And Then You're Dead

What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling Over Niagara

2016 • 258 pages

Ratings10

Average rating3.7

"A gleefully gruesome look at the actual science behind the most outlandish, cartoonish, and impossible deaths you can imagine. What would happen if you took a swim outside a deep-sea submarine wearing only a swimsuit? How long could you last if you stood on the surface of the sun? How far could you actually get in digging a hole to China? Paul Doherty, senior staff scientist at San Francisco's famed Exploratorium Museum, and writer Cody Cassidy explore the real science behind these and other fantastical scenarios, offering insights into physics, astronomy, anatomy, and more along the way. Is slipping on a banana peel really as hazardous to your health as the cartoons imply? Answer: Yes. Banana peels ooze a gel that turns out to be extremely slippery. Your foot and body weight provide the pressure. The gel provides the humor (and resulting head trauma). Can you die by shaking someone's hand?Answer: Yes. That's because, due to atomic repulsion, you've never actually touched another person's hand. If you could, the results would be as disastrous as a medium-sized hydrogen bomb. If you were Cookie Monster, just how many cookies could you actually eat in one sitting? Answer: Most stomachs can hold up to sixty cookies, or around four liters. If you eat or drink more than that, you're approaching the point at which the cookies would break through the lesser curvature of your stomach, and then you'd better call an ambulance to Sesame Street"--

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Jan

Was good but a bit repetitive, some facts like that high pressure will form you into a meatball without air inside get mentioned throughout the chapters as if you've read it for the first time.
I learned some interesting facts though. There was a guy who was stung 2200 times by honeybees while fleeing from them and another guy stung himself every day for 3 months 5 times by honeybees at different places on his body to test where it would hurt the most. Apparently it's the inside from your nose and a close second the upper lip followed by the penis.
Also, when you scream at your cold coffee and it's in perfect thermal isolation, you can enjoy your hot coffee after 1.5 years.

October 25, 2022

hc.newton

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader as part of a quick takes post to catch up–emphasizing pithiness, not thoroughness.
—
So, yeah, what I said about squeamish earlier? Pushed to the edge a couple of times in this short read/listen. It's all about the science behind what would happen to you if say, stowed away in an airplane, stowed away on a trip to the Moon, fell into the works at a Pringles factory, ate the same number of cookies as the Cookie Monster—and more.

It's funny (thankfully, or I couldn't have made it through a couple of spots), informative, creative—and a great way to spend a few hours. At one point the authors tell the reader not to do a google search on one topic. First, that hadn't even begun to cross my mind as a good idea. But secondly, given the detail they'd used when describing what happens to a human body shot out of a cannon, or swallowed by a whale, and several other topics, when they say, “don't go looking at pictures of something”? I am taking their word for it.

I had a blast listening to this. If I taught high school science, I'd have at least one copy of this on hand for reference or to pass along to students. Since I don't, I just have to remember some of these stories/theories for my own amusement.

December 21, 2020

Shane