Much like the first two Science of Discworld, this is going to disappoint fans of the series expecting a Discworld tale – there’s a small one there, but primarily this is popular science.

It took me a while to settle in to this. It was great for the long airport delay, lousy for pre-bed reading, and just too much whilst studying.

The topics covered are quite diverse and some work better than others. The initial discussion on evolution got me enraged at the stupidity of some people rather than thinking about the science. The whole physics chapter was a little too heavy, although the discussion on the genuine theories of time travel were entertaining (not that it suggests time travel is ‘real’, just how the practical physics would/wouldn’t work).

The book works best when it gets a little less theoretical and introduces practical ‘stories’ to help with the explanations. The development of the steam engine, for instance, and the supposed main subject of Darwin’s investigations of evolution. In other words, the history is actually a better read than the hypotheses.

I did end up enjoying large parts of this book. It challenged my way of thinking, not necessarily on any issue, but just in general.

The Discworld tale wound in is adequate, and vaguely entertaining in a pointless kind of way.

I suspect this book has a limited audience, but if one 14-year-old Discworld fan gets fired up about science of some kind, it was worth the publication.

This book is an intertwined story set in Discworld and Roundworld (our earth) but not only is it intertwined with the two worlds, but also between fiction and reality. The story of the Wizards and their struggle to encourage Charles Darwin to write and publish ‘On the Origin of Species’ and to prevent the billions of other possible courses of history is combined with excellent, clear, factual sections on science, mathematics and even society.

I don’t think the story was up to the usual standard of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, however the factual parts of the book make up for that and would make for a good read on their own however they are definitely enhanced by the strange fictional world of the wizards especially such things as the god of evolution with his wheeled elephants and turtles.