'What If' continues to draw critical praise, stays strong on sales charts
Randall Munroe鈥檚 book 鈥淲hat If?,鈥� about offbeat science questions, continues to be critically praised and is holding steady on bestseller lists.
Munroe, a former NASA researcher, is also the creator of the webcomic xkcd and his book consists of him answering some of the oddest science-based questions he鈥檚 received, including 鈥淐ould you build a jetpack using downward-firing machine guns?鈥� and 鈥淔rom what height would you need to drop a steak for it to be cooked when it hit the ground?鈥澛�
The book was released this past September and was named to Amazon鈥檚 best of the month list. Amazon editorial director Sara Nelson called it 鈥渋rresistible.鈥澛�
At the time of its publication, 鈥淲hat If?鈥� earned other critical praise, too. called it 鈥渃atchy and approachable鈥� and the found it to be 鈥渃onsistently fascinating and entertaining.鈥澛�
At least one publication remembered it for the end of the year, too. named the title one of the 10 best nonfiction titles of 2014, with writer Kyle Anderson writing of the book, 鈥淓xtreme astrophysics and indecipherable chemistry have rarely been this clearly explained or this consistently hilarious.聽
Meanwhile, 鈥淲hat If?鈥� is still a champion of the sales charts. The book debuted at number one on the IndieBound hardcover nonfiction bestseller list for the week of Sept. 7 and has stayed on the hardcover nonfiction bestseller list every week since. It鈥檚 currently at number five on the list for the week of Dec. 18.
