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At a time when the President of the United States apparently equates teaching Intelligent Design with teaching Evolution, Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen's book The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch provides in a nutshell an explanation of why comparing Intelligent Design and Evolution is like comparing sapient pearwood and a nauga^*.

Pratchett's wizards are once again exploring the strange, to them, Roundworld, created by HEX in The Science of Discworld. This time, they are focused on a wizard-like man living in the Victorian period, Charles Darwin. Something has gone wrong, and an infinite number of potential Darwins are busy writing The Ology of Species and the Wizards find they must work to make sure at least one of them write The Origin of Species.

Interspersed between Pratchett's chapters are chapters written by Stewart and Cohen which use Pratchett's narrative as a jumping off point for a discussion of a variety of scientific topics, many of which revolve around evolution. Stewart and Cohen make it clear that evolution has itself evolved since Darwin first proposed it back in 1859. At the same time, the authors point out that the version of evolution currently being attacked by fundamentalists is not the current state of the science, but rather a straw man set up based on ignorance of the science.

While the evolution portions of Stewart and Cohen's work is excellent, at times when they stray to discuss other topics, there seems to be little reason in the direction their discussion is going. In some cases, they are able to return to the general theme of the book, but other times, they aren't able to tie their bows as neatly.

One of the strengths of the book is that Cohen and Stewart discuss not just current scientific hypotheses and their strengths (or more often their weaknesses), but that the authors are also attempting to educate their readers into the scientific methodologies, which includes an explanation of why evolution is science (it is testable) and Intelligent Design isn't (it isn't).

Even when Stewart and Cohen are explaining the strengths and weaknesses of recent theories, they appear to be extremely conservative in the way they approach theories. While this may be scientifically sound, to a lay person, it comes across as dismissive, and even when they've provided explanations for why something doesn't work, it eventually comes across as merely dismissive.

Overall, however, The Science of Discworld III: Darwin's Watch works well as both a fictional narrative and an explanation of the science of evolution. The authors explain the process by which Darwin (and Alfred Russel Wallace) came to develop the theory of evolution. They explain the difference between a theory and a tested hypothesis, and the ready comes away with a firmer knowledge of the subjects covered.

Steven H Silver is a four-time Hugo Nominee for Best Fan Writer and the editor of the anthologies Wondrous Beginnings, Magical Beginnings, and Horrible Beginnings (DAW Books, January, February and March, 2003). In addition to maintaining several bibliographies and the Harry Turtledove website, Steven is heavily involved in convention running and publishes the fanzine Argentus.