Randall Munroe's Thing Explainer for $11

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/08/01/randall-munroes-thing-explai.html

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“Thing Explainer”

Good name for a band.

I didn’t like this book. Reading it is like having Donald Trump explain things to you.

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I think the primary difference there is that the explanations in Thing Explainer, while simple, should be accurate.

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but it helps if one has a rough idea of the described thing. it took me rather long to understand the washing machine - I never saw this weird design with a vertical axis before

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I like the concept of this book and i adore the labelled diagrams…

It’s just that he’s gone far too far with dumbing the explanations down, to the point where it’s likely condescending even for a very small child.

It wouldn’t be quite so bad had he put some more normal part names alongside in brackets or something. But as it is i just find it excruciating to look through, which is a damn shame as the diagrams are lovely.

I’ve read a friend’s copy of this, and while it’s a lovely book, I feel like the joke had worn quite thin after the first few things that are explained.
Instead, pick up a copy of What If by the same author, which has the same art, the same science, but it’s more interesting.

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