Young Wizards : Lifeboats

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1. BizarroLandJan 2023
   Until I read your post I didn't even realize that I have been doing this subconsciously for years. My favorite book, while a bit childish, is the omnibus edition of the first three novels in the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane.

   I like it for the world building, the characters are simple but evolve over time, the settings are banal but made intriguing by the characters' presence in them, the basic idea that absolute truth is literally magic, that the fundamental language of the universe is truth and that by speaking it you can cause the universe itself to change, and that some people are given that power, and that you the reader is essentially the Wizard of Oz, peeking into the grand events from behind your curtain.

   But I never stopped to wonder why did Diane Duane write these novels? What was her motivation to write these stories?

   Mayhaps it is wish fulfillment. Wanting something to be true enough to imagine a story about it and how it would play out is likely the essence of sci-fi and fantasy writing. Taking that wish, the ability to change the universe with words alone, and finding a milieu to fit it into, a viewpoint character, and a series of events that would justify that character being trusted to hold onto such a power and use it as they saw fit would be a tall order for anyone, but if you can do it you should, right?

   This theme of being given power and having to show that you are worthy of keeping it also appears in some of her other stories. The Door Into Fire has essentially the same thematic concept but in a different universe full of strange and wonderful things.

   I just realized this is a full rant so I will stop here, but I'll keep in mind to think of asking Why the events in the stories that I consume in the future.

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2. IzkataJul 2020
   > Entropy is not part of the cultural and mainstream consciousness like Darwinism is.

   Taking advantage of this to drop one of my favorite book series (though I'm a few books behind): _Young Wizards_ [0], where wizards exist in-universe to fight entropy, so that the universe can continue to exist as long as possible. The series is possibly best known by the name of the first book, _So You Want to Be a Wizard_, which for a long time I thought was the name of the series.

   (Another interesting thing about this series is that magic is treated as a programming language for reality, a few books in going so far as referring to subroutines, variables, and so on)

   [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Wizards

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3. roywigginsNov 2017
   Diane Duane's Young Wizards series is more "magic as programming" but it's also quite good if you like stuff that's fairly YA pitched. It bridges the gap between "magic is deeply mysterious and unknowable" and "with the right set of words and invocations you can teleport" in an unusually deft way. Magic uses a more declarative language than an imperative one, but it's composed in much the same way as you might compose a program.

   A magic Apple II makes an appearance, if I'm remembering correctly...

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4. david-givenFeb 2017
   Compare and contrast with Diane Duane's _Young Wizards_ books (which if you liked Harry Potter you should totally read), where in the later ones the characters are using their Wizard's Manuals as instant messenging/social networking clients. Turns out that books which magically contain the information you need to know have many applications.

   Yes, they even go bing when a new message arrives.

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5. protomythDec 2016
   If you consider modern fantasy in the YA category then Diane Duane's Young Wizards series has been a favorite of mine http://ebooksdirect.co

   Her Star Trek books are quite good, and the audible books of the Young Wizards series are narrated by Christina Moore who does a very good job on all her audiobooks.

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6. eli_gottliebMar 2015
   Well, I suppose I might want to try something like Coding the Matrix: Linear Algebra through Applications to Computer Science, or a book on games programming -- if I was trying to interest the kid in math and CS subjects.

   For fiction, it's damned hard to say. My own personal top influences in fiction form were the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane and, weirdly, the anime/manga Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. It's actually very, very hard to find good fiction for kids, since you're trying to inspire or teach rather than just entertain. Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching arc is good for younger kids, with the later books having the star character as a young teen.

   For nonfiction that isn't just math/science/technology, how about the Communist Manifesto?

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