About This Book
From the No. 1 bestselling author of What If? - the man who created xkcd and explained the laws of science with cartoons - comes a series of brilliantly simple diagrams ('blueprints' if you want to be complicated about it) that show how important things work: from the nuclear bomb to the biro. It's...
More by Randall Munroe
Reading Time Estimates
1h 53m
slow reader
180 WPM
1h 21m
average reader
250 WPM
58m
fast reader
350 WPM
📖 20,350 words📅 3 days at 30 min/day
How Long Will It Take You?
⚡
Get your personal reading time for "Thing Explainer"
Take a 60-second speed test — we'll calculate how long this book will take you
WPM
Reading time
1 h 21 min
at 250 words per minute
Audiobook (1.5x)
1 h 30 min
at 1.5x narration speed
Audio 1x
2 h 16 min
Audio 2x
1 h 8 min
That's about:
- 📅3 days reading 30 min/day
- 🚇3 commutes of 30 min each


