HisDarkMaterials.org
HisDarkMaterials.org is one of the leading His Dark Materials websites, including information about The Golden Compass movie, the book trilogy, extensive fan art galleries, photographs of Philip Pullman, and related visual resources. It also contains a dæmon name generator, an active chatroom, a His Dark Materials role playing game, and an interactive encyclopedia. News is updated daily, with members being able to discuss news items. The website is also home to Cittàgazze.net, the world's largest His Dark Materials forum.
Movies
The Golden Compass
Books
Overview
The Golden Compass / Northern Lights
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
Lyra’s Oxford
The Book of Dust
Features
The Golden Compass World Premiere
Cannes Filmfestival 2007
Alethiometer
Cartography
Last updated on 6 February 2008
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The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials
Author(s): Mary and John GribbinPublisher: Hodder Children's Books
Publication Date:
Format: Paperback, 208 Pages
ISBN: 0340881593
Editorial Overview
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is renowned for its mystery and magic. But behind the extraordinary fiction lies a world of astonishing scientific truth: Lyra's alethiometer, Will's subtle knife, Mary Malone's amber spyglass, the Northern Lights, the Gallivespians' lodestone resonators, the mulefa and the seedpods, and even the mystery of Dust itself are rooted firmly in science. Drawing on string theory and space-time, quantum physics and chaos, entanglement and Cold Dark Matter, award-winning science writers Mary and John Gribbin reveal the real science behind Philip Pullman's bestselling fantasy trilogy in clear and entertaining prose.
Contents
- An introduction by Philip Pullman
- Bright Materials
- Dark Materials
- Northern Lights
- Other worlds
- The worlds of if
- Entanglement
Reader Reviews
About the Authors
Mary and John Gribbin are award-winning science writers whose books for young readers include Eyewitness: Time & Space. John Gribbin, author of Deep Simplicity and In Search of Schroedinger's Cat, is also a research fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. The Gribbins live on the Sussex coast in England with two sons, a dog, and one cat.
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Selected praise:
Real scientists and science fans alike will find all kinds of things here to delight them.
- Philip Pullman
Defining science as 'explainable magic,' the Gribbins - both longtime Pullman fans - explain the magic underlying such apparent wonders as the golden compass (the I Ching and psychology), Will's subtle knife (string theory), [and] Mary Malone's amber spyglass (polarization).
- The Washington Post
The buoyant prose and coherent, non-technical explanations will keep readers on board for the entire trip.
- Kirkus Reviews
First printing cover:
