Joseph Pisenti - Answers to Questions You’ve Never Asked: Explaining the What If in Science, Geography and the Absurd

Copyright 2017 by Joseph Pisenti

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Cover Design: Roberto Nu ez
Layout Design: Elina Diaz
Writing contributions by Gary M. Krebs, GMK Writing and Editing, Inc.

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Answers to Questions Youve Never Asked: Explaining the What If in Science, Geography and the Absurd

Library of Congress Cataloging

ISBN: (print) 978-1-63353-669-2, (ebook) 978-1-63353-670-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017956261

BISAC category code : REF018000, REFERENCE/Questions & Answers

Printed in the United States of America

To my parents and professorsfor inspiring creativity
and nurturing it through life.

No one is dumb who is curious. The people who dont ask questions
remain clueless throughout their lives.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist

Contents

Real knowledge is to know the extent of ones ignorance.

Confucius

Ive always been a huge fan of maps, geography, statistics, and economics. That may sound boring to some of you, but Ive always found these subjects to be endlessly fascinating.

Ever since I was a little kid I loved playing strategy games like Axis & Allies, Risk, Settlers of Catan and video games like Civilization IV, Age of Empires, Total War, and Europa Universalis/Crusader Kings. These games all had beautiful maps and flavor that have inspired the way I create videos and think about the world.

I attribute my early fascination with strategy games to why Im so attracted to strange questions today. I would play these games and try to recreate historical empires or kingdoms, and I basically do that now for YouTube videos instead of just for my own personal enjoyment. I love sharing the thoughts running through my head with so many people.

The Lore Behind RealLifeLore

RealLifeLore came into being during my final semester as a college undergraduate. It was February 2016, and I decided to create a unique channel as an outlet for my passion projects.

I faced many trials starting out. I remember being convinced early on that my videos would go viral overnightonly to wake up and see that they only had 100 views. I had many naysayers among my family and friends who argued that YouTube was too saturated for any new channel to become popular.

At the same time, I was encouraged by the positive reviewer comments I received and continued undaunted. Im glad I kept trying. Too often people start a project and get discouraged without even giving it enough of a chance to succeed. Within just a relatively brief amount of time, my RealLifeLore videos ultimately did go viral and today they receive millions of page views. I genuinely appreciate the kudos, criticisms, and suggestions from the viewers; I take all of these comments quite seriously and do my best do deliver the facts on what you want to learn about.

Of course, there are those comments that surprise me. The most common request I receive is to reveal my face. I find this surprising because I believe that seeing a narrators face sometimes ruins the production. When you read a book, for example, you create the faces of all the characters in your head. You create this mental image of a person. When a fictional work is adapted as a film or TV show, your perceptions of those characters are shattered. For this reason, Id prefer not to pull back the curtain and reveal the face behind RealLifeLore. Im afraid youll have to just use your imagination and suffer in suspense. (Ill give you this hint: I dont look as good as Chris Hemsworth or have any noteworthy disfigurements.)

In a nutshell, this is how I view Real Life Lore: It is a popular YouTube video channel all about asking and answering questions you may never have thought about. The videos pose questions on little-known areas of geography, economics, and science, such as what if everyone lived in the same city ; how deep is the ocean; and how big tsunamis really get.

If you havent deduced it already, size and proportion really do matter when it comes to RealLifeLore. If the video channel has a core philosophy, its to encourage people to think differently and critically . (All right, I concede the first part sounds a bit Steve Jobsian.) I pose challenging questions that many people have never considered. We learn when we ask ourselves questions we cant answer. Learning comes from seeking out the answers to unknown things. I believe that its a fundamental part of human nature to be curious and to ask questionsand thats what I attempt to do with my video channel. I perpetually seek to inspire curiosity and the pursuit of knowledge.

Why Did I Write This Book?

My goal here is to cover subjects I would like to create videos about, but are too long to contain within the Real Life Lore parameters. In a sense, the logic behind why I selected these subjects is no different than what goes on the YouTube channelonly these written pieces are longer and more in-depth.

I decide on topics mainly by brainstorming and thinking about things in a different way. I believe theres a unique angle to every situation and story, and you just have to look at things from a certain perspective to make it come alive. Digging a hole, for example, may be pretty boring to some peoplebut, if I were to suggest what it might mean to
dig the deepest hole in the world, then it suddenly becomes pretty fascinating.

I try to explore what can push the boundaries of reality without getting into pure fiction. The boundary of reality is the most interesting place to be when it comes to discussing pretty much anythingwhether its knowing which President had a pet alligator or that Attila the Hun ransomed Rome for 3,000 pounds of pepper (yes, pepper ) in 408 A.D.

In this book, be prepared to explore some of the strangest borders on our planet:

What would happen if Charlemagnes Empire or the Persian Empire existed today?

How geographically distant can you be at any time
from a Walmart or McDonalds location?

How many countries exist in our world?

Who carries the U.S. nuclear codes?

As if thats not enough, youll also receive a tutorial on how to create and establish your very own country! Not a bad promise for a first book, dont you think?

My advice to anyone starting out on a new venture: If you enjoy it, keep doing it. If you are creating something unique that you love, keep working at it and improving it. Integrate the criticism you agree with and discard all the rest. If you listen to your inner voice, dismiss the doubters, and persevere. I believe you will ultimately be successful.