The Globe

The planet Earth has picked up a parasitic life form - elves. They get everywhere. And they like humans to be superstitious, fearful and frightened of thunder. They're after our future and must be stopped... but by whom?

Enter the wizards of the Unseen University who, in the best-selling The Science of Discworld, unwittingly created Earth and our own universe. At the time they quite failed to notice humanity. (Well, we've only been around for a million years, so we're easily overlooked...) But now, at last, they've found us.

In The Science of Discworld II science writers Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen join forces again with fantasy author Terry Pratchett to see just what happens as the wizards battle against the elves. The Renaissance, for example, is given a push. London is replaced by a dozy Neanderthal village. The role of fat women in art is developed. And one very famous playwright gets born and writes The Play.

The Globe is a unique book, weaving together a fast-paced Discworld novelette with cutting edge scientific commentary on the evolution and development of the human mind, culture, language, art, and science. The result - as the wizards grapple with the nature of Good and Evil, and history is rewritten several times over - is a fascinating and brilliantly original view of the world we live in.