After studying physics at christopher newport university, he got a job building robots at nasa langley research center. Xkcd, the webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language written for. More and updated information on the english edition, and the. Randall munroes xkcd comic is a delight to read, what if was fabulous, so i was expecting something even more from thing explainer. Explore computer buildings datacenters, the flat rocks we live on tectonic plates, the things you use to steer a plane airliner cockpit controls, and the little bags of water youre made of cells. Thing explainer by randall munroe pdf download ebookscart. In thing explainer, munroe gives us the answers to these questions and so many more. The creator of the popular webcomic xkcd uses line drawings and common words to provide simple explanations for how things work, including microwaves, bridges, tectonic plates, the solar system, the periodic table, helicopters, and other essential concepts. Complicated stuff in simple words is out now in the us, published by houghton mifflin harcourt. A while ago, i posted the comic up goer five, an annotated blueprint of the saturn v rocket with all the parts described using only the thousand. Dec 22, 2018 have you ever tried to learn more about some incredible thing, only to be frustrated by incomprehensible jargon. A great drawing person has made a book talking about cool stuff using only the ten hundred most used words. In thing explainer, seasoned aerospace engineer randall munroe explains complex engineering systems in the fun and easytounderstand style of xkcd comic strip up goer five, using only drawings and a vocabulary of the 1,000 or ten hundred most common words. A former nasa roboticist, he left the agency in 2006 to draw comics on the internet fulltime, supporting himself through the sale of xkcd tshirts, prints, posters, and books.
Complicated stuff in simple words is a 2015 illustrated non fiction book created by randall munroe, in which the author attempts to explain. The book is full of detailed diagrams of interesting objects, along with explanations of what all the parts are and how they work. A single line announced the new thing explainer book, with link to the blag post from the day before. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Complicated stuff in simple words by randall munroe of, as read with my 6 year old. Like his up goer five explanation of saturn v rockets, randall munroes next book marries a. Complicated stuff in simple words, things are explained in the style of up goer five, using only drawings and a vocabulary of the 1,000 or ten hundred most common words. Munroe conceptualized the book in 2012, when drawing a schematic of the saturn v rocket for his webcomic xkcd. He likes candlelight dinners and long walks on the beach. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to. Munroe sets out to explain various subjectsfrom how smartphones work to what the u. Complicated stuff in simple words hardcover november 24, 2015. Ive always been a big fan of xkcd, and this book for randall has further convinced me of his brilliance. Love the simplicity of the drawings along with randalls sense of.
Complicated stuff in simple words is a book by randall munroe where things are explained in the style of up goer five which is also included in the book, using only blueprint like drawings and a vocabulary of the 1,000 or ten hundred most common words in the english language. Munroe draws and releases xkcd under creative commons licensing, and makes the majority of his income these days from xkcd merchandiselike his new book, thing explainer, which munroe is. The book is a collection of diagrams and line drawings similar in style to the up goer five comic, which can also be purchased as a poster. Eventually released on november 24, 2015, thing explainer is based on the xkcd strip up goer five and only uses the thousand most commonly used words to explain different scientific devices. Complicated stuff in simple words, was a guide to complex subjects using only the thousand most common words in the english languagetectonic plates. Randall was born in easton, pennsylvania, and grew up outside richmond, virginia. In thing explainer, munroe gives us the answers to these questions and many, many more. It sounds like it is a fun read and i am a huge fan of xkcd comics but i am not sure it is a useful read. Xkcd author randall munroe is coming out with a new book this year that explains complicated subjects in extremely simple and funny ways. More and updated information on the english edition, and the many upcoming foreignlanguage editions can be found here.
Thing explainer complicated stuff in simple words book. Xkcd has a new book about explaining complicated subjects. By utilizing only the 1,000 most common words to write this book munroe created a confusing mess. May 10, 2016 randall munroes recent book, thing explainer. Explore computer buildings datacenters, the flat rocks we live on tectonic plates, the things you use to steer a plane airliner cockpit controls. Complicated stuff in simple wordsis out now in the us, published by houghton mifflin harcourt.
Funny, interesting, and always understandable, this book is for anyone age 5 to 105 who has ever wondered how things work, and why. The creator of the popular webcomic xkcd uses line drawings and just ten hundred common words to provide simple explanations for how things work, including microwaves, bridges, tectonic plates, the solar system, the periodic table, helicopters, and other essential concepts. Since this book explains things, ive called it thing explainer. Randall munroe, author of the xkcd comic strip, has published thing explainer, a how stuff works book that explains things using diagrams and the. Nov 24, 2015 in thing explainer, munroe gives us the answers to these questions and so many more. The diagrams in thing explainer cover all kinds of neat stuffincluding computer buildings datacenters, the flat rocks we live on tectonic plates, the stuff you use to steer a plane airliner cockpit controls, and the. Complicated stuff in simple words, which will come out on november 24. Reliably amusing and often enlightening the times, books of the year in just over a decade randall munroe has become firmly established and its safe to say adored as the author of xkcd. On may, 2015, munroe announced a new book entitled thing explainer. Pdf thing explainer ebooks includes pdf, epub and kindle.
This means youre free to copy and share these comics but not to sell them. Randall munroe is the author of the popular webcomic xkcd and the. The premise of this book is randall munroe wellknown for his nerdy comics at using nothing more than his unique comicstyle drawing abilities. Complicated stuff in simple words is an informative book that shares advanced technological knowledge to everyone. Randall munroe is the author of the popular webcomic xkcd and the science questionandanswer blog what if. Complicated stuff in simple words, things are explained in the style of up goer five, using. Randall munroe, author of the xkcd comic strip, has published thing explainer, a how stuff works. Nov 24, 2015 reliably amusing and often enlightening the times, books of the year in just over a decade randall munroe has become firmly established and its safe to say adored as the author of xkcd.
Its good to know what the parts of a thing are called, but its much. Complicated stuff in simple words is a 2015 illustrated nonfiction book created by randall munroe, in which the author attempts to explain various complex subjects using only the 1,000 most common english words. Thing explainer book the indianapolis public library. Randall munroe is the creator of the webcomic xkcd and bestselling author of what if. In thing explainer, he uses line drawings and only the thousand or, rather, ten hundred most common words to provide simple explanations for some of the most interesting stuff there is, including. Sep 23, 2010 while its practically required reading in the geek community, xkcd fans are as varied as the comics subject matter. Now, munroe has produced a book and thing explainer isnt just any book. Funny, interesting, and always understandable, this book is for anyoneage 5 to 105who has ever wondered how things work, and why.
Complicated stuff in simple words by randall munroe. Like any good work of science writing, thing explainer is equal parts lucid, funny, and startling, in just over a decade randall munroe has become firmly established and its safe to say adored as the author of xkcd. Thing explainer will be published by houghton mifflin harcourt on november 24th. He is a friend of mine and very funny and braingood, and his drawing stuff is. This book creates laughs from science jokes on one page to relationship humor on another. The diagrams in thing explainer cover all kinds of neat stuffincluding computer buildings datacenters, the flat rocks we live on tectonic plates, the stuff you use to steer a plane airliner cockpit controls, and the little bags of water youre made of cells. In 2006, he left nasa to draw comics on the internet fulltime, supporting himself through the sale of xkcd tshirts, prints, posters and books. Complicated stuff in simple words provides a partial solution. To anyone with html experience, that sounds like a plain black shirt, but in this case, the different texture and reflectiveness of the ink makes it clearly readable while giving it a nice and subtle appearance. This work is licensed under a creative commons attributionnoncommercial 2.
Have you ever tried to learn more about some incredible thing, only to be frustrated by incomprehensible jargon. Randalls wit and ability to explain complex science in a clear and simple cartoon is a wonderful skill, and is really put to use in this book, with beautiful. The creator of xkcd on the joys of overthinking everything. Been a big fan of xkcd for years, bought the book on a whim with thing explainer. A brief chat with xkcds randall munroethe thing explainer.
It must have taken a very long time to get all the pictures right. Randall munroe, the author of the book, intentionally use simplified words to give equivalents or to explain, which is here and there a bit confusing. So it was fun to read randall munroes new book, thing explainer. May 20, 2015 a great drawing person has made a book talking about cool stuff using only the ten hundred most used words. The premise of this book is randall munroe wellknown for his nerdy comics at xkcd. May, 2015 xkcd author randall munroe is coming out with a new book this year that explains complicated subjects in extremely simple and funny ways. Below is the complete index of the book called things in this book by page. Tips on technology and government, climate faq, katharine hayhoe xkcd. In thing explainer, he uses line drawings and only the thousand or, rather, ten hundred most commo.
Descriptively titled thing explainer, the book uses only. There are lots of words i would like to use to talk about this book. Dec 31, 2015 xkcd in reverse thing explainer explained. Thing explainer is randalls second published book, not including xkcd comic books, which he announced on may th, 2015 in the blag following the amazing success of his what if. Get it today with same day delivery, order pickup or drive up. Thing explainer like his up goer five explanation of saturn v rockets, randall munroes next book marries a highly constrained vocabulary with detailed diagrams to. I had a good time drawing up goer five, so i decided to draw more pictures like that and make a book of them. From the creator of the webcomic xkcd comes a series of simply annotated blueprints that explain everything from nuclear bombs to ballpoint pens. The rest of this story will use only the ten hundred most often used words, as found in thing explainer. He is a friend of mine and very funny and braingood, and his drawing stuff is a lot of. Nov 19, 2015 the former nasa roboticist and author of the web comic xkcd has a new book called thing explainer. Thing explainer like his up goer five explanation of saturn v rockets, randall munroes next book marries a. The promotion of the book stayed up with some changes for the rest of the year.
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