The Long Earth

Terry Pratchett · Stephen Baxter

Jun 2012 · Long Earth Book 1 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

The first novel in a brilliant collaboration between the visionary Discworld® creator Terry Pratchett and acclaimed science fiction novelist Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth transports readers to an infinity of new worlds—a series of parallel “earths" with doorways leading to adventure, intrigue, excitement, and an escape into the furthest reaches of the imagination. All it takes is a single step. . . .

The possibilities are endless. (Just be careful what you wish for. . . .)

1916: The Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong and the wind in the leaves. Where have the mud, blood, and blasted landscape of no-man's-land gone? For that matter, where has Percy gone?

2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Police officer Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive—some say mad, others allege dangerous—scientist who seems to have vanished. Sifting through the wreckage, Jansson finds a curious gadget: a box containing some rudimentary wiring, a three-way switch, and . . . a potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way humankind views the world forever.

The Long Earth is an adventure of the highest order and will captivate science fiction fans of all stripes, readers of Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen, and anyone who enjoyed the Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman collaboration Good Omens.

Other books in the Long Earth series include:

• The Long War
• The Long Mars
• The Long Utopia
• The Long Cosmos

Ratings and reviews

Origin of the alphabet; number line, computer is the same place. There isn't a calendar without a programmer; different ones in society are for companies to supply basic utilities; motor vehicles, food clothes & shelter. Computer programs give the answers to outstanding questions; humans do not. They also drive all artificial moving objects; humans do not. One program designs all the building and a different one does cars; the program includes after they are built schedules for them and us. Cameras are a derivative of computer separate from video recorder for unreal pictures and photograph obstructing justice to disappear or vanish includes video tapes & DVD's.

This book had some fascinating ideas... unfortunately it was lacking in engaging dialog, had little character development, and needed serious help in the plot layout and tone. I have loved much of the authors' previous work, but was bored with these characters.

When I first read this book I stopped halfway through. I thought it was too slow, too technical in an intro book and boring. I was convinced by a friend who had never read it to give the book a chance. "You don't know how good something is until the end" he said. I finished the book and while I enjoyed it, it did NOT Resolve all my questions. But that's okay. Here's why...there are ideas introduced in the first book that reappear in the final book of the series. Some of the things that make you really say "Wow!" Eventually are answered. This has to be viewed as a series because character development is amazing THROUGHOUT the books. Callbacks are frequent and a mystery assigned to book 2 might be resolved in book 4 or 5. It is a continuous story and YOU the reader evolve with the characters. Amazing work. I've read the entire series 3 times and have given away the books I've bought each time to share the awe. About to start my fourth read-through. Thank you for the best series I've read

About the author

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) is the acclaimed creator of the globally revered Discworld series. In all, he authored more than fifty bestselling books, which have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.

Stephen Baxter is an acclaimed, multiple-award-winning author whose many books include the Xeelee Sequence series, the Time Odyssey trilogy (written with Arthur C. Clarke), and The Time Ships, a sequel to H. G. Wells's classic The Time Machine. He lives in England.