What if and thing explainer[ hardcover] 2 books collection set Description: What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions: The creator of the incredibly popular webcomic xkcd presents his heavily researched answers to his fans' oddest questions, including “What if I took a swim in a spent-nuclear-fuel pool?” and “Could you build a jetpack using downward-firing machine guns?” Simultaneous., Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words: From the No. 1 bestselling author of What If? - the man who created xkcd and explained the laws of science with cartoons - comes a series of brilliantly simple diagrams ('blueprints' if you want to be complicated about it) that show how important things work: from the nuclear bomb to the biro.