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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
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."
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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First published April 4, 2017
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About the author
Cody Cassidy
6 books70 followersCody Cassidy is a freelance writer and editor whose articles have appeared in Wired and Slate, among many other publications. He lives in San Francisco.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 390 reviews
September 7, 2018
I finished the book. It got very repetitive despite the enticing chapter names - 'You became an actual Human Cannonball' and 'You stuck your hand in a Particle Accelerator' for instance. There are only so many ways to say your bones get crushed, the water from your body boils, your organs are mashed up because all the trillions of little cells in your body have been massively insulted. The only difference is the amount of pain and how fast you die.
One slightly interesting fact was the story of a penny dropped from the top of the Empire State building on to someone's head and burning a hole the skull wouldn't happen. A penny would twist and turn as it descended and while it might give you a bit of a bang, that's it. A pen, that dropped straight down, that becomes a speeding bullet and will kill you.
Once you hit 25, your chance of death doubles every 8 years says Benjamin Gompertz's Law of Mortality (he wasn't a scientist but in insurance). At 25 you have roughly a million half hours left, 'microlives'. Two cigarettes cost you a microlife, ten pounds overweight a microlife a day, living in Mexico City's pollution, a microlife every two days (pollution isn't as bad for you as fat, smoking or alcohol apparently). But you can add microlives - eating fruit and veggies, 4 microlives a day, two or three cups of coffee, the author says, will give you an other microlife and if you just simply stay alive you get an extra twelve every day due to medical advances.
Nevertheless no matter that you do everything right and adding microlives every day, at some point your cells will give out and you will succumb to the Grim Reaper, 100% guaranteed.
____________
Notes on reading the book So far I've learned two important things. One is that windows on planes are no more than 15.5" wide and shoulders are at least 18" in an adult. Therefore should one bust, the person who has the window seat will only be half sucked out. This might be very bad news for them but as they get stuck they provide a partial seal so that everyone else has a chance.
The reason you are told to put on your own oxygen mask first is that you have 8-10 seconds of lucidity before you might well be incapable of doing so, but 4 minutes to brain death, so put your own on, then the kid next to you, then say a prayer for the departed soul flown out the window.
The other thing I learned was about brain freeze. When you eat something so cold it freezes up the vagus nerve at the top of the roof of your mouth, the brain misinterprets this as the brain freezing. So it immediately diverts as much warm blood as it can up there to save itself. This causes the brain to swell and hit the hard, ungiving interior of your skull and you get a fuck of a headache instantly. I learned this on a chapter on the physical effects of freezing water on victims of the Titanic. They had horrible headaches as they died slowly and painfully.
One more thing that makes no sense. The best way to survive an elevator rapid crash descent is to lie on the floor so that your organs won't pile up. However, the only person ever to have survived a major crash was found with lots of broken bones including a broken back, sitting in the corner. If she'd been lying down then the debris at the bottom of the shaft that penetrated the floor of the elevator would also have speared her and she would have died.
One slightly interesting fact was the story of a penny dropped from the top of the Empire State building on to someone's head and burning a hole the skull wouldn't happen. A penny would twist and turn as it descended and while it might give you a bit of a bang, that's it. A pen, that dropped straight down, that becomes a speeding bullet and will kill you.
Once you hit 25, your chance of death doubles every 8 years says Benjamin Gompertz's Law of Mortality (he wasn't a scientist but in insurance). At 25 you have roughly a million half hours left, 'microlives'. Two cigarettes cost you a microlife, ten pounds overweight a microlife a day, living in Mexico City's pollution, a microlife every two days (pollution isn't as bad for you as fat, smoking or alcohol apparently). But you can add microlives - eating fruit and veggies, 4 microlives a day, two or three cups of coffee, the author says, will give you an other microlife and if you just simply stay alive you get an extra twelve every day due to medical advances.
Nevertheless no matter that you do everything right and adding microlives every day, at some point your cells will give out and you will succumb to the Grim Reaper, 100% guaranteed.
____________
Notes on reading the book So far I've learned two important things. One is that windows on planes are no more than 15.5" wide and shoulders are at least 18" in an adult. Therefore should one bust, the person who has the window seat will only be half sucked out. This might be very bad news for them but as they get stuck they provide a partial seal so that everyone else has a chance.
The reason you are told to put on your own oxygen mask first is that you have 8-10 seconds of lucidity before you might well be incapable of doing so, but 4 minutes to brain death, so put your own on, then the kid next to you, then say a prayer for the departed soul flown out the window.
The other thing I learned was about brain freeze. When you eat something so cold it freezes up the vagus nerve at the top of the roof of your mouth, the brain misinterprets this as the brain freezing. So it immediately diverts as much warm blood as it can up there to save itself. This causes the brain to swell and hit the hard, ungiving interior of your skull and you get a fuck of a headache instantly. I learned this on a chapter on the physical effects of freezing water on victims of the Titanic. They had horrible headaches as they died slowly and painfully.
One more thing that makes no sense. The best way to survive an elevator rapid crash descent is to lie on the floor so that your organs won't pile up. However, the only person ever to have survived a major crash was found with lots of broken bones including a broken back, sitting in the corner. If she'd been lying down then the debris at the bottom of the shaft that penetrated the floor of the elevator would also have speared her and she would have died.
April 15, 2018
When I witnessed the sheer power of Niagara Falls first-hand, I couldn’t help but imagine what it would feel like to go over them in a barrel. Or without one. It was only natural that I jumped at the chance to read a book like this.
At first, the book felt really fun and engaging – how I wish my high school science classes had been! Airplane windows popping out, and great white shark attacks was an epic way to start – FYI I hope they bite my leg off cleanly so my femoral artery snaps back into the stump! Haha
Not every chapter was as fun or interesting though – learning why a banana peel is slippery just didn’t grab my attention the same way being swallowed by a whale did. I was soon reminded why boredom resulted in me failing science class.
The “answers” became incredibly repetitive. Chapters were heavy-going and bogged down in atom and matter talk. Every second story seemed to end up with ‘you’, the reader, being scattered about the atmosphere as ionised plasma. So if you’re into that – then cool. I’m not. The US imperial system of measurement is used too – with no metric equivalent; so half the statistics and measurements didn’t even make sense to me.
It’s the kind of book to casually pick up occasionally and read a few random scenarios – not so much the type of book to read cover-to-cover in one sitting. At times, it sort of reads like random “Mythbusters” episodes. It’s not always the most relaxing book to unwind with either – reading about the technicalities and science of black holes slowing tearing you apart isn’t exactly the most chill way to spend an evening. Once deadly paper cuts start getting a mention, and that turning a page of the book can kill you (just like the poor English engineer in 2008), it becomes a hypochondriac’s worst nightmare.
Despite all of this, there were some interesting facts and take-aways – which was a key reason I read it anyway:
- No quicksand deaths in history! Growing up, I really thought this would be a bigger problem in life Haha
- The Alaskan caribou alter their migration routes into colder areas to avoid mozzie bites!
- Lie on your back if in a falling elevator – you need to spread the Gs evenly across your body. (27 people die in elevator accidents each year in the States!)
- Don’t go lie in a ditch when in a thunderstorm!
- Micromorts are the unit of measurement given to probabilities of death risk in certain activities. You leave Everest Base Camp and you get 12,000 micromorts – a 1 in 83 shot at death!
Other chapters such as human stampedes and crowd crushes were really fascinating because I was more easily able to apply them to my own life experiences. While nuclear winters and the world’s most poisonous substances (shout-out to spy Litvinenko) were eerily relevant to the current world climate – I don’t want to eat 144 cockroaches a day to survive nuclear fallout, so keep your shit together guys!
Overall, a bit disappointing - recommend to only mega science buffs and fact-nerds.
At first, the book felt really fun and engaging – how I wish my high school science classes had been! Airplane windows popping out, and great white shark attacks was an epic way to start – FYI I hope they bite my leg off cleanly so my femoral artery snaps back into the stump! Haha
Not every chapter was as fun or interesting though – learning why a banana peel is slippery just didn’t grab my attention the same way being swallowed by a whale did. I was soon reminded why boredom resulted in me failing science class.
The “answers” became incredibly repetitive. Chapters were heavy-going and bogged down in atom and matter talk. Every second story seemed to end up with ‘you’, the reader, being scattered about the atmosphere as ionised plasma. So if you’re into that – then cool. I’m not. The US imperial system of measurement is used too – with no metric equivalent; so half the statistics and measurements didn’t even make sense to me.
It’s the kind of book to casually pick up occasionally and read a few random scenarios – not so much the type of book to read cover-to-cover in one sitting. At times, it sort of reads like random “Mythbusters” episodes. It’s not always the most relaxing book to unwind with either – reading about the technicalities and science of black holes slowing tearing you apart isn’t exactly the most chill way to spend an evening. Once deadly paper cuts start getting a mention, and that turning a page of the book can kill you (just like the poor English engineer in 2008), it becomes a hypochondriac’s worst nightmare.
Despite all of this, there were some interesting facts and take-aways – which was a key reason I read it anyway:
- No quicksand deaths in history! Growing up, I really thought this would be a bigger problem in life Haha
- The Alaskan caribou alter their migration routes into colder areas to avoid mozzie bites!
- Lie on your back if in a falling elevator – you need to spread the Gs evenly across your body. (27 people die in elevator accidents each year in the States!)
- Don’t go lie in a ditch when in a thunderstorm!
- Micromorts are the unit of measurement given to probabilities of death risk in certain activities. You leave Everest Base Camp and you get 12,000 micromorts – a 1 in 83 shot at death!
Other chapters such as human stampedes and crowd crushes were really fascinating because I was more easily able to apply them to my own life experiences. While nuclear winters and the world’s most poisonous substances (shout-out to spy Litvinenko) were eerily relevant to the current world climate – I don’t want to eat 144 cockroaches a day to survive nuclear fallout, so keep your shit together guys!
Overall, a bit disappointing - recommend to only mega science buffs and fact-nerds.
March 7, 2019
I had played with the thought of reading this book but put it off a few times. About a month ago, I finally caved and went from reading just one sample chapter in the bookstore to reading almost half the book in one day before remembering that March was supposed to be my science month this year. So, with a heavy heart, I read the books I had scheduled for February instead and waited to continue/finish this now. Weird, I know, but not half as weird as the stuff in this book, I assure you.
The authors Cody Cassidy and Paul Doherty* have come together to look at 45 ways to die (technically, it's a few more because the "What if you got stuck in ..." chapter has several sub-chapters). Some are common, some you definitely need your imagination for.
We have the popular death-by-shark as well as the often fatally funny death-by-banana-peel. But there are also more abstract ones such as death-by-back-hole.
All these musings are basically a very funny way of teaching the reader about the natural world and all kinds of sciences. We thus get lessons in chemistry, biology, physics and look into issues such as magnetism, astronomy, the weather, elevators or weird sexual behavior (no, I'm not kidding). The authors also reveal what is an actual threat to human survival and what is utter nonsense people can't get out of their heads thanks to Hollywood (*coughs*quicksand*coughs*).
What struck me - and made me burst out laughing regularly - was how many of these chapters had notes on actual people having tried one or the other weird thing and subsequently died (or didn't). One of the most famous idiocies probably is going over the Niagara Falls in a barrel or various other objects but it was by far not the only or even silliest thing. Seriously, people are insanely stupid and here are perfect examples as to why there is such a thing as the Darwin Award (it's an award "given to" someone for the dumbest way to die). And if they aren't actively speeding up their own demise, there are lots of hilarious accidents one really shouldn't be but can't stop laughing about.
Personally, I think that too many teachers around the world are really not very good at making science (or any other subject) comprehensible or approachable or simply interesting. I bet if more people had these two as their teachers, there would also be much more interest in scientific subjects.
I always thought the notion of science books having to be dull and serious was utterly ridiculous. And this book proves that facts don't have to be tedious or boring, on the contrary. This is FUN science that makes you want to experiment with a bunsenbrenner, thus earning you a spot in the book's sequel. ;)
So if you're looking for a nice way to spend some jolly good time with morbid lookouts on a human's demise while still learning quite a lot, this is for you.
*For those wondering, the book was written by two authors, the GR information is lacking. Moreover, the Paul Doherty who penned this book is NOT the historian who wrote several historical novels under a number of names. I was confused at first so I thought I should mention it.
The authors Cody Cassidy and Paul Doherty* have come together to look at 45 ways to die (technically, it's a few more because the "What if you got stuck in ..." chapter has several sub-chapters). Some are common, some you definitely need your imagination for.
We have the popular death-by-shark as well as the often fatally funny death-by-banana-peel. But there are also more abstract ones such as death-by-back-hole.
All these musings are basically a very funny way of teaching the reader about the natural world and all kinds of sciences. We thus get lessons in chemistry, biology, physics and look into issues such as magnetism, astronomy, the weather, elevators or weird sexual behavior (no, I'm not kidding). The authors also reveal what is an actual threat to human survival and what is utter nonsense people can't get out of their heads thanks to Hollywood (*coughs*quicksand*coughs*).
What struck me - and made me burst out laughing regularly - was how many of these chapters had notes on actual people having tried one or the other weird thing and subsequently died (or didn't). One of the most famous idiocies probably is going over the Niagara Falls in a barrel or various other objects but it was by far not the only or even silliest thing. Seriously, people are insanely stupid and here are perfect examples as to why there is such a thing as the Darwin Award (it's an award "given to" someone for the dumbest way to die). And if they aren't actively speeding up their own demise, there are lots of hilarious accidents one really shouldn't be but can't stop laughing about.
Personally, I think that too many teachers around the world are really not very good at making science (or any other subject) comprehensible or approachable or simply interesting. I bet if more people had these two as their teachers, there would also be much more interest in scientific subjects.
I always thought the notion of science books having to be dull and serious was utterly ridiculous. And this book proves that facts don't have to be tedious or boring, on the contrary. This is FUN science that makes you want to experiment with a bunsenbrenner, thus earning you a spot in the book's sequel. ;)
So if you're looking for a nice way to spend some jolly good time with morbid lookouts on a human's demise while still learning quite a lot, this is for you.
*For those wondering, the book was written by two authors, the GR information is lacking. Moreover, the Paul Doherty who penned this book is NOT the historian who wrote several historical novels under a number of names. I was confused at first so I thought I should mention it.
May 9, 2018
If asked to sum this book up in four words, they would be: hilarious, gruesome, informative, and terrifying! It’s brilliant, and you should definitely read it.
It’s a brilliant resource for writers, those inquisitive about a variety of sciences, and those who want to laugh… It’s probably not the best for hypochondriacs, but then, you might be surprised at some of the things people could live through.
The only qualm this Aussie reader had with this book is that the units of measurement were in American terms. As a result, rather than being struck by the magnitude of certain heights, temperatures, or weights, Aussie readers will first need to google said measurements, and it does bring the reader out of the flow in order to understand exactly what is being discussed.
This could have been helped with the listing of both measurements, and would have made the whole book that little bit more accessible for a global audience. Of course, there are still instances American place names being listed in a way that only those who have lived in America would really understand, but as these are not listings of specific measurements, they manage to not become major roadblocks to the reader.
But beyond that, this book is a whole lot of deliciously gruesome fun, and is bound to teach you something you didn’t know before, but in an easy to access, colloquial manner.
The rest of this review can be found HERE!
--------------
- Before review -
--------------
You guys... This book is hilarious and brilliant!
Don't even wait for me to finish reading and reviewing. You need this in your lives, NOW!
Review to come!
It’s a brilliant resource for writers, those inquisitive about a variety of sciences, and those who want to laugh… It’s probably not the best for hypochondriacs, but then, you might be surprised at some of the things people could live through.
The only qualm this Aussie reader had with this book is that the units of measurement were in American terms. As a result, rather than being struck by the magnitude of certain heights, temperatures, or weights, Aussie readers will first need to google said measurements, and it does bring the reader out of the flow in order to understand exactly what is being discussed.
This could have been helped with the listing of both measurements, and would have made the whole book that little bit more accessible for a global audience. Of course, there are still instances American place names being listed in a way that only those who have lived in America would really understand, but as these are not listings of specific measurements, they manage to not become major roadblocks to the reader.
But beyond that, this book is a whole lot of deliciously gruesome fun, and is bound to teach you something you didn’t know before, but in an easy to access, colloquial manner.
The rest of this review can be found HERE!
--------------
- Before review -
--------------
You guys... This book is hilarious and brilliant!
Don't even wait for me to finish reading and reviewing. You need this in your lives, NOW!
Review to come!
June 23, 2017
This was a pretty interesting book, but at the same time, I got really bored during some of the chapters even though they were short. I just didn't care about the specifics of some of the ways you might die because they were just so utterly implausible, if not downright impossible. For instance, what happens when you jump off a spaceship and fall to Jupiter. Or "vacation on Venus." Or stand on the surface of the sun. Or what would happen if you were raised by buzzards. I mean really.
However, I was really terrified when the book talked about botulism H, and the poisoning by polonium-210 was interesting in a corrupt government kind of way. As Figgy said, this book is great for writers who need to know gory details.
However, I was really terrified when the book talked about botulism H, and the poisoning by polonium-210 was interesting in a corrupt government kind of way. As Figgy said, this book is great for writers who need to know gory details.
July 19, 2023
A gruesome and interesting description of impossible deaths, barely possible ones, and those possible but unlikely. When I ordered this, I wasn't aware that it was written before the author's excellent How to Survive History, which gave fascinating information and facts about disasters throughout history. This book was easy to read. Each short chapter was headed by topic, and the chapters could be read in any order. It was based on scientific fact and informed speculation.
July 18, 2017
Fun and useful resource for Science Fiction or extreme action stories. So many ways to go.
May 8, 2025
Awesome book.
And Then You're Dead speculates about what would happen to a person during real life and hypothetical situations. Eg. Visiting Jupiter, Venus, or the sun, getting attacked by a Shark, time traveling to the distant past, getting electrocuted, etc. It's a bit morbid, but really entertaining.
And Then You're Dead speculates about what would happen to a person during real life and hypothetical situations. Eg. Visiting Jupiter, Venus, or the sun, getting attacked by a Shark, time traveling to the distant past, getting electrocuted, etc. It's a bit morbid, but really entertaining.
September 26, 2018
This little book is a fun read and can be finished in almost one sitting. But the author started to repeat himself when he had you landing on the sun, Jupiter, and Venus, all with the same result. Vaporization. The chapters on things that might be a little more realistic such as being buried alive, attacked by a Great White, swarmed by mosquitoes, or overeating, are funny and informative. I don't think any of us are going to be doing these things in the foreseeable future but at least you know what might happen if you did. A good little bedside table read although it might give you nightmares.
July 25, 2020
crazy hypothetical situations and sassy science, this could not get better
January 8, 2018
Uma leitura rápida sobre o que acontece com o corpo humano em diversas situações. Me lembrou bastante dos livros da Mary Roach pela pegada "vamos usar uma situação absurda e explicar usando ciência e bom humor.
O que aconteceria se você caísse em Júpiter, quantos mosquitos são necessários para matar alguém... Leve de ler, um tanto mórbido e bem humorado. Gostei bastante.
O que aconteceria se você caísse em Júpiter, quantos mosquitos são necessários para matar alguém... Leve de ler, um tanto mórbido e bem humorado. Gostei bastante.
July 5, 2017
So once I was swimming and this shark comes up behind me (this is what they do) sinks it’s teeth into my leg, and starts thrashing its head from side to side (also what they do). As I started to bleed out from my carteroid artery, I thought to myself, it would be pretty cool to have a book that details what’s going to happen to me over the next 4 minutes before I lose consciousness.
Ok this never happened, but turns out it’s still cool to have a book like this. If you are ever attacked by that proverbial shark, sucked out of an airplane window at 30,000 feet, or have the urge to eat 100+ cookies in a single sitting (I once tried something similar by eating 39 gyoza in 20 minutes in a contest with my friend that went terribly, terribly wrong. Not recommended), this book has you covered.
While extremely entertaining if you have a morbid sense of humor, there is also some fascinating science explaining exactly how and why you would die a horrible death in a multitude of different scenarios, often in painstaking detail. Most involving your atoms being dispersed, vital organs crushed into themselves (this happens in an alarming number of scenarios) or you being instantly transformed into a shimmering ball of plasma.
What’s not to like?
Ok this never happened, but turns out it’s still cool to have a book like this. If you are ever attacked by that proverbial shark, sucked out of an airplane window at 30,000 feet, or have the urge to eat 100+ cookies in a single sitting (I once tried something similar by eating 39 gyoza in 20 minutes in a contest with my friend that went terribly, terribly wrong. Not recommended), this book has you covered.
While extremely entertaining if you have a morbid sense of humor, there is also some fascinating science explaining exactly how and why you would die a horrible death in a multitude of different scenarios, often in painstaking detail. Most involving your atoms being dispersed, vital organs crushed into themselves (this happens in an alarming number of scenarios) or you being instantly transformed into a shimmering ball of plasma.
What’s not to like?
March 21, 2020
Funny.
"What is surprising is how much of your brain you could lose and keep functioning. You’re probably thinking your brain is crucial, but remember, that’s your brain doing the thinking—not exactly an unbiased source."
"What is surprising is how much of your brain you could lose and keep functioning. You’re probably thinking your brain is crucial, but remember, that’s your brain doing the thinking—not exactly an unbiased source."
January 23, 2018
Interesting and amusing somewhat similar to What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, but not as much fun or wide ranging scientifically. The scariest scenarios here were Necrotizing fasciitis and the threat of nuclear winter, which could both happen far more easily than I had previously realized.
February 4, 2018
Nice compendium of weird ways to die and what would happen to you if you (your body) did in fact die that way. How do they know? They used the experiences (or autopsies) of those who actually did the strange scenario or in more hypothetical cases, talked to "experts". After a while, it gets a little repetitious but fortunately the book is a quick read.
September 8, 2020
Wildly entertaining
November 28, 2024
Unterhaltsames populärwissenschaftliches Physik/Medizinbuch.
Die Todesursachen sind extram abstrus, gleichzeitig aber so typische Kinderüberlegung von früher. "Was wäre wenn ich einfach aus dem Raumschiff aussteige" usw.
Vieles wird auch sehr abstrakt dargestellt, aber recht gut für Laien erklärt - zumindest bei den meisten Sachen :D Allerdings wiederholen sich einige Erklärungen, weil es am Ende immer auf die gleichen Physikgrundlagen zurückzuführen ist.
Die Todesursachen sind extram abstrus, gleichzeitig aber so typische Kinderüberlegung von früher. "Was wäre wenn ich einfach aus dem Raumschiff aussteige" usw.
Vieles wird auch sehr abstrakt dargestellt, aber recht gut für Laien erklärt - zumindest bei den meisten Sachen :D Allerdings wiederholen sich einige Erklärungen, weil es am Ende immer auf die gleichen Physikgrundlagen zurückzuführen ist.
March 11, 2017
This book is a collection of short descriptions of how the human body would react to various fatal situations, some more unlikely than others. For example, dying after slipping on a banana peel and hitting your head - definitely possible. Eating enough cookies that your stomach ruptures - also possibly, but pretty unlikely. Standing on the sun - incredibly fatal in many ways but probably not a problem you'll encounter.
It was sufficiently morbid but not overly gruesome. Perfect for when you're not feeling like a full Mary Roach book, but you'd like something along that vein.
I received an ARC from NetGalley.
It was sufficiently morbid but not overly gruesome. Perfect for when you're not feeling like a full Mary Roach book, but you'd like something along that vein.
I received an ARC from NetGalley.
October 3, 2017
Good for playing Would You Rather...!
December 19, 2024
"BE HONEST. WHEN you are reading a random obituary do you sometimes find yourself skipping to the bottom, searching for the cause of death, only to be frustrated by the lack of an explanation or a maddeningly vague “death by fluke accident?”
And Then You're Dead was a fun short read. I've read a few different books along these lines, and producing one that works seems to be an elusive skill. These kind of books are hard to pull off. Fortunately, the book is full of interesting factoids. I'll drop a few below.
Co Author Cody Cassidy has worked as the sports editor for Zimbio.com, a sports reporter for Stanford Athletics, and a writer for Coach magazine. He has no firsthand experience with any of the scenarios described in this book.
Co author Paul Doherty is codirector and senior staff scientist at San Francisco’s famed Exploratorium Museum. He has cowritten numerous books, including The Exploratorium Science Snackbook, Explorabook, and the Klutz Book of Magnetic Magic. He received his PhD in solid state physics from MIT.
Cody Cassidy:
The book is presented as a compilation of stories all beginning with some version of "what would happen if you_____?" The material here runs the gamut from landing on Venus, to falling into a volcano, to being sucked out of an airplane, to being struck by lightning; and everything in between.
Fortunately, the book is written in a light-hearted manner with many tongue-in-cheek jokes and asides spliced in. As touched on briefly above - this kind of style (in my experience) is a very tricky thing to pull off well. Many authors attempt to tap into this secret sauce and fail miserably... Fortunately, the writers did a great job of the tone of this one.
The book opens with a bang, with a well-written and lively intro that set a good hook. I also thought the narration of the audio version that I have was very well done. The writing begins with the quote at the start of this review, and it continues:
Some amusing highlights from the book:
********************
I was in the mood for something a little different than the books I typically read, and this one fit the bill quite nicely. The authors did a great job of the presentation here.
I would recommend it
5 stars.
And Then You're Dead was a fun short read. I've read a few different books along these lines, and producing one that works seems to be an elusive skill. These kind of books are hard to pull off. Fortunately, the book is full of interesting factoids. I'll drop a few below.
Co Author Cody Cassidy has worked as the sports editor for Zimbio.com, a sports reporter for Stanford Athletics, and a writer for Coach magazine. He has no firsthand experience with any of the scenarios described in this book.
Co author Paul Doherty is codirector and senior staff scientist at San Francisco’s famed Exploratorium Museum. He has cowritten numerous books, including The Exploratorium Science Snackbook, Explorabook, and the Klutz Book of Magnetic Magic. He received his PhD in solid state physics from MIT.
Cody Cassidy:
The book is presented as a compilation of stories all beginning with some version of "what would happen if you_____?" The material here runs the gamut from landing on Venus, to falling into a volcano, to being sucked out of an airplane, to being struck by lightning; and everything in between.
Fortunately, the book is written in a light-hearted manner with many tongue-in-cheek jokes and asides spliced in. As touched on briefly above - this kind of style (in my experience) is a very tricky thing to pull off well. Many authors attempt to tap into this secret sauce and fail miserably... Fortunately, the writers did a great job of the tone of this one.
The book opens with a bang, with a well-written and lively intro that set a good hook. I also thought the narration of the audio version that I have was very well done. The writing begins with the quote at the start of this review, and it continues:
"...Did the poor sap freeze while ice swimming? Was he squished by an asteroid or was he swallowed by a whale? Sometimes they won’t even tell you!
And when they do reveal a cause of death—say the obituary provides a tantalizing detail like “tragically killed by an oversize magnet”—the story quickly moves on to next of kin while you’re left wondering if magnetism even can be lethal. They are skipping the most interesting part!"
We understand your frustration, so we set out to resolve it. We pick up where even the most elucidating obituary leaves off.
We tell you what really happens when you jump into space wearing only shorts and a T-shirt. We explain why Boeing doesn’t let you roll your window down on the 747, and we explore the problems with swimming in the deepest part of the ocean with as much science and gruesome detail as your stomach will allow.
In other words: Stephen King meets Stephen Hawking. The upside in wading through all this gruesomeness is you may accidentally learn some science, a bit of medicine, and what to do if a shark begins circling you (encourage him to eat your entire leg— not just a chunk)."
Some amusing highlights from the book:
"Sperm whales have the most expensive poop in the world. Their bile duct secretion, called ambergris, is a prized commodity in the perfume industry. A one-pound chunk is worth around sixty thousand dollars."
"...Interestingly, you would be fine. Normally, traveling through space at the speed of light is not recommended. It’s not the speed or acceleration that’s dangerous, though; the issue is hitting stuff. Even teeny particles pose a big problem when you’re going that fast—and space is not a perfect vacuum. It is littered with bits of hydrogen that hit like atom-destroying bullets when you’re traveling near the speed of light. The hydrogen would smash through your body and destroy the nuclei of your atoms, which would be fatal."
"Whenever people go in for risky heart surgery, as a safety measure the doctors first cool them down. If something goes wrong and the patient’s brain stops getting oxygen, the cooling gives the doctors a little buffer time to fix the problem. With a low body temperature your brain can go as long as 20 minutes without air before it starts dying. Under normal conditions you have only 4 minutes"
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I was in the mood for something a little different than the books I typically read, and this one fit the bill quite nicely. The authors did a great job of the presentation here.
I would recommend it
5 stars.
August 17, 2023
i wanted a book like what if and i got a book that's trying really HARD to be what if but failing.
it's ok. i still love random trivia.
it's ok. i still love random trivia.
October 13, 2020
Fun! I learned a lot. I was mainly here for a good time, not a long time though. For instance, don’t vacation to Jupiter (no matter how great the deal from Scott’s Cheap Flights is) and Joey Chesnut is more athletic than LeBron.
Overall? Entertaining and ideal for a ski trip where you’re gambling a lot of micromorts every time you hit the slopes.
Overall? Entertaining and ideal for a ski trip where you’re gambling a lot of micromorts every time you hit the slopes.
May 19, 2017
A morbidly fascinating book on the many interesting ways you could die. A fun look at the science of death.
I would recommend this book for all the science geeks out there and maybe coroners.
I would recommend this book for all the science geeks out there and maybe coroners.
May 28, 2017
Hilarious, but now I've started thinking about how I'm going to be the one person who gets hit by a super bolt of lightning.
September 25, 2018
Laugh out loud hilarious and delightful, I kept having to stop and read bits aloud to my boyfriend and sister.
October 14, 2022
Preface
It was fun until it got repetitive. There were so many instances of black holes deaths; those could have been used to answer other questions, for instance: what would happen if you were crushed by a fridge? What would happen if you were killed by a champagne cork? What would happen if you drank too much orange juice and you body collapsed?
The people (me!) want to know.
————————————————————————————
RATINGS:
Knowledge: 3.5 📜📜📜💫 A great amount of knowledge
Complexity: 2.5 🧘🏼♀️🧘🏼♀️💫 A good amount of complexity.
Interest: 4 🧚🏻♀️🧚🏻♀️🧚🏻♀️🧚🏻♀️ A big swimming pool of interest
Overall star rating : 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️- enjoyable but there were somethings that fell flat.
————————————————————————————
It was fun until it got repetitive. There were so many instances of black holes deaths; those could have been used to answer other questions, for instance: what would happen if you were crushed by a fridge? What would happen if you were killed by a champagne cork? What would happen if you drank too much orange juice and you body collapsed?
The people (me!) want to know.
————————————————————————————
RATINGS:
Knowledge: 3.5 📜📜📜💫 A great amount of knowledge
Complexity: 2.5 🧘🏼♀️🧘🏼♀️💫 A good amount of complexity.
Interest: 4 🧚🏻♀️🧚🏻♀️🧚🏻♀️🧚🏻♀️ A big swimming pool of interest
Overall star rating : 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️- enjoyable but there were somethings that fell flat.
————————————————————————————
June 9, 2025
This book is like Randall Monroe's What If? and my favorite Youtube channel, Half as Interesting combined.
December 19, 2018
2.5 stars
In the latest of my impulsive audiobook downloads, I couldn’t resist the macabre little title, the sort of book Barnes & Noble sets by the check out to tempt people into a little last minute purchase. nd Then You’re Dead starts out quite charming and amusing, but it loses steam towards the end.
The narration works well for the audiobook, and I like the concept a lot in theory. It’s basically a really amusing way for Cassidy and Doherty to educate the reader about a bunch of scientific things, while appealing to humanity’s enjoyment of the macabre. Unfortunately, they get too repetitive. Basically every single space death ends the same way, so they describe the same process repeatedly. By the end of the book, I was just waiting for it to finish so I could be done.
In the latest of my impulsive audiobook downloads, I couldn’t resist the macabre little title, the sort of book Barnes & Noble sets by the check out to tempt people into a little last minute purchase. nd Then You’re Dead starts out quite charming and amusing, but it loses steam towards the end.
The narration works well for the audiobook, and I like the concept a lot in theory. It’s basically a really amusing way for Cassidy and Doherty to educate the reader about a bunch of scientific things, while appealing to humanity’s enjoyment of the macabre. Unfortunately, they get too repetitive. Basically every single space death ends the same way, so they describe the same process repeatedly. By the end of the book, I was just waiting for it to finish so I could be done.
November 15, 2017
Chock full of smiles, chuckles, giggles, and the out loud laugh as well as a few "eww"s. A quick and informative read.
April 20, 2018
Reminiscent of What If...? except that in this one the outcome is always death.
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