The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day: It's Wizards Vs Priests in a Battle for the Future of Roundworld

"The fourth book in the 'Science of Discworld' series, and this time around dealing with 'The Really Big Questions', Terry Pratchett's brilliant new Discworld story 'Judgement Day' is annotated with very big footnotes (the interleaving chapters) by mathematician Ian Stewart and biologist Jack Cohen, to bring you a mind-mangling combination of fiction, cutting-edge science and philosophy. 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 The wizards of Unseen University are again called upon to defend their creation, Roundworld, this time in a courtroomwhere its very existence hangs in the balance. The Omnians fervently believe that the world is round, not flat, and view the discovery of Roundworld as a vindication of their faith. To leave this artifact in the hands of the wizards would be unacceptable. Not only do the academics hold that Discworld is flat, but by creating the Roundworld universe, they have elevated themselves to the level of gods. Ankh-Morporks venerable tyrant Lord Vetinari agrees to a tribunal, where the wizards Ridcully, Rincewind, and Ponder Stibbons can present their casewith key assistance from a Roundworld librarian named Marjorie Daw. JUDGMENT DAY weaves together explorations of such Earthly topics as big science, creation, subatomic particles, the existence of dark matter, and the psychology of belief--a treat for Discworld fans and readers of popular science alike. From the Trade Paperback edition.