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Review:The Science of Discworld
For those who haven't had the pleasure, the Discworld moves through space on the back of four giant elephants who are in turn standing on the carapace of Great A'Tuin, the interstellar turtle. The Discworld is inhabited by all manner of creatures: trolls, dwarves, elves, a number of varieties of undead, and people - some of whom are wizards.
Our story starts with the wizards (and the wizzard), who for reasons that you will discover when you read the book, begin a project to study (that's wizard for "play with") The Roundworld. It starts to go wrong almost immediately. No matter how hard they try to get the planets to form nice, proper disc shapes, they keep getting spheres, globes, or balls. And they can't find a giant space turtle anywhere. It's obvious that the world they've created isn't a proper world at all. Or is it?
Throughout this wonderful mix of hard science and funny fantasy, Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart (professors of biology and physics respectively, and co-authors of Figments of Reality and The Collapse of Chaos) step in every other chapter to explain the things that are confusing the wizards. Why are the planets round? Why do they insist on travelling around the sun in predictable ellipses. Yes, it's because of gravity, every schoolchild knows that. But what, exactly is gravity?
Via the wizards' assumptions about how a world should work and Jack & Ian's delightful prose, we are taken back to the basics of the science we learned in school and then forgot, secure in the knowledge that we "understood" how our world works. As the scientists explain, this is partly because most of the science we learn in school is what they have dubbed "lies-to-children". "Lies-to-children" are the stock of vast (untrue) over-simplifications that make science easier to teach, and easier to learn. And, most of the time "lies-to-children" are necessary in order to have something to build on to learn the next bit. The problem, they seem to be saying, is when the forget that it's really a "lie", and it turns into "believing-we-understand" instead of "wanting-to-know-more".
That is certainly not to say that The Science of Discworld is a children's book. You could certainly read it to children, though beware that this will probably result in time spent running around the back yard with oranges and footballs to explain the orbit of the planets, and so on. It is packed full of complex ideas and current theories. Most chapters start with the absolute basics and then swiftly bring you right up to date with the most recent discoveries from the High-Z Supernova Search Team (or what have you).
What I liked best about the book was the way the authors mentioned just enough about a particular topic (and dropped a couple of names or events; such as Jocelyn Bell's discovery of pulsars, or Adrian Thompson's experiments with Genetic Algorithms) for me to be able to go off and find out more about the things that I found particularly interesting. On the other hand, this brevity with most of the topics might frustrate some people.
What does it cover? Everything. Ok, so that's probably not a very good answer. There's this story about these wizards who create a universe and mess about with it for a while and get things wrong and shout at each other a lot. And there's a computer. And a librarian who's an ourangutan. It's a very funny story. Terry Pratchett wouldn't have written 35 books and be the second-biggest selling author in Britain if he weren't rather good at that sort of thing. In between every chapter of the funny story about the wizards there is a chapter of "hard" science. The stuff in the science chapters goes something like this:
- Science - what does it mean to think scientifically?
- Time, space & the big bang
- The stars, the elements, and more about the stars
- Newton, Einstein, and others
- Chaos, Emergence, and Langton's Ant (Note: if anyone has the url of a good site that demonstrates Langton's Ant, please post it as a follow-up. Thanks!)
- The planets, their orbits, & more about the stars
- The Earth from magma core to the atmosphere and the moon
- Philosophy on the nature of Light & Dark
- Life. Blue-green algae, Darwin, genetic algorithms
- Some notes on statistics and probability
- The Dinosaurs
- Mammals & DNA
- Neurology & culture
- Where do we go from here?
Should I buy this book? Yes if: Probably
not if:
-
You've been meaning to start reading some Popular Science
-
You already read an awful lot of Popular Science
-
You're looking for a good introduction/
jumping-off point into a wide variety of interesting current scientific ideas-
You've just finished a degree in Earth Sciences
-
You've read Figments of Reality and loved it's style
-
You thought all that icky biology stuff and all
that stuff about different kinds of rocks in
school was terribly boring
-
You can't think of a present for your bright
10-12 year old son/daughter/
neice/nephew/etc. who has grown out of dinosaurs and has been pestering you to explain "how the stars work."
-
You can't think of a present for your bright
10-12 year old son/daughter/
-
You thought all that icky biology stuff and all
that stuff about different kinds of rocks in
school was terribly boring
-
You've read Figments of Reality and loved it's style
-
You've just finished a degree in Earth Sciences
-
You're looking for a good introduction/
-
You already read an awful lot of Popular Science
Can I buy this book? So far The Science of Discworld has only been published in the UK. As of June 10th, the authors hadn't even started discussions with American publishers, so the UK version is likely to be the only one available for quite a while. Buy it from Amazon.co.uk with the British spellings intact.
A word of caution
...to those who have not yet read any of Mr. Terry Pratchett's books.
The Science of Discworld drops a number of tantalizing hints
about the other Discworld books. You might well decide to buy one,
just satisfy your curiosity about a particular character or story.
Discworld books are addictive, with a capital "ADD". At first you'll
casually pick up a paperback next time you're at the bookstore (I
recommend Feet of Clay or The Colour of Magic),
then perhaps you'll order the most recent hardback(s) from
Amazon.co.uk. Next thing you know you're singing the Hedgehog song
in the shower and doing very strange things with tapioca. It isn't
pretty, and there's no known cure, but at least you won't be alone.
You have been warned.
Note: This is not yet availible in the US, but can be ordered from Amazon.uk.
I haven't read the books, but I've seen this (animated) on TV. I didn't find it particularly funny. This combined with the time it was broadcasted made me stop watching.
Is this a case where you really should read the books before passning judgement (like the case with David Brin's book that was mangled by Kevin Costner)
http://alife.santafe.edu or
http://www.trail.com/~cgl (Langton's home page) may be of some help.
A. Liu
surak_at_my-deja_dot_com
For fucks sakes, don't read any of the latest ones - compared to his earlier work they're complete pap!
:-)
For example, Interesting Times completely *ruined* some of the characters from earlier novels. Cohen, Twoflower, and almost Rincewind. And it was horribly inconsistent with earlier stuff.
Jingo? Boring. Oh yes, the storyline was there, but it just ambled along without the humour that made him so popular in his early days.
As for Hogfather and Maskerade - don't even think about them. They make Jingo look good! They're utter crap, complete rubbish. I hated those books so much I gave them away to someone.
Case study: I lent a friend of mine Guards! Guards! followed by Colour Of Magic. He loved them; thought they were excellent (they are!). I them lent him the next in the guards series, Men At Arms. He didn't finish it. Verdict: boring rubbish. Now personally I didn't think it was too bad, but it just goes to show that even a Discworld 'newbie' is but off by Pterri's later style.
I really wish he'd stop writing stuff now, he went past his prime quite some time ago.
Bah.
Just my two quids worth
I remember listening to a radio interpretation of Wyrd Sisters. It was well pap. Not funny at all.
When I bought II, it came with I free!
Your mileage may vary...
Stop monkeying around ...
A new title called "Discworld Noir" is due out in a month or so. I wouldn't be surprised if the previous titles came bundled with it. Looks interesting. Seems you play as the Disc's first private investigator.
/ discn_uk/preview.html
http://www.gamespot.co.uk/pc.gamespot/adventure
She is French?
Oook*
*I think Strata, Darkside of the Sun, and The Unadulterated Cat were never in print in the US. In Canada there was an option to print them, but they never did. But if you happen to be in Ottawa sometime soon, go to Baslisk Dreams Books on Bank St. (by Fifth) It has them all, although those three are twice the price.
I know a couple of people who started reading the later ones and they really liked them. They were also slightly disappointed when they came to read the earilier ones. A different humour, I suppose. I reckon that Pterri's books can be pretty much divided into two catergories, 'traditional' and 'rubbi^H^H^H^H^Hnew'. The traditional ones are in his 'old' style, and are the ones I like. The new ones, I don't like. Yes, that seems to explain it. Well .. not really. That hypothesis needs a bit more thought before I write a paper on it :-) -- the guy who started this thread
damn! why is it that the linefeeds on these posts sometimes resolutely fail to work??
II is a far better game than I, I recommend it much more. You should really buy both, but I'd start with II and buy I if you like it.
OOK!
The series that is based from is excellent-it always makes me laugh.
Yeah, I'm that guy.
not third.
Colour of Magic
The Light Fantastic
Equal Rites
Mort
Sourcery
(etc)
This sig left unintentionally blank.
http://www.aist.go.jp/NIBH/~b0616/ Lab/Links.html has a list of many interesting A-life applets.
Langston's Ant is listed on the page, and is located at:
http://www.home.fh-karl sruhe.de/~gran0011/java/langton.html
-- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"'
Damnit Giles, I was about to say that! And I was gonna say it much funnier than you did. Oh well, there's nothing left for me but to namedrop about how I fell asleep in his lectures.
fish and pipes
Ian Stewart is not a professor of physics. He is a professor of mathematics at Warwick University.
Do you know of anywhere they might have an image of this cartoon.
Vermifax
Logout
Oook. Ook ook, ook oook ook ook. Oook ook (ook ook OOK!) ook. Oook ook; ook ook ook ook.
Ooook
Barbara Cartland?
Geoff
Forget what you know - Share what you don't
Even though only "the Color of Magic" contains the two 'heros' TwoFlower and Rincewind,
Actually, Twoflower is a major character in "The Light Fantastic" and "Interesting Times" as well. My two favourites are "Interesting Times" and "Moving Pictures". The latter is a wonderful spoof of Hollywood and movie making -- warmly recommended!
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
I think it is Catherine Cookson.
I like "Jingo" and "Hogfather", but note that both of these differ from most others (except "Soul Music") because the bad guys are extremely evil and not funny at all. Much of the lighter humour in the early books dissipates in the later, but the books themselves remain good.
The only Discworld book I had trouble getting through was "The Last Continent", mainly because there were two plotlines that didn't seem to get properly "joined" at the end: I felt that the plot involving the wizards of Unseen University was a side-tracking...
Nonsense.
It's all a matter of taste. The earlier books are frothy and light. I find that fine in small doses. But, had the series kept on that way I wouldn't have kept reading it. Instead, the books start to revolve around characters. The humour may pop up less often, but, for me, his humour is much more funny--and sometimes moving--in the context of his later more complex books. The later books are also much stronger in both character and narrative.
Even the least of Prachett's books--Moving Pictures for my money--is better than most good books from other authors.
Steven, Senior Technology Editor, Sm@rt Reseller
I picked up "Small Gods" about a month ago, after having a former roommate tell me on many occasions that Pratchett was god.
:)
As of last week, I have now read 8 of the Discworld books, and the only reason I haven't read any more is that I'm awaiting deliveries.
The Turtle Moves!
Help im lost in L-space!
I was a great Discworld-inspired cartoon once:
Death was sitting infront of a computer, the caption underneath read "DAMN CAPS LOCK..."
strata was --although i don't think they ever made a second edition...
------- Oh damn.... the Sigfile escaped... -Great OM
Meanwhile, I started with Men At Arms and found it hilarious; likewise Hogfather, Maskerade, and Interesting Times. Since I haven't read any of the earlier Rincewind or City Guards books, I can't comment on whether or not he's going downhill, except only to note that if he is, he must've started on Cori Celesti.
--
Do I look like I speak for my employer?
My cousin, Sun Dog, has a pretty good (cob) web site about Pratchett's Discworld books, if anyone is interested in reviews and other related stuff. It hasn't been updated for over a year, but what can you do?
Check it out: members.xoom.com/SunDog
I like all of them, myself. The earlier books have more re-read value in them, I think, the later books have more of a mystery-genre leaning, which reduces their re-read value. Still, I liked Hogfather a lot (even with the new ones, PTerry's books seem to get better the more times you read them... They're filled with all sorts of little details that you don't notice at the first read).
"Small Gods" is much better than "Feet of Clay". I found FoC difficult to follow (although with a good thesis and ending). SG, OTOH, is incredibly funny AND thought-provoking throughout.
---
Put Hemos through English 101!
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
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From the review:
t should be obvious by now, but just in case it's not, I'll mention explicitly (as the authors themselves do on the second page of the text) that this is not a "The Science of Star Trek" type of book that speculates about the evolutionary feasibility of flying, fire-breathing dragons or tries explains what a thaum is (as if you could explain it, which you can't because a thaum isn't real, Terry just made it up).
---
Put Hemos through English 101!
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
Well, that's a starting point....
---
Put Hemos through English 101!
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
The Dirk Gently books were pretty good. And the only hitchhikers book I found really off the mark (still enjoyable, just not as good as the others) was Mostly Harmless.
That said, I'm really a great fan of Terry Pratchett. The only Pratchett books (other than very recent ones which I have to wait for since I live in Merkia) which I don't own are Strata and The Dark Side of the Sun. I'll find copies of them eventually.
Anyway, I have to agree that there are similarities between Pratchett's humor and Adam's humor, but there are big differences as well. Not to mention the differences between their storytelling as well.
I have a graphic novel version of the Soul Music animated special. It's nowhere near as good as the book. For one thing, it's missing most of the story. It's also missing most of the humor. One of the important things to remember about good books is that they are good books, not neccessarily good movies or cartoons or comic books, just good books.
So who`s the best-selling author then?
--
I've only been able to find the later ones in my local bookstore. I started with Maskerade and Jingo. I found them both funny (Maskerade you did have to know a little at least about American Broadway which was a surprise coming from a British author!), and I have been reading them backwards from there. I'm also trying to get the later ones too. But anyway, I read Interesting Times and Small Gods. Now most "old timers" would have hated Interesting Times, but so far, out of the ones that I have read, IT is my favorite. This is mostly because it was really funny (I had to read it lying on the floor), and I enjoyed the character of Rincewind, even though he is an anti-hero, you can relate to him and root for him. In Small Gods, there wasn't anyone to root for, at first it felt like Brutha, but then he fell into focus and I stopped rooting for him. I liked Small Gods, but without a hero to root for, it was like trying to walk in three directions at once.
Since his stories got more involved with the lives of each character it's gotten better.
Sounds like you should stick to short stories.
BTW Rincewind is the least interesting character in Pratchett!
_______________________ I am the eggman, wooo! _______________________
I is the best, but really hard (and counter-intuitive) but looks a bit dated and (still) has bugs, also I think it has problems on very high end machines.e x.html
II is still good, but a bit simplistic (they overcompensated).
But III should be out now, or very soon..
see:
http://www.demon.lspace.org/games/discworld/ind
EZ
"Oops, I always forget the purpose of competition is to divide people into winners and losers." - Hobbes
Not a part of the series, but hysterical nonetheless, I'd have to recommend Good Omens : The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch that he co-wrote with umm.. err... Neil Gaiman. Sure, its not the Discworld, but DEATH still makes an appearance!
Ishy "Doobie doobie doo..." --The Penguin
If I wanted to buy the game ... :)
Should I buy I or II ?
PS : I don't think it exist for linux ?
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Actually, The Science of Discworld is not about the physics of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, it's about the physics and history of our world, as seen through the eyes of the wizards in the Unseen University, on the Discworld. One of the best popular science books I've read - contains a rather good Discworld story, too.
The first book i have read was "Small Gods", "Equal Rites" and "The Color of Magic". I've read them in that order and found all of them extraordinaly funny. Even though only the "Color of Magic" contains the two 'heros' TwoFlower and Rincewind, I found that Terry Pratchett don't need to rely on them to write funny books.
IMHO, the Discoworld is too big being traveled by only a handful of standard characters. And then a last word about consitency:
The early books are those where Prachett is unable to tell one story at once. Only on his later books he was able to grip on a main story and only deviated a bit to tell some side-stories along.