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Marjorie Dawe is a librarian, and takes her job — and indeed the truth of words — very seriously. She doesn't know it, but her world and ours — Roundworld — is in big trouble. On Discworld, a colossal row is brewing. The Wizards of the Unseen University feel responsible for Roundworld (as one would for a pet gerbil). After all, they brought it into existence by bungling an experiment in Quantum ThaumoDynamics. But legal action is being brought against them by Omnians, who say that the Wizards' god-like actions make a mockery of their noble religion. As the finest legal brains in Discworld (a zombie and a priest) gird their loins to do battle — and when the Great Big Thing in the High Energy Magic Laboratory is switched on — Marjorie Dawe finds herself thrown across the multiverse and right in the middle of the whole explosive affair.
As God, the Universe and, frankly, Everything Else is investigated by the trio, you can expect world-bearing elephants, quantum gravity in the Escher-verse, evolutionary design, eternal inflation, dark matter, disbelief systems — and an in-depth study of how to invent a better mousetrap.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
December 22, 2015 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780553398007
- File size: 354191 KB
- Duration: 12:17:53
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Longtime Discworld compatriots and narrators Michael Fenton Stevens and Stephen Briggs once again make complicated science accessible and fun in this fourth installment of the SCIENCE OF DISCWORLD series. Here reproductive biologist Jack Cohen, mathematician Ian Stewart, and satirist and much deeper thinker than you'd think Terry Pratchett take on the beginnings of the cosmos, how the world might end, and the building blocks of life (RNA and DNA). Plus, a number of wizards, librarians, and even an orangutan make appearances. But in the end, it's the sounds of absolute glee and discovery, along with charming English accents, that Stevens and Briggs bring to the proceedings that make these books irresistible. B.P. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine -
December 14, 2015
Half popular science essay and half fantasy tale, the final installment of the enjoyable Science of Discworld series sums up by updating topics from previous books while exploring the nature of our universe and the psychology of human belief. Ever since the wizards of Discworld's Unseen University accidentally created "Roundworld"âaka Earthâthey've been befuddled and fascinated by this strange world that "swims through space" without the benefit of resting on four elephants and a giant turtle (unlike the perfectly normal, and quite flat, Discworld). After six years of protecting Roundworld from destruction in its own space, the wizards now face a Discworld-born threat: the Omnian church, which is certain that Discworld is spherical, has laid claim to Roundworld as vindication of their faith. The wizards' story chapters frame essays on science-related topics such as the Big Bang, particle physics, and the Anthropic Principle, as well as belief systems, creation myths, and the Flat Earth Society. While the fantasy frame here is weaker than those in previous books, the investigations of the late Pratchett's pragmatic wizardsâwhen they aren't distracted by the last chocolate biscuit on the tea trayâprovide a firm foundation for science coverage from mathematician Stewart and zoologist Cohen, reminding readers that "scientific revolutions don't change the universe. They change how humans interpret it." Agent: Colin Smythe, Colin Smythe Limited.
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