Randall Munroe - Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words

things in this book by page Introduction International Space Station Animal cell Nuclear reactor Curiosity Rover Human torso Washing machine and dryer Physical map of the Earth Car engine Helicopter US Constitution USS Constitution Microwave Padlock Elevator Submarine Dishwasher Tectonic plates Weather maps Tree Nuclear bomb Toilet and sink Data center Saturn V rocket Jet engine Cockpit Large Hadron Collider Batteries Oil rig Mines Bridges Laptop Solar system Camera Pen and pencil Smart phone Electromagnetic spectrum Night sky Periodic table Sun Units of measurement Hospital bed Athletic fields Geologic periods of Earth Lifes family tree The ten hundred most common words in our language Acknowledgments Skyscraper Hi! This is a book of pictures and simple words. Each page explains how something important or interesting works, using only the ten hundred words in our lan- guage that people use the most. This page is here to say hello and explain why the book is like this. Ive spent a lot of my life worried that people will think I dont know enough.

Sometimes, that worry has made me use big words when I dont need to. One thing that Ive sometimes used big words for is the shape of the world. The world is round, but its not exactly round. Because of how it spins, its a little wider around the middle. If youre building a space boat thats going to fly around the world, you have to be clear about what shape the world is, and there are some big words that you can use instead of round. But most of the time, it doesnt matter exactly what the shape is, so people just say round.

When I was in school, I learned about space boats and learned to use lots of big words for things like the shape of the world. Sometimes I would use those big words because they were different from the small words in an important way. But a lot of the time, I was really just worried that if I used the small words, someone might think I didnt know the big ones. I liked writing this book because it made me let go of my fear of sounding stu- pid. After allwhen youre saying things like space boats and water pushers, everything sounds stupid. 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. Some people say that theres no reason to learn big words in the first placeall that matters is knowing what things do , not what theyre called . I dont think thats always true. To really learn about things, you need help from other peo- ple, and if you want to understand those people, you need to know what they mean by the words they use. You also need to know what things are called so you can ask questions about them. But there are lots of other books that explain what things are called.

This book explains what they do. Okay, Im done talking about the book now. Turn the page to learn about space! Page before the book starts

Shared space house porch If you want to see what something does when you leave it out in space for a while, you can put it here. space boat door (The flying space truck grabbed on here.) part Holder This part has no air in it. It holds the wings and other pieces of the house. This room was built by a group of countries with many different languages who work together a lot.

This was the first room sent up. People used to sleep there but now they just keep stuff in it. Grabber arm This arm was built in a country with lots of snow. They liked the arm so much they put it on their money. People sleep in boxes in the walls. There are four of them in this room.

Two sleeping boxes with windows space boat Doors (above and below) This room is from a country named after the rising sun. Its the biggest room in the house. This room has a beautiful view of the Earth. Bathroom Machines for staying strong Problem boats We keep extra boats stuck to these doors for people to use if theres a problem that makes them not want to be in space anymore, but no one will come get them. space boat door Visiting space boat This room is where they clean the space houses air and water. Its loud.

Power wings These wings turn the Suns light into the power that runs the machines on the space house. People Door (Put on space clothes before going through, or youll die.) Room where they hold food, clothes, and extra stuff (below) Visitors These space boats have flown up to the space house, bringing food, water, parts, and visitors. Big carrier from many countries This carrier was built by a group of countries working together. It flew to the space house four times before they stopped using it. flying space truck Most space boats are built to be used only once, but these boats flew to space and back many times. We built five of them, and they did a lot of the work of building the space house.

After over a hundred trips to space, two of the trucks had blown up, and we decided the three we had left were too old to keep using. Big carrier without wings This was built by a country named after the rising sun. People carrier This is an old and simple space boat that works very well. Once we stopped using the truck with wings, it became the only space boat that could carry people to the space house. The other space boats here, even when they were built by companies, were owned by big countries or groups of countries. These two, which are newer, were built and flown by companies, and countries pay them to carry stuff to the space house.

Pretend Fire Animal Stuff carrier This space boat is a people carrier that they changed so it flew itself. It carries stuff instead of people, and only goes up; it cant land. Bird This building flies through space just above the air. People from different countries built it and fly up to visit it in space boats. Because the house is falling around the Earth, things inside it hang in the air instead of dropping to the floor. Inside the house, normal things like water act very strange, and you can fly around by kicking off the walls.

Everyone says its a lot of fun. The people in the house spend their time working, playing, and taking pictures of Earth. They do work for people on the ground, helping to learn how things like flowers and machines work in space. Most of the time, there are six people in the house, with each person staying for half a year. A big reason we built the space house was so we could learn to keep people alive and strong in space for months or years without getting sick. Well need to be good at that if we ever want to travel to other worlds.

To build the space house, we took each piece up in a boat, pushed it until it went really fast, then caught up to the house, and stuck the part to the house.