Product Description

Roundworld is in trouble again, and this time it looks fatal. Having created it in the first place, the wizards of Unseen University feel vaguely responsible for its safety. They know the creatures who lived there escaped the impending Big Freeze by inventing the space elevator - they even intervened to rid the planet of a plague of elves, who attempted to divert humanity onto a different time track. But now it's all gone wrong - Victorian England has stagnated and the pace of progress would embarrass a limping snail. Unless something drastic is done, there won't be time for anyone to invent spaceflight and the human race will be turned into ice-pops. Why, though, did history come adrift? Was it Sir Arthur Nightingale's dismal book about natural selection? Or was it the devastating response by an obscure country vicar called Charles Darwin, whose bestselling "Theology of Species" made it impossible to refute the divine design of living creatures? Either way, it's no easy task to change history, as the wizards discover to their cost. Can the God of Evolution come to humanity's aid and ensure Darwin writes a very different book? And who stopped him writing it in the first place? "The hard science is as gripping as the fiction" - "The Times". "Entertaining and illuminating" - "New Scientist".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #311147 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

Review
"'The hard science is as gripping as the fiction' The Times; 'Entertaining and illuminating' New Scientist"

From the Publisher
The latest instalment in the Sunday Times-bestselling Science of Discworld series.

About the Author
Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series, is one of the most successful authors in Britain today. Ian Stewart is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick and won the Royal Society's 1995 Michael Faraday Medal for outstanding contributions to the public understanding of science. Jack Cohen is a biologist and science writer and long-time collaborator of Ian Stewart's.

Customer Reviews

Time to think again
If you've read the previous two Science books then this might be a two edged sword. There is an increase in the science presented to the reader, tackling such topics as potential time travel, the physics of time, evolution, mechanisms of change and biological interaction.
What there is not is a lot of Pratchett, the ammount of linking text has dropped considerably from the previous narratives and almost looks like it was written round the science essays, which may come as a dissapointment for some fans.
There is also a very strong anti "bible belt" vein to the science writting which may affect the US sales. All said however this is an enjoyable format which will introduce yet more "hard" science to the reader.

From the butterfly that stomped . . .
. . . to the butterfly that was stomped on. Among physicists there is a theory about multiple universes. Each time a decision is made or an action taken, a new universe is created. If a butterfly stomps its left front foot, a new universe with a different sequence of history forms. Stomp the right foot and yet another arises. If, as in Ray Bradbury's famous "The Sound of Thunder", a butterfly is stepped on millions of years ago, how different might our present be? The sequence of events in each scenario may alter only slightly - or be wildly divergent. This idea underlies the theme of the third Discworld science book conceived by Terry Pratchett and his colleagues.

If this is the first "Science of Discworld" you've encountered, some background is essential. Using a surplus of magic, Hex, the Discworld's version of Deep Thought, has created an new universe. Tucked away in that creation is a Roundworld - the one we live on. There is neither magic nor the binding force of the Discworld cosmos, "narrativium" here. Stories cannot be fathomed until they end. There is no logical sequence on which to build events. "Random" is the key word. The result is that Roundworld has evolved many lifeforms, nearly all of which have be killed off by massive ice sheets, poisonous gases or huge stones from space. Only one thing can save Roundworld's humanity from its own extinction event. Charles Darwin must sit down and write "The Origin of Species" to make humans understand how life here works. The knowledge will allow them to escape. This Science of Discworld volume was published in the USA, reflecting the need for just such knowledge to gain ground within that superpower. Relevance to the situation in the UK, however, remains high.

The Discworld's wizards have a portal to Roundworld. They also have a sense of mission. Once, they tried to change Roundworld's destiny - it was a near disaster. This time they don't wish to interfere, but Hex advises them that the odds of Darwin writing the correct book are not only bad, but getting worse. Again, manipulation of events is called for, but selecting which key events to change becomes an insurmountable problem.

In explaining the flow of time and how possible varients of that flow can affect history, the authors take you through the latest thinking on these topics. Discworld fans may be taken a bit aback by the level of theory encountered here. Never fear. There's nothing here anyone won't understand, but this isn't a just a romp with Pratchett's endearing wit. In the first place, the trio know that our society is facing a wave of anti-science sentiments. Religious dogmas, they argue, are no substitute for understanding the world around us. Dogmatic thinking blinds us to the dangers we all face. Pratchett and his co-authors all have children - children they wish to see grow up unthreatened. While their fellow humans may pose some dangers, it is Nature that weilds the ultimate weapon - extinction.

Unlike the previous Science of Discworld books, the integration of the three authors' writing appears seamless. Although the scenes with the wizards, whether on Discworld or Round, are essentially Pratchett, the input from Cohen and Stewart is clear. Likewise, when the tale describes the meaning and validity of the concept of multiple universes and causality, the subtle wit and clarity of language bespeaks the Pratchettean genius of expression. Altogether, they have created a valuable and entertaining learning experience. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Not as good as the previous 2 but still good
While not as good as the two previous "Science of Discworld" books, it is still as accessible a science book as you will find.

Dealing mostly with evolution (there is some physics), I wonder if this is partly a response of a science minded writer to the attempts of the religeous lobby to popularise pseudoscience like ID. Based on the premise that Charles Darwin never wrote "The Origin of Species" but instead wrote "Theology of Species", we are taken on a journey as to why Darwin wrote what he did and why the theory of evolution has stood the test of time.

As to criticisms that they book is openly hostile to religion, it is not. It feels more like the author has lost patience with those that try to force the facts to fit a preconceived world view rather than let the facts speak for themselves.