The Science of Discworld II: 2: the Globe Free

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This book repeats a technique used in The Science of Discworld I - two stories in parallel. Discworld is a mirror of Roundworld. 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 The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe 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 Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe 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 The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe 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. The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe 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. The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe the "laugh per page" of Pratchett's other works, he and his colleagues confront the most serious of issues: "where do we come from? 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. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — The Globe by Terry Pratchett. Ian Stewart. Jack Cohen. The acclaimed Science of Discworld centred around an original Pratchett story about the Wizards of Discworld. In The Science of Discworld II our authors join forces again to see just what happens when the The acclaimed Science of Discworld centred around an original Pratchett story about the Wizards of Discworld. In The Science of Discworld II our authors join forces again to see just what happens when the The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe meddle with history in a battle against the elves for the future of humanity The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe Earth. London is replaced by a dozy Neanderthal village. The Renaissance is given a push. The role of fat women in art is developed. And one very famous playwright gets born and writes The Play. Weaving together a fast-paced Discworld novelette with cutting-edge scientific commentary on the evolution and development of the human mind, culture, language, art, and science, this is a book in which 'the hard science is as gripping as the fiction'. The Times Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published May 1st by Ebury Press first published January More Details Original Title. Science of Discworld 2Discworld. Other Editions 1. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Globeplease sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. May 27, Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it Shelves: 21th-centuryfictionhumorfantasy. In The Science of Discworld II, authors: Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen, join forces again to see just what happens when the wizards meddle with history in a battle against the elves for the future of humanity on Earth. View 2 comments. Dec 04, Lyn rated it liked it. Pratchett also makes frequent references to his own books, particularly Lords and Ladies and Small Gods two of his best. For Discworld fans. View 1 comment. My reaction to the second Science of Discworld book is similar to my reaction to the first. As before, the book alternates between short, fictional chapters that tell a Discworld story and longer chapters that discuss real-world mostly science. I enjoyed the fictional chapters. The story was pretty entertaining, but it made up the smaller portion of the book. The science parts, as with the first book, focus heavily on theory and origin topics whereas I would have preferred a heavier emphasis o My reaction to the second Science of Discworld book is similar to my The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe to the first. The science parts, as with the first book, focus heavily on theory and origin topics whereas I would have preferred a heavier emphasis on more practical topics. No doubt other people prefer it exactly the way it is. There were definitely parts that interested me, and parts that made me chuckle, but there were also The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe lot of parts that induced yawns. I also found it rather repetitive. At least a couple things were repeated from the first book, and there were some themes that the authors went on about over and over. Religion seems to be a particularly favorite topic. Even though I agree with most of their points about religion, they really overdid it, especially when considering it was also discussed quite a bit in the first book. To totally misuse a metaphor, I wanted them to stop preaching to the choir and spend more time on actual science. In any case, I plan to skip the last two science books. May 30, Serge Boucher rated it it was amazing. The Science of Discworld may be my favorite book series ever, and this book is probably my favorite in the series. The result manages to be hysterically funny The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe teaching a serious lesson about what makes us humans. The Science of Discworld - Wikipedia

The book alternates between a typically absurd Discworld story and serious scientific exposition. Where the first book centred on the origins of the universe, earth and the beginnings of life, the second part follows the modern history of Earth. The central theme in the book is that in order for humans to understand anything it must be encapsulated in a story. In the fictional part of the book this is symbolized by the fictional element 'narrativium'. The science section suggests that, rather than Homo sapiens Wise Manwe might be better described as Pan narrans Storytelling Chimpanzee. In the story, the wizards accidentally are transported to Roundworld the real universe, inadvertently created during the first book during the Elizabethan era. This is the first time they learn there are humans on Roundworld; they previously learnt that something would escape an Ice Age by heading for the stars via a space elevatorbut missed which species it was. They are befriended by the magician John Deewho is understandably confused by their appearance. Back at Unseen Universitythe thinking machine Hex informs the remaining faculty Ponder Stibbonsthe Librarian and Rincewind that history has changed and humanity no longer makes it to the stars. The reason for this is, apparently, an infestation of elves feeding off human imagination and encouraging them to be scared of the dark and the monsters within. The wizards travel back in time to suppress the elvish influence, but this only makes things worse; people are no longer superstitious, but they are no longer creative either. In the "new" 17th century humans are still in the Stone Agewith a particular tribe having only slight fascination about a tree. Then Rincewind suggests doing the opposite, encouraging humanity to be more creative. They travel through time doing this, with the intent of creating a history in which William Shakespeare writes A Midsummer Night's Dream. This achievement is symbolic of a new way of thinking, the human imagination is The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe sophisticated enough that stories can be The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe about stories. With the elves now seen as a harmless fiction, their power over Roundworld is gone. The science section explains that, apart from the wizards, this is probably how humanity and science developed; the imagination that peopled the night with terrors went on to create a story in which there was a reliable light source, and made that story reality. While Roundworld does not, as explained in the first book, contain any narrativium, human belief that it should has created something very similar. The book concludes with: "The [stories] we've got have brought us a long way. Plenty of creatures are intelligent but only one tells stories. That's us: Pan narrans. And what about Homo sapiens? Yes, we think that would be a very good idea From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Terry Pratchett 's Discworld. Dwarfs Elves Nac Mac Feegle. Discworld Ankh-Morpork. Games of the Discworld Lie-to-children. Works by Terry Pratchett. Categories : Books by Ian Stewart Discworld books books. Hidden categories: Articles lacking sources from March All articles lacking sources. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. First edition. The Science of Discworld. The Science of Discworld II: The Globe - Wikipedia

The book alternates between a typically absurd Discworld story and serious scientific exposition after each chapter. The Discworld part of the book begins when a new experimental power source for the Unseen University is commissioned in the university's squash court. The new "reactor" is capable of splitting the thaum the basic particle of magicin homage to the The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe Pile-1 nuclear reactor, which was housed in a rackets court at the University of Chicago. However, the wizards' new reactor produces vastly more magical energy than planned and threatens to explode, destroying the University, the Discworld, and the entire universe. The university's thinking engine, Hexdecides to divert all the magic into creating a space containing nothing—no matter, no energy, no reality, and, importantly, no magic. The Dean sticks his fingers in the space and "twiddles" them, inadvertently creating the universe. The wizards soon discover that they can move things around in the universe, using Hex. They call it the Roundworld the Earthbecause in it, matter seems to accrete into balls in space instead of discs on the backs of turtles. They decide to appoint Rincewind, whom they dragged out of bed in the early hours of the morning, the Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography, and send him down against his will to investigate this strange world. The wizards create a series of balls of matter in space, and give one of them a Moon accidentally. This stabilizes the ball enough that, over a score of millennia the wizards can skip over vast periods of Roundworld time, allowing them to view the history of the universe in less than a monthblobs of life emerge, ready to begin evolving into more complex forms. The science centres on the origins of the universe, earth and the beginnings of life, the fiction on the creation of a world the Earth in a jar. One of the themes is that most scientific explanations are in reality a good deal more complicated than most of us realize. The even-numbered chapters are self-contained essays that discuss, among others, the following topics:. Publishers Weeklyreviewing the edition, described it as "unique and outrageously funny", with "writing [that] is as entertaining as it is accessible. Cohen reports that it was extremely difficult to find a publisher who was willing to purchase the book, saying "I spent two-and-a-half years going around editors. I must have The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe 80 [meetings with editors]. At last Ebury took it. It sold more thancopies in the first year. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Terry Pratchett 's Discworld. Dwarfs Elves Nac Mac The Science of Discworld II: 2: The Globe. Discworld Ankh-Morpork. Games of the Discworld Lie-to-children. Works by Terry Pratchett. Categories : Books by Ian Stewart Discworld books books. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version.