Science of Discworld

Since Pratchett began writing about Discworld in 1983, his ideas involving the fanciful flat landscape, which rests on four gargantuan elephants and a turtle, have stretched across 40 novels, multiple stories, and several reference guides. This first of four Science of Discworld companion volumes, originally published in 1999, has now been reissued with updated scientific research that brings the series into the twenty-first century. In alternating chapters, the book adds another whimsical episode to Discworld lore and contrasts the magical "rules" of Pratchett's realm with the human world's more logic-oriented science. In the Discworld sections, an experiment at Unseen University goes awry, forcing its wizards to create a new universe where planets, including Roundworld (aka Earth), form into balls instead of discs. The nonfiction science chapters explore such themes as the origin of the universe, tectonic plates, and the evolution of mankind. For Pratchett and Discworld devotees the volume is, of course, compulsory reading, but even science buffs who would normally eschew anything resembling fantasy will find much here to pique their interests. --Carl Hays