredible. I love his approach to big real world problems. His recent book release “What’s our problem” is probably the best non fiction book I’ve read in a long time.. Long live WBW!!

[dave porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quality of the postings varied but many of them were excellent. Tim's insight into topics I might have ignored was superb. The difficulty with reading his essays on Kindle was that the illustrations could not be enlarged and sometimes were simply unreadable (at least on my Paper White reader). This was frustrating.

[Johnny Leon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This ebook is a collection of posts from my new favorite blog, "Wait But Why" written by Tim Urban. He is smart, witty and introspective and covers topics including space, relationships, social media, geography, history, basically anything interesting.

[Quharrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

Tim Urban is an amazing storyteller and does a fabulous job explaining proverbial concepts like the Fermi paradox in an intriguing manner. This is definitely worth the read.

[Andrew Ettinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only reason this doesn’t get five stars is because it’s not a traditional book (also not best on Kindle) but it’s the perfect collection of short “stories” for a quick read on subway or in bed. I’m more religious about this text than any religious text.

[Sharon Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glad I picked up this book after hearing an interview with the author. Great two-part essay on procrastination. Insightful essays on family and the relatively short timelines of our lives. Thought provoking!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eclectic mix of fascinating topics taken from the blog waitbutwhy.com. Complicated subjects written in layman's terms, with awesome stick-man diagrams for reference. Would highly recommend.

[Chloe Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite blog in book form. Love. Reread it this year.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not waste your time on this crap

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, a collection of posts from the best blog in the world.

[Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collections of articles... like any collection, some are interesting, others not. I finally got through these on a long plane flight to/from europe.

[TiSh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Less worthy than the book about Elon

[Santiago Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful compilation of some of Tim's posts. Tim's writing is a combination of great storytelling, relatable humor, and the philosopher/psychologist uncle we all wish we had.

[Davied Lubinson]

where to find this?

[P · Rating 1 out of 5]

Banal observations. Borderline mediocre humor at best. Really tedious. Belongs in its original form -- blog posts. 2/10

[Connie Lukey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this.

Do wish it was offered in print.

Looking forward to more Wait But Why books.

[Sara Deraud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable.

My 1st introduction to him and it was pure fun... with an edge.. and data. Need more words to be able to submit this. Tim would approve.

[Ashton Ostrander · Rating 4 out of 5]

nostalgic read. still good.

[Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered the Wait But Why website earlier this year. It quickly became one of the few new sites I actually came back to. Tim writes about topics that I find interesting, and he presents in such a clear no-none sense way, I can't help but be envious of his abilities.

This books made it easy to catch up on a lot of the articles I had missed. I'm glad he turned the first year into a book and I hope it sells well, and that there will be a Year Two.

There is a certain charm to the 4-grade level art. Tim is the first to admit he's no artist, but he still somehow finds a way to clearly illustrate a point. Still, I would love to see Tim's content paired up with The Oatmeals art. I see a lot of crossover in their sensibilities, and I think a collaboration would be a huge success.

[John-Philip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended if you're interested in "stuff" in general

Really enjoyable and informative. Tim makes each topic understandable and interesting, which helps when the topics vary a lot from one to another. The "book" format really helps keep the Instant Gratification Monkey away, compared to the site where I end up clicking around imagining what I'd like to read instead of just reading. So I hope it's a recurring thing to publish a book per year.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Harsh review, but perhaps more for format and style than anything else. I hadn't read this online but others had recommended it to me. But I found that while reading this on a Kindle Paperwhite, most of the images were impossible to read clearly. The general style of the articles didn't really strike me either... I gave up 60% of the way through to read something more in-depth and weighty. Sorry!