What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedWhat If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
Randall Munroe · Book · 2014
If you loved What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, start with Human Universe (Professor Brian Cox, 2014) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 films, 4 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions across media.
What hooked you in What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is how rigorous logic illuminates the world's most delightfully bizarre inquiries.
Films on the same thread
What We Do in the Shadows
Jemaine Clement · Film · 2014
Explores: Vampires, Modern Life, Housemates.
Much like the absurd thought experiments in What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, this film applies a grounded, practical logic to the entirely illogical existence of vampires.
Interstellar
Christopher Nolan · Film · 2014
Explores: Existentialism, Humanity's Survival, Love and Sacrifice.
If you enjoyed how What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions explores cosmic scales, you will appreciate this film's commitment to speculative, hard science regarding our vast universe.
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Terry Jones · Film · 1983
Explores: Existentialism, Mortality, The Human Condition.
This film mirrors the surreal, existential curiosity found in What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by deconstructing life's biggest mysteries through a lens of biting, intellectual satire.
Weird Science
John Hughes · Film · 1985
Explores: Wish Fulfillment, Social Outcasts, Artificial Intelligence.
This movie captures the same spirit of technical problem solving seen in What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, albeit applied to teenage social engineering and digital creation.
Series on the same thread
QI
John Lloyd · Series · 2003
Explores: Trivia, Intellectual Humor, Absurdist Humor.
This show shares the exact intellectual DNA of What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, rewarding the pursuit of obscure, fascinating facts that most people never think to ask.
What We Do in the Shadows
Jemaine Clement · Series · 2019
Explores: Vampire Life, Fish-out-of-Water, Supernatural Roommates.
The deadpan examination of supernatural logistics in this series echoes the dry, analytical approach Randall Munroe takes toward hypothetical scenarios in What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.
The Munsters
Chris Hayward · Series · 1964
Explores: Family, Misunderstanding, Monsters.
Just as What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions finds humor in the friction between reality and the impossible, this classic sitcom highlights the absurdity of monsters in suburbia.
Human Universe
Professor Brian Cox · Series · 2014
Explores: Origins of life, Human existence, Future of humanity.
Brian Cox explores the existential questions also found in What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, providing a grand, scientific perspective on the nature of our human existence.
Podcasts on the same thread
Ologies with Alie Ward
Alie Ward · Podcast · 2026
Explores: intellectual curiosity, scientific wonder, human obsession.
This podcast is the perfect companion to What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, turning professional expertise into a charming, deep dive into the world's most peculiar scientific topics.
The Infinite Monkey Cage
Podcast
Explores: scientific discovery, astrophysics, cosmology.
Combining humor with serious scientific inquiry, this show mirrors the conversational yet rigorous exploration of the universe that defines What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions based on the xkcd webcomic?
Yes, the book is written by Randall Munroe, the creator of the popular xkcd webcomic. It features a collection of hilarious and informative answers to strange questions submitted by fans, similar to the content Munroe produces for his website each week.
What kind of questions are answered in What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions?
The book explores absurd and important questions you likely never thought to ask. Examples include calculating how fast you can drive over a speed bump and survive, determining when the sun set on the British Empire, and predicting when Facebook will contain more profiles of dead people than living.
Who is the author of What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions?
The book is written by Randall Munroe. He is the creator of the iconic xkcd webcomic, which millions of people visit each week. He uses his scientific background to provide serious, factual answers to the strange and hypothetical questions posed by his readers.
When was What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions published?
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions was published in 2014. It compiles the unique style of scientific inquiry and humor that Randall Munroe is known for through his work on the xkcd webcomic into a single book format.