Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words
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- Create Date：2021-07-01 09:53:55
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Randall Munroe
- ISBN：1473620910
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
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 good to know what the parts of a thing are called， but it's much more interesting to know what they do。 Richard Feynman once said that if you can't explain something to a first-year student， you don't really get it。 In Thing Explainer， Randall Munroe takes a quantum leap past this: he explains things using only drawings and a vocabulary of just our 1，000 （or the ten hundred） most common words。 Many of the things we use every day - like our food-heating radio boxes （'microwaves'）， our very tall roads （'bridges'）， and our computer rooms （'datacentres'） - are strange to us。 So are the other worlds around our sun （the solar system）， the big flat rocks we live on （tectonic plates）， and even the stuff inside us （cells）。 Where do these things come from？ How do they work？ What do they look like if you open them up？ And what would happen if we 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 many， 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。
Reviews
Silvano Paternoster
，
I thought this book would actually explain complex things in simple words。 Turned out to be an Idiocracy level explanation that doesn't have any meaningful utility as it takes you more effort understanding anything rather then going out to read the Wikipedia pageNot to mention the incredibly low level of detail。。 not surprisingly didn't learn a single thing out of this book as I knew pretty much all the "info" communicate in a dumb way A waste of 1 hour of my time I'm sure it's a 5 star for the I thought this book would actually explain complex things in simple words。 Turned out to be an Idiocracy level explanation that doesn't have any meaningful utility as it takes you more effort understanding anything rather then going out to read the Wikipedia pageNot to mention the incredibly low level of detail。。 not surprisingly didn't learn a single thing out of this book as I knew pretty much all the "info" communicate in a dumb way A waste of 1 hour of my time I'm sure it's a 5 star for the retards that unfortunately make up the Idiocracy we live in today 。。。more
Diana
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This is a great book if you know what you’re getting into before starting it。 It’s a playfully fun way to learn， but if you’re expecting highly technical， academic explanations， you’ll be disappointed。 If you’re a fan of Randall Monroe， you’re good to go。
Rodolfo Salvador
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Illustrations are great but the limitation of words does get in the way of enjoying this book fully。
Istvan Kis
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Az xkcd írója rakta össze， angolul valószínűleg elfogadható， sajnos magyarul olvastam。 A top 1000 szót használja kizárólag， aminek eredeti nyelven valószínűleg utánajártak， hogy mi tartozik ezekbe， de magyarul egyértelműen。 Az "érintő" ebben itthon benne van， de a "zár" már nincs （értem， hogy angolul pl。 a "touch" lehet a megfelelő， és igen， gyakran használt， több jelentéssel bíró szó， ellentétben ugye a magyar változattal）。 Nevetséges。 Alap lett volna nem szó szerint lefordítani， mert ez által Az xkcd írója rakta össze， angolul valószínűleg elfogadható， sajnos magyarul olvastam。 A top 1000 szót használja kizárólag， aminek eredeti nyelven valószínűleg utánajártak， hogy mi tartozik ezekbe， de magyarul egyértelműen。 Az "érintő" ebben itthon benne van， de a "zár" már nincs （értem， hogy angolul pl。 a "touch" lehet a megfelelő， és igen， gyakran használt， több jelentéssel bíró szó， ellentétben ugye a magyar változattal）。 Nevetséges。 Alap lett volna nem szó szerint lefordítani， mert ez által az egész könyv egyik értelme veszik el。 A fordítás egyébként is gyenge， és sok helyen problémás， a poén kizárólag az elképzelt （magyar szavak alapján kitalált） angol szöveggel érthető。 A kötet apropója egyébként az， hogy 10-20 év múlva a mostaninál is gyengébb lesz az amerikaiak szókincse， és ezt próbálja az író egyrészt kifigurázni， másrészt viccet csinálni a kérdésből， tehát határozottan nem gyerekeknek szól， ugyanakkor ha meg is tekintik fiatalok， sokat nem nyernek vele， mert a megszerzett tudás a tényleges szavak birtokba vétele nélkül katyvaszt eredményez。 "Tűzvíz"， "nagy kis dolog ütögető" és még sorolhatnám – semmire nem való ez a kiadvány itthon， borzasztóan megbántam， hogy magyarul megvásároltam。 。。。more
Bill Posters
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Why say big word when small word do？
sai rahul
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This one gave me chuckles on every single page
Kayla
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A very fun read， but harder to get trough then his other books。 It really shows that just using the thousand （or ten hundred I guess） most frequently used words in English doesn’t necessarily mean the best or simplest way to teach something。 It was still easy to follow， even though there were a lot of small-ish words for the size of the pages
Lori
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My grandsons （ages 9 and 10） introduced me to this book。 They pore over it and delight in the creative and clever way complicated things are explained in simple language。 Because I saw it through their lens， I too found it a lot of fun。
Rajiv
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Glad to have this book in my library。 My curious little one asks lot of questions and instead of throwing in complex words I found it easier to read this together。 The best part was watching my child finding humor in some of the stick figures when I couldnt （still need to learn！）。 I felt the font size is too small and needs effort to read every little detail but I guess increasing that would have made the book even bigger。 If you are looking for serious explanations then this plz skip this but i Glad to have this book in my library。 My curious little one asks lot of questions and instead of throwing in complex words I found it easier to read this together。 The best part was watching my child finding humor in some of the stick figures when I couldnt （still need to learn！）。 I felt the font size is too small and needs effort to read every little detail but I guess increasing that would have made the book even bigger。 If you are looking for serious explanations then this plz skip this but if you are looking to explain complicated things in simple words to kids then go for it。 。。。more
Yijia Chen
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Yep， gonna let my kid read it when I have one！ It still feels weird， but my biggest takeaway is the futility to inject complex words into a sentence or piece of writing just to show off， which I used to and some friends of mine still do。 Plain words can explain things in an extremely sensory way！
Ann
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So Munroe takes complicated things and uses sketches and only the 1000 most common English words to explain them。 Some entries are hilarious and some are just confusing。 Honestly， the 1000 common word element was probably the most interesting part。 And I think it works better as an exercise in vocabulary more than it does as a book that actually teaches you any actual science。 I found it fascinating which words were included and which weren't - like he had to say "almost ten" because "nine" wasn So Munroe takes complicated things and uses sketches and only the 1000 most common English words to explain them。 Some entries are hilarious and some are just confusing。 Honestly， the 1000 common word element was probably the most interesting part。 And I think it works better as an exercise in vocabulary more than it does as a book that actually teaches you any actual science。 I found it fascinating which words were included and which weren't - like he had to say "almost ten" because "nine" wasn't one of the common words， but all of the other numbers one through ten were allowed。 If you want to play around with this idea， there's a fun tool here: https://splasho。com/upgoer5/For the most part， I think you find the most humor in this book if you already understand all the complicated things in this book。 。。。more
Danish Pastry
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Really love this as an experiment in pedagogy and checking your own understanding。 Everything we know to be true is a model， or nuanced in some way。 Pedagogy is about removing the nuance and using analogies to aid in understanding via a simplified model。 This book is the pinnacle of oversimplification and as such is a good metric against which to judge the way you understand and think about other technical concepts。 When you teach- simplify as much as possible。 When you learn- pursue the nooks a Really love this as an experiment in pedagogy and checking your own understanding。 Everything we know to be true is a model， or nuanced in some way。 Pedagogy is about removing the nuance and using analogies to aid in understanding via a simplified model。 This book is the pinnacle of oversimplification and as such is a good metric against which to judge the way you understand and think about other technical concepts。 When you teach- simplify as much as possible。 When you learn- pursue the nooks and crannies and assumptions of those simplifications to their ultimate end。 Example: Teaching: a jet engine is a big fan。 Any Questions？Questions: how does a fan make a plane go forward？ Where does it plug into in the sky？ How does it get its power？ Is this true for all jet engines？ Learning: a turbofan engine uses fan blades to increase the velocity of the incoming air and propel the aircraft forward。 Unlike a fan that draws power from the electrical grade， a jet engine produces power by burning fuel with compressed air。 It uses some of the power from the fuel burn to rotate the fan， and some to rotate a series of rotors to compress more air。 Any questions？[repeat]PS I didn’t read the whole book cover to cover， but the drawings are lovely and it’s fun to flip through a couple of pages at a time。 You can easily enjoy the same page several times over months or years especially as your understanding of the related concepts increases。 。。。more
Sean
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More eccentric real-world enlightenment from the big brain behind xkcd。 This large-format volume， while thematically similar （smart， concise explanations for heavy， complicated ideas）， is a more ambitious project than Munroe's other text-driven works。 Each double-sized page is crammed with blueprint-styled cross-sections and crowded with words， tight and tiny， like a pack-in instruction manual。Not only are Munroe's illustrations more expansive， more obsessively detailed， but his writing has been More eccentric real-world enlightenment from the big brain behind xkcd。 This large-format volume， while thematically similar （smart， concise explanations for heavy， complicated ideas）， is a more ambitious project than Munroe's other text-driven works。 Each double-sized page is crammed with blueprint-styled cross-sections and crowded with words， tight and tiny， like a pack-in instruction manual。Not only are Munroe's illustrations more expansive， more obsessively detailed， but his writing has been intentionally handicapped。 In the interest of avoiding stilted terminology， reducing the urge to over-explain a subject， he's limited vocabulary to a strict count of one thousand unique words （listed at the end of the book）。 That forces him to get creative， and pairs well with his naturally whimsical， playful style of scientific writing， but also leaves the reader in a compromised position。 Many of the alternate definitions - like "space boat" or "water bag" - necessitate a bit of detective work， like interpreting a vaguely-familiar foreign language or deciphering a bad phrase from Google Translate。The page count only weighs in around sixty， but the amount of text， plus the effort necessary to sift through the unconventional reading order， means Thing Explainer will chew more time than books thrice its length。 I like the fresh ideas， and the dedication， but the finished product is rather clunky and exhausting。 。。。more
Mehmet Gozaydin
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Explain what you do for living in the most common thousand wordsToo easy？ Try explaining a nuclear reactor？ Or how a pencil works。 Doesn't really matter to me honestly，either way， it feels like a monumental job。Thing explainer is a blueprint book written with only the most common thousand words in English。Don't treat it lightly， though。 It explain deadly heavy concepts such as Jet engines， suspension bridges， airplane control panels。 But also everyday items such as dishwashers， locks or trees！It Explain what you do for living in the most common thousand wordsToo easy？ Try explaining a nuclear reactor？ Or how a pencil works。 Doesn't really matter to me honestly，either way， it feels like a monumental job。Thing explainer is a blueprint book written with only the most common thousand words in English。Don't treat it lightly， though。 It explain deadly heavy concepts such as Jet engines， suspension bridges， airplane control panels。 But also everyday items such as dishwashers， locks or trees！It's really amazing to see that you can really wrap your head around things with only a limited vocabulary。 Don't get me wrong though， occasionally， you crave for proper word to understand what's going on better。But that defies the purpose :）Also it was interesting to see which words made it to the top， take "bear" for example。 And which ones didn't:All numbers <10 are there， except "nine"！ To me， this has always been true: if you wonder whether you understand something， try teaching it。Now I added this:If you wonder you whether you understand it TRULY， do it with the most commom words。All in all， this definitely is a must have book。Enjoy！"I've spent all lot of my life worried that people will think i don't know enough。 Sometimes that worry has made me use big words when I don't need to。。。。Using simple words let me stop worrying so much。 I could just have fun making up new names for things and trying to explain cool ideas in new ways" 。。。more
Jennifer
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4。5 stars - I would have liked the actual names of things included as well。
Kennedy
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I didn’t like this as much as Munroe’s other books。 The use of simple words was confusing。 I spent time trying to decipher what was being explained。 I would have loved this book if it hadn’t had the gimmick of using only simple words。
Sara
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A fun concept， but it doesn’t actually help to explain or understand things because of the language restriction。 A neat book to have on your shelf， or to pull a couple pages out as posters though。
John
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I love XKCD; the insightful little cartoons from the cutting edge of science and computing are an absolute joy。Unfortunately， although the illustrations are beautifully intricate， I don't think the charm and humour crosses over to this format very well。 Also I don't think the central conceit quite works; it dumbs things down just a little too much。Not all experiments work though， and this was a laudable attempt。 Love you Randall and please keep doing what you do。 I love XKCD; the insightful little cartoons from the cutting edge of science and computing are an absolute joy。Unfortunately， although the illustrations are beautifully intricate， I don't think the charm and humour crosses over to this format very well。 Also I don't think the central conceit quite works; it dumbs things down just a little too much。Not all experiments work though， and this was a laudable attempt。 Love you Randall and please keep doing what you do。 。。。more
Erin
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This entirely missed the mark。 It is difficult to explain complicated things simply， but this book doesn't explain them at all。 This book incorrectly assumes that using simple language is the equivalent of explaining things in a simple way。 There is some value in calling cells "tiny bags of water you're made of" as it lends a different perspective on a common concept， but because this book never connects the concepts to the actually vocabulary it's entirely useless to learn from。 The illustratio This entirely missed the mark。 It is difficult to explain complicated things simply， but this book doesn't explain them at all。 This book incorrectly assumes that using simple language is the equivalent of explaining things in a simple way。 There is some value in calling cells "tiny bags of water you're made of" as it lends a different perspective on a common concept， but because this book never connects the concepts to the actually vocabulary it's entirely useless to learn from。 The illustrations are interesting and well done。 。。。more
昊 孙
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Worth it。
Stephan Dilly
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I like XKCD and loved "what if" but I expected more of "Thing Explainer"。 The topics are made understandable and it has the usual humour but the fact that even simple things like helium is consistently called "air that makes your voice funny" sometimes makes it hard to apply the gained knowledge in the real world。 I like XKCD and loved "what if" but I expected more of "Thing Explainer"。 The topics are made understandable and it has the usual humour but the fact that even simple things like helium is consistently called "air that makes your voice funny" sometimes makes it hard to apply the gained knowledge in the real world。 。。。more
Christopher
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Read it with my right year old boy。 That was about right。 We did a late or two an evening。 He had a lot of fun guessing what it was really trying to say。 The illustrations are fun。 And the slow gamey approach we took to it worked for us。 I hadn't read through it， before， as because of the artificial constraint， the language is inorganic and cumbersome。 Dr。 Seuss limited himself to just a few hundred words， as well， but only attempted to write about what those words mean in common parlance。 Expla Read it with my right year old boy。 That was about right。 We did a late or two an evening。 He had a lot of fun guessing what it was really trying to say。 The illustrations are fun。 And the slow gamey approach we took to it worked for us。 I hadn't read through it， before， as because of the artificial constraint， the language is inorganic and cumbersome。 Dr。 Seuss limited himself to just a few hundred words， as well， but only attempted to write about what those words mean in common parlance。 Explaining technical， specialized concepts without using special words could be confusing。 Jargon exists for a reason。But， we had fun。 We explored history， engineering， space， energy， and biology。 。。。more
Marion
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DNF， might come back to it later。 Not bad， but I agree with a lot of the negative comments here; using only simple words and not giving the real vocabulary of the concepts explained is frustrating and feels a bit pointless。"C'est pas sorcier" did it better 😁 DNF， might come back to it later。 Not bad， but I agree with a lot of the negative comments here; using only simple words and not giving the real vocabulary of the concepts explained is frustrating and feels a bit pointless。"C'est pas sorcier" did it better 😁 。。。more
Nathan Rackliffe
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Great way to introduce kids to complicated concepts。 Not quite as good as Munroe's other books， but still an entertaining way to look at something you thought you knew in a new light。 Great way to introduce kids to complicated concepts。 Not quite as good as Munroe's other books， but still an entertaining way to look at something you thought you knew in a new light。 。。。more
Adam
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Completely goofy。 Completely awesome。
Jared
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Reading this in a language that you aren’t completely fluent in is a fun experience， and one that I’d recommend！ But it's certainly a different experience than reading it in your first language。As expected， its limited vocabulary meant I barely had to crack open the dictionary。 I was impressed by how well Munroe’s voice， and his distinctive wit， came through in the translation。 But I suspect I only got about half the humor value that I should've from the book’s roundabout way of describing thing Reading this in a language that you aren’t completely fluent in is a fun experience， and one that I’d recommend！ But it's certainly a different experience than reading it in your first language。As expected， its limited vocabulary meant I barely had to crack open the dictionary。 I was impressed by how well Munroe’s voice， and his distinctive wit， came through in the translation。 But I suspect I only got about half the humor value that I should've from the book’s roundabout way of describing things: although I certainly understood everything， recognizing how silly some descriptions are requires pragmatic competence with the language， which I only sort of halfway have with German。The translator’s notes at the end of this edition were a fantastic read – translating a book like this is a unique challenge， and I’ve had a few good conversations about this book in particular with my husband （who's a professional German and Japanese translator）。 We’re picking up the Japanese edition， so fingers crossed it has notes too！ 。。。more
David
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I wanted to like this。 It's a fun concept， but it's an awful read。 The author put himself under a vocabulary constraint， so it's like listening to a window licking moron explain the space station or plate tectonics。 I couldn't finish it。 I wanted to like this。 It's a fun concept， but it's an awful read。 The author put himself under a vocabulary constraint， so it's like listening to a window licking moron explain the space station or plate tectonics。 I couldn't finish it。 。。。more
Kody
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If you ever wanted to know how the magic of a microwave does it's thing， now you know。 If you ever wanted to know how the magic of a microwave does it's thing， now you know。 。。。more
Reinier
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Erg grappig geschreven， maar goed om af en toe even weg te leggen。 Anders is het een overdosis aan simpelheid。
iTZKooPA
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