The Science of Discworld

The narrative alternates between chapters of a fictional story featuring the wizards of Unseen University and chapters of scientific exposition that explore the concepts raised by the wizards' experiments.

While it features established characters from the series, the book functions as a distinct project that can be approached independently of the main sequence of novels.

The book has three authors: Terry Pratchett wrote the Discworld narrative sections, while Ian Stewart (a mathematician) and Jack Cohen (a biologist) wrote the alternating science essay chapters. First published in 1999 by Ebury Press.

The cover illustration is a parody of the 1768 painting An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby.

It alternates between Discworld fiction (the wizards inadvertently creating Earth) and science essays (Stewart and Cohen explaining the actual science of evolution, cosmology, and physics). The fiction provides an engaging frame for the science writing.

Some prior Discworld familiarity helps with the fiction sections, but the science chapters are entirely standalone. The book works as popular science with a comedic frame.

Four: The Science of Discworld (1999), The Globe (2002, subtitled 'The Science of Discworld II'), Darwin's Watch (2005, 'Science of Discworld III'), and Judgement Day (2013, 'Science of Discworld IV').