“what if?” by Randall Munroe

A book about absurd questions and even more absurd answers.

I love me a good hypothetical question. Those close to me often roll their eyes at my hypotheticals and those closest to me tremble with slight fear for they know the overthinking depths of my hypothetical anxieties a little too well.

However, hypotheticals (or counterfactuals, your traditional “what if” questions) are at the rare root of both scientific innovation and creative curiosity. One must have certainly grown tired of hearing Isaac Newton’s hypothetical- Why did this apple fall down instead of up? (which incidentally is a made-up story [aren’t all stories made-up? (did I just use a parentheses inside a parentheses? {can one ask- what if one were to use multiple brackets? Okay Naveen, stop})]popularized by none other than Voltaire), but you won’t tire of the hypotheticals in this book which are much deeper and answered in stupendous nerdy detail.

Just what the doctor ordered!

Back of the Envelope Calculations

I am sure at some point or the other when the mind has wandered we find ourselves doing absurd back-of-the-envelope calculations to seemingly stupid questions. As a child, I used to wonder what would happen if one were to simply not stop driving and go on beyond the horizon (this book answers that question to an extent).

I am torn whether to label this book to be purely a scientific one, for at its heart a work like this celebrates curiosity, especially childish curiosity. One of the side effects of adulthood (the most fatal of chronic conditions, I assure you) is the loss of childish curiosity. My all-time favourite Neil Gaiman novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane is in many ways an homage to childish curiosity as much as it is an obituary to how the adult no longer thinks.

This book helped resurrect some of that curiosity.

Counterfactuals and Creativity

What-if questions are not just to be confined to the realm of science.

In fact, they are an essential ingredient to the best of fiction. I’ve written at length about it pertaining to fantasy, science-fiction, and even self-help books. Such ideas keep reminding me of the seemingly not-so-radical and yet all-too-powerful adage that one cannot possibly make a better world if one cannot dream and imagine it first.

In that regard, the peril of social media (and television before it) is its knack for boxing people in; for limiting creativity and original thought. When one is constantly fed what to think, one doesn’t actually have a need to think for oneself at all.

In such a world a what-if question thus becomes a far cry from reality. A bit bleak? Alas.

Let me pose a simple hypothetical- what if you were to subscribe to this newsletter? Let us go one further, what if you were to read this book? I would highly recommend it. Until next time, keep what-ifing (what if one were to coin a new verb?)