In the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of The Science of Discworld<\/i>, the wizards experiment, and the universe changes. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Discworld<\/b><\/p>\n
I still don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exactly trust the wizards (aside from Ponder Stibbons) to not mess things up spectacularly. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re experimenting a lot<\/i> with the Project at this point in the story: throwing things in it of different materials, different temperatures, and just observing everything that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening. By itself, that is a pretty cool thing! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s literally how scientific principles have been discovered, and even if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being done out of reckless abandon or personal gain, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still learning<\/i>. Of course, Ponder is the only one who appears to be taking notes of any sort, so maybe<\/i> the other wizards should think about that. (They won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.)<\/p>\n
What I think<\/i> this is leading towards is a possible way for the wizards to make breakthroughs in how they understand their<\/i> world. As it stands, they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even accept that there are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rules\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that might govern how physical bodies behave, or how different chemical compounds react with one another. Even though there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no \u00e2\u20ac\u0153disc\u00e2\u20ac\u009d world forming, they still have a chance to observe things they otherwise wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. The big question is: Are they going to be paying attention? Will they see<\/i> how exploding stars and rings of gases affect their Project universe? I hope so! Ponder managed to get rainfall in the Project, though it unfortunately turned to a world of ice. The solution to that, however, kind of worries me. Again: wizards. DO I NEED TO SAY ANYTHING ELSE. Seriously, how exactly is Ridcully going to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153warm up\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the Project? I foresee a disaster ahead of us.<\/p>\n
Roundworld<\/b><\/p>\n
I love that this book is getting me to think about how much has changed in the world that I have lived in. I grew up being taught that there are nine planets in our solar system. And The Science of Discworld<\/i> was published at a time when that was still the accepted wisdom of the world. Pluto was the ninth planet! And it was tiny and cold and was super far away, and we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know much back then as we do now. It was only towards the end of high school that news stories started cropping up about Pluto not<\/i> being a planet, in particular in response to the Hayden Planetarium not including it in its model of the solar system. (I distinctly remember that story because it made me want to go to NYC to visit the planetarium!)<\/p>\n
In the years since then, I remember the Great Planetary Discourse about Pluto, all the sentimental and hilarious defenses of Pluto as a planet, and now, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve more or less faded into a new understanding of our solar system. Pluto really isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t<\/i> a planet based on the qualifications necessary to deem it one! And it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fascinating to read this book and see that conversation unfolding as it does, since this is yet another instance where science has outpaced what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the text. (Referring to the Periodic Table, that is.)<\/p>\n
So what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the next thing that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to re-learn and adjust to? I recall a story for a couple years back about there being possible ingredients for life on Pluto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s moon??? Or that there are other celestial bodies out beyond Pluto or close to it that have a higher mass or size\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I just want to KNOW. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gotten spoiled for because of Star Trek<\/i>. Watching that show has made me so terribly desperate to experience space travel and exploration, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not something I was even aware of until a year or so ago. It just snuck up on me, but gods, do I EVER want it. Is that going to be possible in my lifetime? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. Lately, it hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seemed like the odds are in our favor, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 a boy can dream, can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t he?<\/p>\n
https:\/\/youtu.be\/7SCKcDioANk<\/p>\n
Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n
– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of The Science of Discworld, the wizards experiment, and the universe changes. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,248,532],"class_list":["post-4334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett","tag-the-science-of-discworld"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4334\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}