Reviews

Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe

jenail's review against another edition

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only interesting if you really want to know about the specific topics he chose, would work best as posters

chaoticbrainperson's review

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funny informative medium-paced

4.5

cephas's review against another edition

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This is just a coffee table book.

awwcripes's review against another edition

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2.0

I was super stoked to get this from the library but ended up quickly annoyed and frustrated. The obstinate refusal to call anything by it's real name ended up feeling pretty fucking contrived and irritating. I love the author's comic and first book What If. This one though - - - I had to put it down. Looking forward to your next book Randall; it's ok to experiment.

wonky_noodle's review against another edition

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funny informative slow-paced

2.75

tsemoana's review against another edition

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2.0

I love XKCD, and Munroe's other book, What If?, is fantastic. But this was an exercise in frustration. Which is why it took me so fucking long to finish. He's not actually explaining stuff in simpler terms, he's replacing words with simple words. And then using those same simple words to explain. Making it so that if you don't know the topic of a page well (enough) there's so much that just isn't clear. I spent so much time mentally translating the text into actual terms that make sense, it just wasn't any fun to read. And that is what I expected from the book. Would have been better if he had not adhered so strictly to this set of words. And given actual terms to then explain in simpler words.

personarobot's review against another edition

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DNF @ 44% 

Terrible format as an eBook! The book feels like it's aimed at children more than adults. The simpler language makes it harder for me to actually understand what it's trying to explain. 

bailey_bea's review against another edition

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3.0

The concept for Things Explainer is an interesting one: explaining complicated ideas and machines using the 1000 most common words in the English language. While I did learn a few new things and enjoyed a few laughs, the book is better read as an experiment in and of itself. It challenges the reader to think differently about language and about everything around us, from our organs ("Bags of Stuff Inside You") to the Large Hadron Collider ("Big Tiny Things Hitter").

Overall, I'm glad I read the book, but I'm not really sure I'd recommend it. With its blueprints and tiny text, it takes forever to read. And though I learned a couple fascinating things from Things Explainer, it didn't equip me with the vocabulary to share my new knowledge. The terms are too simplistic to be helpful. In fact, their simplicity is often downright confusing!

If you're at a bookstore or library, pick it up and take a gander. But it's probably best to leave it on the shelf when you go.

totalum's review against another edition

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funny informative medium-paced

4.5

wooknight's review against another edition

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3.0

While I love the concept , I realized that it is actually a lot more effort to understand this book because I constantly needed to map the authors words into what I already knew. And it was not always easy . But I do think it is an excellent book for somebody very young and I already bought one for my 12 year nephew