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A review by skovlyste
Darwin's Watch by Terry Pratchett
5.0
Terry Pratchett’s style of writing reminds me of a quote by Socrates: “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think”. His use of humour and story-telling makes it feel like I’m just having fun, meanwhile I’m being made to think about mind-boggling concepts; in The Science of Discworld series especially.
The story follows the journey of a group of magicians trying to make Darwin write The Origin of Species”. So the overall themes of the plot could be said to be scientific thinking, time travel, and the history (specifically of Victorian England). However, there is also focus on very human concepts through these motifs.
Reading “Darwin’s Watch” took me on a journey through everything the world is not, and made me appreciate everything that it is: every mistake made (Darwin wrote 8 of the “wrong books” before being able to write his masterpiece after all) and every unlikely turn of events that led us humans to exist exactly as we do (The book does so by discussing probability, many-worlds theory, and evolution).
The authors emphasize the importance of getting our knowledge from several sources. This is because listening to several opinions (and being willing to change one’s own opinion when faced with evidence) is the best way to understand things. This idea I find especially relevant considering the current political situation worldwide being that people’s extreme opinions seem to make them incapable of seeing the opposition as humans.
Themes of the book aside, I won’t lie and say it’s an easy read, since the authors use big words and discuss of even bigger concepts, but the comic relief of the wizards certainly helps. It’s a fun and eye-opening read that I would highly recommend and which I will probably read again when I’ve grown a little wiser.
The story follows the journey of a group of magicians trying to make Darwin write The Origin of Species”. So the overall themes of the plot could be said to be scientific thinking, time travel, and the history (specifically of Victorian England). However, there is also focus on very human concepts through these motifs.
Reading “Darwin’s Watch” took me on a journey through everything the world is not, and made me appreciate everything that it is: every mistake made (Darwin wrote 8 of the “wrong books” before being able to write his masterpiece after all) and every unlikely turn of events that led us humans to exist exactly as we do (The book does so by discussing probability, many-worlds theory, and evolution).
The authors emphasize the importance of getting our knowledge from several sources. This is because listening to several opinions (and being willing to change one’s own opinion when faced with evidence) is the best way to understand things. This idea I find especially relevant considering the current political situation worldwide being that people’s extreme opinions seem to make them incapable of seeing the opposition as humans.
Themes of the book aside, I won’t lie and say it’s an easy read, since the authors use big words and discuss of even bigger concepts, but the comic relief of the wizards certainly helps. It’s a fun and eye-opening read that I would highly recommend and which I will probably read again when I’ve grown a little wiser.