Wired described Thing Explainer as the followup to Munroe's 2014 book What If?. In an interview with The New York Times, Munroe stated that 'the word limit is fun, because it forces you to think about it some more.' Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) on November 24, 2015, the book was initially sold for $25 USD. 'Up-Goer Five' became the basis of Thing Explainer. Munroe drew a rendering of the Saturn V rocket using blueprints from NASA's archives and annotated it with simplified descriptions, such as labeling the boosters as the spot where 'lots of fire comes out.' Munroe published this drawing in his webcomic xkcd under the title 'Up-Goer Five'. Here, he was giving the rockets he designed silly names, such as 'Up Goer' and 'Skyboat,' and he began wondering if he could explain how a rocket ship works using such simplified language. The concept of Thing Explainer took root in 2012, while Munroe was playing space simulator Kerbal Space Program. Peter Gleick wrote for The Huffington Post that science communicators often use many uncommon and long words when describing complex topics, and that Thing Explainer explores 'how to explain ideas and offer information in a simpler way.' Conception and development The book is illustrated using stick figures and includes a large number of nerdy jokes. The book challenges its readers to figure out what the technical name is of the subjects it describes, and was described by Jack Schofield of ZDNet as a 'puzzle game.' Besides technology, Munroe also explains human organs and conceptual subjects such as the periodic table.

The book covers a wide range of topics, including pencils ('writing sticks'), cameras ('picture takers'), microwave ovens ('food-heating radio boxes'), airplane engines ('sky boat pushers'), and atom bombs ('machines for burning cities').

In Thing Explainer, Randall Munroe explains the function and mechanics of 54 subjects using only the 1,000 most commonly used words in the English language. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, material from Thing Explainer has been incorporated in United States high school textbooks. Munroe conceptualized the book in 2012, when drawing a schematic of the Saturn V rocket for his webcomic xkcd. Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words is a 2015 illustrated non-fiction book created by Randall Munroe, in which the author attempts to explain various complex subjects using only the 1,000 most common English words.

Things explainer randall munroe