Anthologies#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Machine of Death of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die |
2010 |
Buy |
Collections#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| xkcd: volume 0 |
2009 |
Buy |
Dinosaur Comics Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Your Whole Family is Made Out of Meat: The Best of Dinosaur Comics, 2003-2005 A.D. |
2005 |
Buy |
| Dinosaur Comics, fig. d: Dudes already know about chickens. |
2010 |
Buy |
| Dinosaur Comics, fig. e: Everybody knows failure is just success rounded down. |
2011 |
Buy |
| Feelings are boring, kissing is awesome. |
2012 |
Buy |
| Dinosaur Comics Presents: Aw frig! All comics from 2011! |
2013 |
N/A |
Non-Fiction#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words |
2015 |
Buy |
| How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems |
2019 |
Buy |
What If? Non-Fiction Reading Order#
| Title |
Published |
Buy on Amazon |
| What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions |
2014 |
Buy |
| What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions |
2022 |
Buy |
Randall Munroe is an American author and cartoonist, best known as the creator of xkcd, a webcomic he launched in 2005. Munroe worked as a robotics contractor for NASA before turning to cartooning full-time. The xkcd webcomic covers topics in mathematics, physics, computing, language, and everyday life with a distinctive stick-figure style and a combination of intellectual rigor and absurdist humor.
His book output draws on the webcomic’s sensibility and audience. The What If? books – What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (2014) and What If? 2 (2022) – adapt the Q&A format from his What If? blog, where readers submit impossible hypothetical questions and Munroe answers them with actual physics and engineering calculations. Thing Explainer (2015) is a picture book for adults that explains complex concepts using only the thousand most common words in English. How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems (2019) applies similarly rigorous but playful analysis to everyday tasks.
Munroe’s work appeals to readers with a background or interest in STEM subjects, but his humor is accessible enough that non-specialists find it engaging. He has a talent for making difficult concepts feel approachable without dumbing them down, which has given xkcd and the book adaptations a wide readership across age groups.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Randall Munroe written?
Randall Munroe has written eleven books across five series.
What was Randall Munroe's first book?
Randall Munroe’s first book is Your Whole Family is Made Out of Meat: The Best of Dinosaur Comics, 2003-2005 A.D., published in 2005.
What is Randall Munroe best known for?
Munroe is best known for xkcd, a webcomic he launched in 2005 that covers mathematics, science, programming, and human relationships with stick-figure humor. He is also known for the What If? book series, which applies scientific analysis to absurd hypothetical questions.