Monday, December 2, 2024

REVIEW: How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems (nonfiction book) by Randall Munroe

How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems is a blend of science/math and humor. I bought my copy new.

Review:

How To is very similar to Munroe's What If? volumes, in that it examines hypothetical scenarios and attempts to determine, scientifically, if they are possible and what some of the unintended outcomes might be. In this case, however, the hypothetical scenarios are all addressing common real-world problems, like making friends, digging a hole, playing football, etc., although they're all taken to extremes in some way. And okay, so there are a few less common problems thrown in, like how to build a lava moat and how to mail a package from space.

I found this to be just as entertaining and fascinating as Munroe's What If? volumes. I enjoy seeing how he thinks his way through the various problems. His stick figure illustrations add to the humor. This time around there were some fun guest contributions too. I got a kick out of the thought of Serena Williams agreeing to see how many tries it would take her to knock a drone out of the sky with a tennis ball. Dr. Katie Mack's "vacuum decay no, tiny black hole yes" answer was also fun. Astronaut Chris Hadfield essentially got a whole chapter to himself, tackling every emergency landing situation Munroe could throw at him (granted, some of the answers generally boiled down to "you'll almost certainly die, but doing [blank] would help improve your chances of survival very slightly").

REVIEW: Nichijou: My Ordinary Life (manga, vol. 6) by Keiichi Arawi, translated by Jenny McKeon

Nichijou is a high school comedy manga. I bought my copy of this volume new.

Review:

In this volume, Fecchan tries to look on the bright side of things. Ms. Nakamura (the science teacher) finds the Shinonome Laboratory and completely freaks out about being in what she's sure is enemy territory. Mio finds out about the manga contest she entered...or does she? Yuuko has another Fey Kingdom dream in which Mio is a super-powered villain looking for the magical wooden cubes (her barrettes or whatever they are). Ms. Sakurai finds porn (??) called DVD Vinyl in her brother's bedroom. The author pokes fun at rigged target practice games. We finally get to see a Go/Soccer match, and it is bizarre. Also, Sasahara and Misato walk together, and it completely wrecks Mio emotionally, with utterly ridiculous results.

I am wildly curious about the contents of DVD Vinyl, and it was nice to finally see a Go/Soccer match. Also, I found the target practice game bit hilarious, even though I've never played one of those in my life.

As usual, this series is weird and weirdly fascinating. There are occasional genuinely funny moments, but mostly I'm here to see what bizarre things happen next.

Extras:

A few full-color pages, some random notes about Mai's pets and other tiny details from the series.