This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Do you know the 10 hundred words people use most often? Well, thousand isn’t one of them. Neither is organ, helicopter, or battery, but that doesn’t stop Randall Munroe from explaining them all using only this basic vocabulary—er, letter groups—in his new book, "Thing Explainer."
In the “page before the book starts,” Munroe explains his (and our collective) complicated relationship with industry jargon. Of course it’s useful in a setting where specificity is paramount, such as if you’re working for NASA and building a spacecraft (uh, space machine). For the rest of us, how important is it to know what something is called as long as you understand what it does? As Munroe explains, there are lots of resources about what all these specific parts, process, and concepts are named; “Thing Explainer” is about what they do and how they work.
This book is a feast for the eyes and a party for your brain. I cannot more highly recommend that you get this for yourself, your favorite nerd, or someone who just loves beautiful drawings.
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