A few words of advice upfront: as much as you may love
your Kindle or Nook, or e-reader device, DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK IN THE ELECTRONIC
FORMAT! Yes, I feel better now. This book clearly deserves to be viewed in all
of its big, bold, hardcover glory.
I love these kinds of books and have spent hours
hunched over the how things are made or how things work style books and Pete
Frame’s rock music family trees still hold a fascination for the music fan in
me. So it’s only natural that I would be attracted to Randall Munroe’s The Thing Explainer – Complicated Stuff In
Simple Words.
Picking up where his wildly popular web comic xkcd leaves off, Munroe, the former NASA
roboticist churns out explanations for things ranging from “boxes that make
clothes smell better” to the bags of stuff inside you…you’ll have to read to
see exactly what he’s talking about, Munroe utilizes his blueprint style
drawing, doodles and do-dads combined with the “ten hundred” words people most
commonly use to explain…well…things!
Deep, impenetrable science? Not hardly. I think
Munroe’s goal here and in his other vehicles, or should I say methods of
information delivery…is to take the often complex and make it understandable
and even throw in a dash of fun/humor. While some deep thinkers may be put off
by Munroe’s simplicity and decidedly non-serious approach, I think he truly
achieves what he set out to accomplish. This one is perfect for the budding
scientist on your list or those whose curiosity you want to inspire.
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