The Long Earth

Locations
Call Number: Science Fiction, Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / Pratchett, Terry
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Science Fiction	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Science Fiction / General / Pratchett, Terry	4-week checkout	On Shelf

The stepper enables a person using it to step sideways into another America, another wherever that person happened to be, another Earth. And if the person using it keeps on stepping, they keep on entering even more Earths. This is the Long Earth. And the further away a stepper travels, the stranger -- and sometimes more dangerous -- the Earths become.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

An interesting perspective on dimension travel submitted by Jen Chapin-Smith on August 16, 2012, 2:49pm Co-written with Stephen Baxter, this book is one of the few Sir Terry Pratchett did not set on the Discworld. It is set on Earth, sort of. The novel is a twist on science fiction travel between dimensions and a post-apocalyptic novel as we see the positive and devastating effects that sudden human migration can have on the human race, the economy and the environment.
The book features among its minor characters an openly lesbian police officer. It is a positive portrayal, although she sacrifices having a personal life to her career. As in his other novels, Pratchett also depicts several strong women, rather than ones that stand around waiting to be rescued as one finds in so many other science fiction and fantasy novels.
I highly recommend the book, although there are parts that are frightening and disturbing, so young children might want to avoid it.

If you don't go in expecting Discworld, this book is excellent. submitted by eknapp on October 29, 2012, 7:50pm I'm astonished at how many mediocre reviews I've seen for The Long Earth. After reading it, I'd attribute that to two things. First is Pratchett's name on the cover; when people read a Terry Pratchett novel they expect a stream of witty banter and dry British humor, which is mostly absent here. Second is the fact that The Long Earth isn't really a story; it's an excuse to explore, at length, our world and why it is the way it is.

One day a little potato-powered machine schematic appears on the internet; children all over the world build it out of spare electronics and--POP--begin disappearing. The machine takes people into other parallel-universe Earths, much like the advanced-Neanderthal world described in Robert Sawyer's "Neanderthal Parallax" trilogy. In Pratchett/Baxter's take on the idea, these other Earths form an infinite, unpeopled chain. A new frontier.

The authors use this endless string of Earths to theorize, to play with ideas. And they cast a wide net. What would happen if all of mankind's space and resource constraints instantly disappeared? Demographically? Economically? Legally? Then they start visiting these worlds, which lets them delve into geological history, evolutionary history, you name it. Though it was all very lightly done--they only had 336 pages to play with--I thought it made for utterly fascinating digging. Also, there's a cannon-bird.

There is a plot of sorts. The conflict does not receive much of a resolution, but that's okay because it wasn't much of a conflict to begin with. It was just another excuse for the characters to keep exploring, and another chance to hypothesize a different form of life.

It ends with a hell of a cynical comment on the nature of humanity; in spite of this it does not feel like a cynical book.

not discowrld submitted by unknown on August 10, 2013, 9:51pm This is not Discworld, but it is very good on its own!

Great book worth it even if it's not Pratchett's normal style submitted by gulickb on July 5, 2015, 11:24am This book is not what you might expect from Terry Pratchett, and that has a lot to do with the collaboration with Stephen Baxter. The book feels like Baxter had a lot to do with it, and that's not a bad thing at all. Baxter's style while at first might seem incompatible with the humour that we are used to from Pratchett actually uses some of Pratchett's lesser acknowledged talent for his re-imagining of ideas. I cannot point to any part in the book and say this is 100% Pratchett, but I can point to moments where I know Pratchett was involved heavily. From a turn of phrase that is oddly reminiscent of something in his Discworld books.

Onto the actual book itself. This book takes a fascinating concept of parallel universes (and thus earths) and asks the question, what would we find, how would we act and how would it affect the "original" earth. I was never bored reading this and often times found myself holding my breath waiting for some moment of supreme tension to pass. I can give no higher praise to a book than to say that it affected me not only mentally but physically as well (apparently holding your breath for more than a few seconds can cause you to run low on oxygen ;) ). If you like Sci-Fi read this book, if you like Pratchett but are iffy on the whole sci-fi thing still read this book. It is light enough on the techno babble to be approachable by anyone.

GREAT fun submitted by apknapp on August 16, 2020, 9:34am I love Pratchett, and this did not disappoint. Really interesting idea--humans suddenly realize we can travel through endless stacks of parallel universes, each created by a different branch on the probability tree. Hugely entertaining descriptions of how this discovery impacts politics, property ownership, police, industry, and of what these worlds look like--why humanity is unique to our own. A great 'what if' story, with the narrative built around a thread of the main character investigating these worlds and a possible threat moving through them.