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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 600 EAN: 9780091888053 Edition: New edition ISBN: 0091888050 Label: Ebury Press Manufacturer: Ebury Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 384 Publication Date: May 01, 2003 Publisher: Ebury Press Studio: Ebury Press Related Items:
Editorial Review: Amazon.co.uk Review: Like its predecessor, The Science of Discworld II contains a short Discworld fantasy by Terry Pratchett whose chapters alternate with popular science commentary from Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. In the Discworld strand, the bickering Unseen University wizards revisit their accidental creation Roundworld--that astonishing place where there's no magic. Our world, in fact. But it's being influenced by elves (bad news in the Pratchett cosmos), who bring superstition and irrational terrors to evolving humanity. They feed on fear. This is the cue for Stewart and Cohen to develop their ideas of stories as a shaping power in the evolution of human intelligence. Whether they're called spells, memes, creeds, theorems, artworks or lies, satisfying stories are Roundworld's equivalent of Discworld magic. It's just that it all happens in our heads: "headology" as top witch Granny Weatherwax puts it. Struggling to make Roundworld history come out right despite elvish interference, the wizards entangle themselves in complications of time travel and must eventually beg advice from Granny. To encourage a rational attitude to facts, it seems, Roundworld needs transcendent fictions--represented, in narrative shorthand, by the works of one William Shakespeare. The trick is to make sure he gets born... The racy exposition of the non-fiction chapters covers plenty of ground, including astrology, cargo cults, phase spaces, information theory, and the evolution of species, art, science and religion, all reflecting the human tendency not to let facts spoil a good story. Meanwhile the Discworld chapters--though sometimes disappointingly short--are fast and funny, climaxing with much unscripted action at the first night of a famous play. The Science of Discworld II is ultimately entertaining and genuinely thought-provoking, as expected from this team. Laugh and learn! --David Langford Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Yet another excellent book!Although a slight detour from the norml type of Discworld book, I found the combination of the story (which was great) and the explanations of the real science behind the story to be absolutely fascinating and I learned stuff I never knew before while still being entertained in the good old Pratchett style! I have now brought all three of these Science of the Discworld series and have already read them several times over as they were so enjoyable. Rating:  - Not as good as the first.....I like Pratchett, and I like science, and I liked the first SODW book. However, this one doesn't weave the two strands quite so elegantly, and to some extent, the discworld part could quite easily have been dropped altogether - it's a bit lame by Pratchet's standards. The science this time round leans more towards sociology/anthropology with the concept dominating being that of 'homo narritavans' rather than sapiens - the story telling ape. This is a good tack to take, and they explore a neuro-semantics type view of the world - that we constrain and limit our understanding by wrapping ourselves in stories and linguistic prisons that then make it difficult to 'think outside the box'. All this is true, but just seems to be a little hammy in style; the first book flowed and was a cracking read, this makes the same points in several different ways, and as previously noted by other reviews, can border on paternalism at times. Still a worthwhile read, however, and for Pratchet fans the discworld bit will add a little entertainment. Rating: - Great read, good science introductionI found this book an entertaining and critical read on numerous issues of science, especially the 'human' sciences. Unlike several other review, I don't feel that this book attempts to 'ram views down your throat'. Quite the opposite, it is a sterling attempt at defending and promoting the qualities of critical reasoning and the questioning of authority. Some reviewers have also felt that it is anti-religious. I would disagree, it does not denigrate the importance of religion in the lives of human beings, however it opposes the universalistic pretensions of numerous religions, which claim to be the 'only' truth. I do disagree with the book on the topic of the origin of religion, namely that religion originates in error - mistakes regarding the structure of the natural world. I think it was already Durkheim that put forward a far more meaningful origin for religion as a 'reification' of society. P. S. - if you're buying this book for the Discworld story, it's not for you. It's a book about science not Discworld. Rating: - The rise of the storytelling apeTry enlivening a party with this question: "What's on your mind?" When the babble has become truly raucous, ask another: "How did it get in there?" This book is about those questions, how we came to consider them, and how we've tried to learn to understand them. Interleaving a fantasy story with analyses of scientific thinking about thinking carries certain risks. In the hands of this trio, however, the balance is successfully achieved. Don't be deceived by the name of Terry Pratchett as lead author of this volume. There are wonderful touches of humour in this book, but the basic theme is a serious question: "Who are we, and how did we get to be this way?" This book repeats a technique used in The Science of Discworld I - two stories in parallel. Discworld is a mirror of Roundworld. The wizards used the computer Hex to construct Roundworld in SoD I. 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 also 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 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 stand 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. While 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. Unlike the "laugh per page" of Pratchett's other works, he and his colleagues confront the most serious of issues: "where do we come from?" and "where are we going?". 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. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada] Rating: - Brilliant!This book is fantastic - raising many very interesting issues. I enjoyed it more than the first book (which I loved!), probably because it explored the idea of culture and society more, and was not purely theoretical science (I did very much enjoy the science as well!) I am a little confused because other reviewers seem to suggest that Stewart and Cohen write the science chapters and Terry only writes the fantasy...otherwise when you say they try too hard to be funny how do you know it is not TP? Perhaps I am being ignorant but I was under the impression they all wrote the science chapters together.  Try searching the Internet for "The Science of Discworld II: The Globe: 2" or Ebay for "The Science of Discworld II: The Globe: 2". You might also be interested in the following great products:
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