And Then You’re Dead by Cody Cassidy and Paul Doherty

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… is the actual title of this question and answer gem that goes into the physics, chemistry and biology of what would happen to your body if really strange things happen to it. You’re dead at the end of every scenario described, it’s just how you become dead that is interesting.

You learn LOTS of fascinating (and sometimes gross or shocking) facts in this book. For instance no one in the history of the world has died being sucked into a pit of quicksand. (You’d float and once you got to about your belly button you’d become neutrally buoyant so you wouldn’t sink any farther in.) If you have an issue with germs skip the chapter on Botulism H; it was the most disturbing part of the book. I was astounded by the things that people have survived like the pilot who was sucked out of a windshield that popped out of his plane because of a quick thinking co-pilot, and also those things not survived (in recent times) like a papercut.

If you have an affinity for weird factoids like I do this book will give you a few more to clutter up your brain.