Customer Reviews

The Science of Discworld

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We are watching the wizards of Unseen University watching an Earth-like planet be created. Sounds complicated? Not really...
A brief, yet in-depth (I don't know how that can work, but it does) explanation on how it is currently believed out world works is nothing short of miraculous, especially due to the clarity in which it is explained. Interlaced with a story about the wizards' experiments with their new toy planet, this book is completely riveting and highly informative.

Apart from being a Pratchett fan, I'm an almost post graduate biology student interested in education en popularising science. Therefore, this book stands high on my list of best books ever. Apart from a very entertaining story featuring the ever-blundering wizards of U.U. (and Rincewind in the role of Professor of Unusual and Cruel Geography), this is really a very, very good science textbook.

The strength of the science book part (reviews on the story can be found aplenty on this page) is that it is for one thing very clearly structured, starting with the "birth" of the universe as we now perceive it and ending with a (maybe) over-the-top look into the future. But apart from this comprehensive structure, the science writing is also very clever. Many science books just state what is known, so only the dry facts. The authors of this book also give a framework, for example some history of how knowledge is obtained, a process that is mostly unknown to those who have not followed an academic science education.

But that's not all. Many times the authors start out by stating something that is known to everybody, giving the explanations we all learn in high school. And then they go about by showing us how exactly these high school explanation (or "lies-to-children" as they call them) are wrong, or at least a small part of the truth, giving a much more complicated image of how things work and even leaving things unexplained (because that's how it is in science, not all things can be explained satisfactorily). And that is, in my opinion, the strength of the book, a glimpse is given on how science is practised, how knowledge is gained and how things are always more complicated than you think they are.

I gave this book to a friend of mine who has had a long career in teaching (not only high-school teaching, but also teaching teachers-to-be how to teach) and he was also very enthusiastic about the book, because it really lets you wrestle with the various ideas and theories presented.

I myself have learned greatly from this book, not only from certain subjects that, being a biologist, are not part of your education (for example the physics involved in the biginning of the universe), but also about the more philosophical side of science (the chapter called "Things that aren't", which deals with how strange human thinking and perception sometimes work, is my all time favorite). This is why I very strongly recommend this book to all undergraduate science students (and really anyone involved in science or even remotely interested in it); they can profit greatly from reading this book. My only fear is that this book will, completely unjustified, disappear on the "Sci-fi and Fantasy" shelves in bookstores, and will not be found on the "Popular science" shelves where is really belongs!

This is really two great books. The first is a wizard's experiment gone wrong at the Unseen University. A chain reaction in their squash court (sound familiar?) has released an unprecedented amount of thaumic energy. Before it could be channeled safely, it materializes a world, in fact a whole star system. But this world isn't a disc, it's round --

The second book is a witty, well informed scientific commentary on many things, but especially on the history of life on earth. (I only noticed one mis-step in the real science, a statement about the stability of a an oxygen isotope. They probably slid that error in to make nitpickers like me feel smug.)

The problem is, this is just one book, not two. Chapters alternate in odd-even pairs, Discworld fantasy and Ourworld fact. I probably should have read the book twice, all the odd chapters then all the even ones. As it was, I found my attention whipsawed between the two. The total was distractingly less than the sum of the parts.

It's clever, amusing and informative. The back-and-forth style just didn't work for me, though.

//wiredweird

"The Science of Discworld" by Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen isn't really about Discworld. Well, in a way, it -is- about Discworld, but it really is a lot more about well, "Life on Earth".

This book is amazingly comprehensive about modern science, both what science -is- and how it got be that way. Topics run a happy gamut from space elevators (as in Arthur Clarke's "Fountains Of Paradise") to DNA (another "space elevator") to gravity (Newtonian, and Einsteinian) to mutation, the origins of Life, evolution, and the Turtle that carries the Universe on its back. (Oops! wrong Universe.)

An interesting concept that helps to form the basis of this book is "Lies to Children"; these are those "facts" we are presented with from early on in our awareness, by people that aren't happy with the truth. "Where do babies come from?" is a question that often results in a "lie to children"; adults, often assuming that their children aren't sufficiently mature enough to understand the concept of conception, tend to offer a somewhat abridged version of the truth that does little to enlighten anyone.

"The Science of Discworld" presents an array of "lies to children" and the facts as we know them, now. It allows for the inevitable future discoveries, while presenting what we (in the scientific sense) believe we know about "Life, the Universe, and Everything" in an easily digestable fashion.

All this information could be bewildering; this presentation isn't. This is good, readable, non-fiction with solid facts, interesting (and logical) conclusions, and with all the strange twists and turns of a good "who-done-it," with a fair smidgen of sci-fi-fantasy thrown in.

I would unhesitatingly recommend "The Science of Discworld" as required reading for all science teachers, and *highly* recommended for budding scientists of all ages. To me at 50, it is an epiphany; I can only imagine the personal impact if I had read this at 15.

Now, about that turtle...

What can I say? If you love Prachett, the wizards and have an open mind this one's for you! The science part of this book is written with humour and wit so it never sounds like one of your old college text books. The Discworld story that accompanies and introduces the science chapters is wonderful in and of itself. Putting them together in this book makes it one great educational read.

If you're a fan of Pratchett and you enjoy educational reading, you'll love this book. Pratchett's tone is conversational and entertaining. He talks about the history of the planet and the scientific concepts involved as if he was telling a story. Even if you're not a big science buff, this book will be interesting.

Try enlivening a party with this question: "What's on your mind?" When the babble has become truly raucous, ask another: "How did it get in there?" This book is about those questions, how we came to consider them, and how we've tried to learn to understand them. Interleaving a fantasy story with analyses of scientific thinking about thinking carries certain risks. In the hands of this trio, however, the balance is successfully achieved. Don't be deceived by the name of Terry Pratchett as lead author of this volume. There are wonderful touches of humour in this book, but the basic theme is a serious question: "Who are we, and how did we get to be this way?"

This book repeats a technique used in The Science of Discworld I - two stories in parallel. Discworld is a mirror of Roundworld. The wizards used the computer Hex to construct Roundworld in SoD I. They were shocked at the many differences. Shape was only a beginning. They were confronted with the many ways in which life evolved on Roundworld. They were also forced to reflect on how illogical it seemed for living things to struggle for survival, only to be snuffed out by natural forces. In this sequel, the most advanced life form is going to be confronted with an extinction threat noted in the first book. How to deal with it? It turns out that the best solution is to ally with a great evil force.

Humanity has a strange and illogical heritage, this book tells us. As our forebears learned to cope with changing conditions on the African savannah [or on lake shores or even in the sea] they learned to stand upright, to grasp tools, and to think. This has always seemed like a long, continuous progression of small improvements over time - a process in the best Darwinian gradualist sense. This trio of authors reminds us that this picture is false for humans. After a good start, our ancestors simply halted in place, keeping social, mental and technological progress at bay. The "pause" went on for a hundred millennia. At some point about fifty thousand years ago, all that changed. We went from the "standing ape" to become "the storytelling ape". Thinking and speaking resulted in story-telling.

In trying to understand ourselves and our surroundings, Pratchett and his colleagues see humans as inventing stories for explanations of nature's mysteries. Magic, allied with the element "narrativium", runs the Discworld. On the Roundworld, magic has to be invented. Narratives are the means to bring it about and spread it around. Every human society forges its own stories which are imparted to children as "Make-A-Human Kits". Each society creates explanations which become legends which become religions as one example. While we might dispute whether we've "progressed" argue the authors, there's no question that once the process started, humans changed rapidly resulting in what we see around us today. This "advance", they argue, was not inevitable. While we may not yet understand what prompted this change, we can list alternatives and reject the impossible or implausible. That's why the Discworld parallel story comprises part of this book. It teaches you how to recognise the difference.

To long-standing Discworld fans, this book will be a serious challenge. Unlike the "laugh per page" of Pratchett's other works, he and his colleagues confront the most serious of issues: "where do we come from?" and "where are we going?". Cohen and Stewart, who have dealt these questions elsewhere, and Terry Pratchett, who posits them with every book, have produced a significant contribution in attempting an answer. The use of the parallel story line offers great opportunities for the reader to "step outside the box" and consider life and beliefs from a detached view. Pratchett has long confronted us with ourselves. Adding Cohen and Stewart's scientific and cognitive abilities to his imagination results in a compelling and informative read. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Science of Discworld is one of the lesser-known, but nonethless highly entertaining of Terry Pratchett's books. Mixing Discworld madness with educational necessity, Pratchett dispenses large doses of what should be compulsory reading for school kids.

The book is both intelligent and humorous (which accolade, I believe can be applied to most Pratchett works) and demands an intellectual engagement on the part of the reader. Hard science mixes with Pratchett-style fiction but ultimately tells the history of the world as it is (or at least as most people believe it is). The author is not afraid to go where few satirists have gone before, exploring everything from astrophysics through relativity to quantum mechanics and evolution... and always with one eye on the outrageous.

Pratchett has the skill to mock his fellow creatures, but oh so gently, and always with a warm heart. As a fellow reviewer said "To me at 50, it is an epiphany; I can only imagine the personal impact if I had read this at 15". Likewise, I would have appreciated knowing a little more earlier on in my life, particularly if helped through the morass by the guiding hand of Terry Pratchett.

A story about ants that build virtual hiways, cats that are both alive and dead (and possibly extremely miffed) and oversexed apes that have an interesting family tree. And all of this didn't happen on the Disc, IT HAPPENED IN THE REAL WORLD.

The wizards of Discworld embark on a journey of discovery and experimentation when they create their own universe, our universe, where the logical outcome never seems to happen. Every alternate chapter in the book is written by two scientists (Cohen & Stewart) who explain the most mind boggling concepts in an entertaining and easy-to-understand way.

Some of the concepts explored in this book include; Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Time travel, Evolution, Astrophysics and Space Travel, among others. This book lets you explore new ways of thinking, for example; Everyone knows that our universe seems to run on rules (like things attract other things [gravitation]). Have you ever wondered why these rules exist? Why, at the beginning of the Universe, rules came to impose themselves on everything?

A book for Science (and Science Fiction) fans and Discworld fans alike. For the Discworld fanatic, the book includes some of the most popular characters like Death, Rincewind, The Luggage, The Librarian and Hex, the computer of Unseen University. You won't be able to wait to find out what will happen in the next chapter - in the real world AND on the Disc.

I read 'Thud' first then within 30 day read in what I thought was the correct order every other Terry Pratchett Discworld book. This was before Christmas 2010 and my kindle so I have a complete collection. Not entirely true. Forgot about the UK. exclusive editions. I'm happy that I read Lawrence Watt-Evans, 'The Turtle Moves', Discworld summary. I found out about the Science of Discworld there and had to have them. Also , my order for reading series was very similar to Mr. Watt-Evans's.
Ordering a used book for the first time was interesting, listed as acceptable I didn't know what I would get. I would have said GOOD condition, not a dog-eared page.
I'm a big fan of both authors and will get the third Science of Discworld book somehow. If you have a copy ...:)