Darwin's Watch

September 7, 2015
The third Science of Discworld volume takes readers on an adventure across alternate timelines and behind the evolution of evolution. Ever since the wizards of Discworld's Unseen University accidentally created "Roundworld"âaka Earthâthey've been trying to ensure humanity's survival, with mixed results. In Roundworld's Victorian England, Charles Darwin's "Theology of Species," and its support for the idea that life on Earth could only have risen from a godly designer's hand, has slowed scientific progress to a crawl. Outside interference has sent Roundworld down "a different leg of the Trousers of Time," and unless the wizards can put it back where it belongs, humans won't survive the next extinction event. The story alternates chapters with wry and illuminating essays on scientific progress and the history of evolution theory. The late Pratchett, creator of the wildly popular Discworld novels, and his coauthors offer fascinating insight into Darwin, his world, and how Victorian life shaped his theory of evolution. Even technophobic readers will enjoy this cheerful, accessible look at the less-than-linear path of scientific discovery, where the most comfortable answer is usually not the best.

June 1, 2015
The latest installment of Discworld lore (The Globe, 2015) from recently deceased speculative fiction legend Pratchett and coauthors Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen resumes the double-duty prose experiment of following the fate of Roundworld, aka Earth, in one stream of chapters while providing a nonfiction scientific commentary on the evolution of evolutionary theory in another stream. The narrative thread finds the wizards of Unseen University lamenting the inexplicable wrong turn Earth's history has taken with Charles Darwin's publication of Theology of Species, which poses the theory of divine creation (in a parody of contemporary intelligent design). Unfortunately, Victorian England's support of the work leads to a sudden slowdown in scientific progress that, without wizardly intervention, will result in humanity's destruction in the already forecast Big Freeze. In the alternating discussion thread, Stewart and Cohen recount the true origins and repercussions of Darwin's revolutionary natural selection hypothesis. For Pratchett fans saddened by the author's passing, the book is a must-read swan song, whereas science buffs who don't mind the fanciful story line will find the nonfiction essay chapters fascinating.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)