The Science of Discworld

From Guild of Recappers & Podcasters
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The Science of Discworld
AuthorTerry Pratchett, Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen
Audio read byMichael Fenton Stevens (science chapters)
Stephen Briggs (fiction chapters)
Cover artistPaul Kidby
CountryUK
LanguageEnglish
SeriesScience of Discworld
Release number
1
Sub-seriesRincewind/Wizards/Non-fiction
GenreFantasy/Popular Science
PublisherEbury Press
Publication date
1999-06-03
Preceded byThe Last Continent 
Followed byThe Science of Discworld II: The Globe 

Blurb

In the fantasy universe of the phenomenally best-selling Discworld series, everything runs on magic and common sense. The world is flat and million-to-one chances happen nine times out of ten. Our world seems different – it runs on rules, often rather strange ones. Science is our way of finding out what those rules are. The appeal of Discworld is that it mostly makes sense, in a way that particle physics doesn't.

The Science of Discworld uses the magic of Discworld to illuminate the scientific rules that govern our world. When a wizardly experiment goes adrift, the wizards of Unseen University find themselves with a pocket universe on their hands: Roundworld, where neither magic nor common sense seems to stand a chance against logic.

Roundworld is, of course, our own universe. With us inside it (eventually). Guided (if that's the word) by the wizards, we follow the story from the primal singularity of the Big Bang to the Internet and beyond. We discover how puny and insignificant lives are against a cosmic backdrop of creation and disaster. Yet, paradoxically, we see how the richness of a universe based on rules has led to a complex world and at least one species that tried to get a grip on what was going on...

Podcast episodes

Major appearances

These are episodes primarily devoted to discussing this book.

Date Show Episode External link
2020-09-08 Pratchat “Great Balls of Physics” pratchatpodcast.com
2023-02-20 The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret “Dynamically Dominant” (1/2) thetruthshallmakeyefret.com
2023-02-28 The Truth Shall Make Ye Fret “Pettier, and Full of Academics” (2/2) thetruthshallmakeyefret.com

Other appearances

These are episodes with significant discussion of the book, but which are about something broader.

Date Show Episode External link
2023-06-01 Les Intergalactiques “Science et magie : la logique du surnaturel”[1] intergalactiques.net

External links

Footnotes

  1. This is the podcast of the French science fiction festival Les Intergalactiques, and this episode (“Science and Magic: the logic of the supernatural”) discusses with four authors the trend in fantasy to have a more logical, scientific kind of “magic”. It uses The Science of Discworld as a touchstone, since Pratchett’s work seems like a deliberate meshing of science and magic.