If you could do any job in the world for one day, what would it be?

If you could break one current world sports record, which one would it be?

If you had to change your race, what would it be?

These and 497 other questions can be found in the 1995 book If. . . (Questions for the Game of Life) by Evelyn McFarlane and James Saywell.

This book of questions asks nearly everything from what could’ve been to what’s happening now to how we want everything to end up.

It raises many thought-provoking questions that make us stop and think about what we’ve learned from our past, how we are living in the present and what we want out of life in the future.

Reading If is likely to spark hours of stimulating conversation, especially on a dead weekend.

“If you could” and “if you had” questions are common in If because it forces you to reveal your fantasies more than it does reality.

If also succeeds in challenging us to think about how well we know our history, whether it be ours or the world’s.

Questions like “If you could have given one speech in history, which one would you pick?” or “if you could have prevented one event in history, what event would you eliminate?” are some most would expect intellectual answers from, although it isn’t always so.

However fascinating some of the questions in the book may be, there are some that aren’t worth taking the time to answer.

“If you had to be the underwear of someone famous, who would you choose to wear it?” or “if you had to be someone’s body part, what would you be, and on whose body?” are examples of some of those questions you may not care to have an answer to.

Fortunately, there are only a few of these kinds of questions.

But If does have its share of morbid questions. “If you had to commit suicide by jumping from a tall height, where would you do it?” or, “If you had to kill one person you work with, who would it be?” are some of those.

There are, however, some interesting ones I liked that don’t require deep thoughts or revolting answers.

Q: If you were to drown in a liquid other than water, what would you want it to be?

A: Chocolate milk

Q: If you had to choose the best advertising campaign ever created, which one would it be?

A: Absolut

Q: If your house were to be haunted by the ghost of one person from history, who would you wish it to be?

A: Casper

Q: If you could have a secret listening device in any one room in the world, which room would you like it to be?

A: The Oval Office.

My friend and I decided to take a stroll around campus with this book earlier this week to discuss some of these questions.

One question that came up was, “If you could leave flowers on any one person’s grave every week whether you knew them or not, who would it be?”

I said my grandfather.

My friend said, “Well, I have so many dead relatives, I don’t know. Probably Marilyn Monroe.”

Like I said, these questions make us delve into our fantasies.

Most of the questions in If are general and are aimed at adults. But they don’t always apply to everyone, especially some college students.

So here are some If questions for the average Iowa State student to ponder over.

If you were from Ames, would you still go to ISU?

If you were a former ISU graduate, who would you be?

If Sir Lancelot and Lady Elaine didn’t reside in Lake Laverne, who would you have instead?

If Cy weren’t a cardinal, what would he be?

If you walked over the rug covering the zodiac, does it cancel the superstition that you’ll flunk your next test?

I don’t know, but I wouldn’t dare to try it.

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Shuva Rahim is a junior in journalism mass communication from Davenport.