
Thing Explainer
Complicated Stuff in Simple Words
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · November 24, 2015
Have you ever tried to learn more about some incredible thing, only to be frustrated by incomprehensible jargon?
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- Who it’s for
- Line drawings and everyday words make complicated things easier—and funnier—to understand.
- Themes
- How everyday things work, Science and technology explained, Simple-language learning
- Genres
- Curiosities & Wonders, Technology & Engineering, Physics
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Have you ever tried to learn more about some incredible thing, only to be frustrated by incomprehensible jargon? Randall Munroe is here to help.
Continue reading
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: - food-heating radio boxes (microwaves) - tall roads (bridges) - computer buildings (datacenters) - the shared space house (the International Space Station) - the other worlds around the sun (the solar system) - the big flat rocks we live on (tectonic plates) - the pieces everything is made of (the periodic table) - planes with turning wings (helicopters) - boxes that make clothes smell better (washers and dryers) - the bags of stuff inside you (cells) How do these things work? Where do they come from? What would life be like without them? And what would happen if we opened them up, heated them up, cooled them down, pointed them in a different direction, or pressed this button? In Thing Explainer, Munroe gives us the answers to these questions and so many more. Funny, interesting, and always understandable, this book is for anyone—age 5 to 105—who has ever wondered how things work, and why.
Big Ideas, Plainly
Line drawings and everyday words make complicated things easier—and funnier—to understand.
Come here for
- Science explained without the jargon
- Playful names for familiar machines and big ideas
Expect
- Simple-word explanations paired with line drawings
- Topics ranging from microwaves to the solar system
Where it sits
| Curiosities & Wonders | 40% |
|---|---|
| Technology & Engineering | 39% |
| Physics | 29% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- School & Education Humor
- Curiosities & Wonders
- Mechanics (General)
- Physics
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Scientific Instruments
- Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Technology
- Authors
- Randall Munroe
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- November 24, 2015
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- How everyday things work · Science and technology explained · Simple-language learning
- Reading lane
- School & Education Humor