This month we discuss Thing explainer by Randall Munroe. In this book the xkcd creator attempts to explain things as diverse as the International Space Station and the human body, using only the most common ten hundred words in the English language ('thousand' is not one of those words). See if you can guess the objects from the extracts we read out and hear about our experiences of imposing the rules on our own writing. Finally, take up our challenge and have a go yourself using thexkcd simple writer. You can read our review of Thing explainer here, and find all our book reviews here. We want to include you, the Chemistry World reader, in the conversation so join us next month when we’ll be discussing Gaia Vince's Adventures in the Anthropocene. Tweet your thoughts to @ChemistryWorld, or use the hashtag #BookClubCW and we’ll endeavour to include your opinions (or questions) on the podcast.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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