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The Science of Discworld

A Novel

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Not just another science book and not just another Discworld novella, The Science of Discworld is a creative, mind-bending mash-up of fiction and fact, that offers a wizard’s-eye view of our world that will forever change how you look at the universe.

Can Unseen University’s eccentric wizards and orangutan Librarian possibly shed any useful light on hard, rational Earthly science? 
 
In the course of an exciting experiment, the wizards of Discworld have accidentally created a new universe. Within this universe is a planet that they name Roundworld. Roundworld is, of course, Earth, and the universe is our own. As the wizards watch their creation grow, Terry Pratchett and acclaimed science writers Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen use Discworld to examine science from the outside. Interwoven with the Pratchett’s original story are entertaining, enlightening chapters which explain key scientific principles such as the Big Bang theory and the evolution of life on earth, as well as great moments in the history of science.
 

© Rob Wilkins

TERRY PRATCHETT is the acclaimed creator of the globally bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Color of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he is the author of more than seventy books. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was awarded multiple prizes over the course of his career, including the Carnegie Medal, as well as a knighthood for services to literature. Worldwide sales of his books now stand at more than 85 million (but who’s counting?), and they have been published in thirty-eight languages. He died in 2015.
 
www.terrypratchettbooks.com

View titles by Terry Pratchett
Ian Stewart is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick and won the Royal Society’s 1995 Michael Faraday Medal for outstanding contributions to the public understanding of science. View titles by Ian Stewart
Jack Cohen is a biologist and science writer and long-time collaborator of Ian Stewart’s. View titles by Jack Cohen
"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.... 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." --Booklist

"The hard science is as gripping as the fiction." --The Times (London)

"An irreverent but genuinely profound romp through the history and philosophy of science, cunningly disguised as a collection of funny stories about wizards and mobile luggage." --Frontiers
 
"Terry Pratchett is more than a magician. He is the kindest, most fascinating teacher you ever had." --Harlan Ellison

About

Not just another science book and not just another Discworld novella, The Science of Discworld is a creative, mind-bending mash-up of fiction and fact, that offers a wizard’s-eye view of our world that will forever change how you look at the universe.

Can Unseen University’s eccentric wizards and orangutan Librarian possibly shed any useful light on hard, rational Earthly science? 
 
In the course of an exciting experiment, the wizards of Discworld have accidentally created a new universe. Within this universe is a planet that they name Roundworld. Roundworld is, of course, Earth, and the universe is our own. As the wizards watch their creation grow, Terry Pratchett and acclaimed science writers Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen use Discworld to examine science from the outside. Interwoven with the Pratchett’s original story are entertaining, enlightening chapters which explain key scientific principles such as the Big Bang theory and the evolution of life on earth, as well as great moments in the history of science.
 

Author

© Rob Wilkins

TERRY PRATCHETT is the acclaimed creator of the globally bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Color of Magic, was published in 1983. In all, he is the author of more than seventy books. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was awarded multiple prizes over the course of his career, including the Carnegie Medal, as well as a knighthood for services to literature. Worldwide sales of his books now stand at more than 85 million (but who’s counting?), and they have been published in thirty-eight languages. He died in 2015.
 
www.terrypratchettbooks.com

View titles by Terry Pratchett
Ian Stewart is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Warwick and won the Royal Society’s 1995 Michael Faraday Medal for outstanding contributions to the public understanding of science. View titles by Ian Stewart
Jack Cohen is a biologist and science writer and long-time collaborator of Ian Stewart’s. View titles by Jack Cohen

Praise

"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.... 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." --Booklist

"The hard science is as gripping as the fiction." --The Times (London)

"An irreverent but genuinely profound romp through the history and philosophy of science, cunningly disguised as a collection of funny stories about wizards and mobile luggage." --Frontiers
 
"Terry Pratchett is more than a magician. He is the kindest, most fascinating teacher you ever had." --Harlan Ellison

PRH Education High School Collections

All reading communities should contain protected time for the sake of reading. Independent reading practices emphasize the process of making meaning through reading, not an end product. The school culture (teachers, administration, etc.) should affirm this daily practice time as inherently important instructional time for all readers. (NCTE, 2019)   The Penguin Random House High

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PRH Education Translanguaging Collections

Translanguaging is a communicative practice of bilinguals and multilinguals, that is, it is a practice whereby bilinguals and multilinguals use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning (García, 2009; García, Ibarra Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017)   It is through that lens that we have partnered with teacher educators and bilingual education experts, Drs.

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PRH Education Classroom Libraries

“Books are a students’ passport to entering and actively participating in a global society with the empathy, compassion, and knowledge it takes to become the problem solvers the world needs.” –Laura Robb   Research shows that reading and literacy directly impacts students’ academic success and personal growth. To help promote the importance of daily independent

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