I have always loved fantasy, from classic Winnie the Pooh, the Wind in the Willows, Bilbo Baggins to the modern sword and sorcery writers. For me the master of all is the genius writer Terry Pratchett who wrote the Discworld series.
I also loved science. From a boy reading about the Galaxy and space travel, the famous Junior Woodchucks Guidebook from the Duck boys to science in university as an adult.
So when those two join forces the result must appeal to me. The Science of Discworld is two books in one. One part is written by Pratchett and contains a story about the wizards of Unseen University in Ankh Morpork. Their new machine in the high energy magic building creates an universe by accident, and the wizards go on exploring it. It is a very strange world, a world where neither magic nor common sense seems to have a chance against logic. They call it Roundworld.
Every chapter of the story is followed by a chapter of things in Roundworld. From the Big Bang to dinosaurs to Darwin to the Manhatten project and everything in between. These parts are written by Jack Cohen (British reproductive biologist) and Ian Steward (Professor of mathematics at University of Warwick) and give wonderful insight in the modern scientific world. Recognizable for everybody with basic education. They have, they admit included on those pages Scrödinger's Cat, the Twin Paradox and that bit about shining a torch ahead of a spaceship traveling at the speed of light. That is because under the rules of the Guild of Science writers, they have to be included. But they managed to be very brief about the Trousers of Time.
If you haven't read this yet, you are in for a treat. And to make it better, they followed it up with 2 more books, the Science of Discworld II and III.
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I also loved science. From a boy reading about the Galaxy and space travel, the famous Junior Woodchucks Guidebook from the Duck boys to science in university as an adult.
So when those two join forces the result must appeal to me. The Science of Discworld is two books in one. One part is written by Pratchett and contains a story about the wizards of Unseen University in Ankh Morpork. Their new machine in the high energy magic building creates an universe by accident, and the wizards go on exploring it. It is a very strange world, a world where neither magic nor common sense seems to have a chance against logic. They call it Roundworld.
Every chapter of the story is followed by a chapter of things in Roundworld. From the Big Bang to dinosaurs to Darwin to the Manhatten project and everything in between. These parts are written by Jack Cohen (British reproductive biologist) and Ian Steward (Professor of mathematics at University of Warwick) and give wonderful insight in the modern scientific world. Recognizable for everybody with basic education. They have, they admit included on those pages Scrödinger's Cat, the Twin Paradox and that bit about shining a torch ahead of a spaceship traveling at the speed of light. That is because under the rules of the Guild of Science writers, they have to be included. But they managed to be very brief about the Trousers of Time.
If you haven't read this yet, you are in for a treat. And to make it better, they followed it up with 2 more books, the Science of Discworld II and III.
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