More than any of its predecessors,
The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day, appears to have an axe to
grind as Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart
and Jack Cohen return to explaining how our universe is set up by using
Pratchett's Discworld as a background. Since the series began in 1999, a
rise of religious literalists has obstructed scientific research and
Messers Pratchett, Stewart, and Cohen do not pull their punches in
ridiculing those extremists and explaining how science works.
Almost as much as the science the authors detail, The Science of
Discworld IV: Judgement Day is about how science works. While
religious literalists see the explanation for natural phenomenon as
rigid and unchanging, Stewart and Cohen are very clear about the fact
that science must change as new evidence becomes apparent, something the
literalists see as a weakness. In fact, Stewart and Cohen are
almost gleeful in pointing out that while they described the "Theia"
theory of lunar origins in The Science of Discworld, the two men
are "no longer convinced."1
They use this lack of conviction to discuss how scientific theory
changes and what the current status of lunar origin is.
Scientific theory is something else the two are very clear
about. Often the detractors of science refer to theory without
understanding what it means in a scientific context. Stewart and Cohen
explain what that context is, ending by stating "Anyone who tries
to convince you that evolution is 'only a theory' is confusing the
second use with the first, either through intention to mislead or
ignorance."2 The
authors have similar harsh language for those who deny climate change
and others who put religion or political expedience ahead of an honest
understanding of science.
Understanding science is what the Science of Discworld series
is about and the authors do their best to point out that scientific
literacy is not a mystical revelation, but rather something that anyone
can achieve if they read with an open mind. Throughout the series,
they have presented theories and explanations with a limited amount of
technical jargon (some, of course, is necessary) and without resorting
to throwing equations and diagrams at the reader. Instead, they
make science accessible by talking about the individuals who have made
discoveries and formulated theories.
Stewart and Cohen’s scientific explanations, however, are only part
of the book.
Just as in the previous volumes, Terry Pratchett provides a novella
about the Wizards of Unseen University and their poking and prodding at
the strange Roundworld which they created in the first volume.
This time, Pratchett's tells of a young librarian who has been sucked into
Discworld from Roundworld and becomes embroiled in a dispute between the
Wizards who created Roundworld and Reverend Stackpole of the Church of
the Latter-Day Omnians, a sect who have rejected the teachings of the
prophet Brutha.3 The
Omnians are clearly a stand-in for the more literal and anti-science
branches of religion. Much of Pratchett's story is less than
memorable, although it does build up to Pratchett's own version of Tennessee
v. John Thomas Scopes.
