They say there are no stupid questions. That’s obviously wrong; I think my question about hard and soft things, for example, is pretty stupid. But it turns out that trying to thoroughly answer a stupid question can take you to some pretty
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“There’s no material safety data sheet for astatine. If there were, it would just be the word “NO” scrawled over and over in charred blood.”
― What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
― What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
“Here’s a question to give you a sense of scale. Which of the following would be brighter, in terms of the amount of energy delivered to your retina: A supernova, seen from as far away as the Sun is from the Earth, or the detonation of a hydrogen bomb pressed against your eyeball? Can you hurry up and set it off? This is heavy. Applying Dr. Spector’s rule of thumb suggests that the supernova is brighter. And indeed, it is . . . by nine orders of magnitude.”
― What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
― What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
“Being annoyed by carefully crafted internet personas was part of my carefully crafted internet persona.”
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“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon. Too often, we forget that.”
― The Way of Kings
― The Way of Kings
“In the Clarendon Laboratory at Oxford University sits a battery-powered bell that has been ringing since the year 1840. The bell “rings” so quietly it’s almost inaudible, using only a tiny amount of charge with every motion of the clapper. Nobody knows exactly what kind of batteries it uses because nobody wants to take it apart to figure it out.”
― What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
― What If? 10th Anniversary Edition: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Matthew’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Matthew’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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