science

Only You Can Save Mankind

Only You Can Save Mankind is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Only You Can Save Mankind rather than just read about it. In short: Only You Can Save Mankind (1992) is the first novel in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy of children's books and fifth young adult novel by Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld sequence of books. The following novels in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy are Johnny and the Dead (1993) and Johnny and the Bomb (1996).

Key takeaways

Only You Can Save Mankind belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Only You Can Save Mankind to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Only You Can Save Mankind from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Only You Can Save Mankind (1992) is the first novel in the Johnny Maxwell trilogy of children's books and fifth young adult novel by Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld sequence of books. The following novels in the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy are Johnny and the Dead (1993) and Johnny and the Bomb (1996). The setting of the novels in the modern world was a departure for Pratchett, who wrote more regularly in fantasy world settings.

Plot summary Twelve-year-old Johnny receives a pirate edition of the new video game Only You Can Save Mankind from his friend Wobbler. After playing it for a short time he startled when the ScreeWee Empire surrenders to him. After accepting the surrender he finds himself inside the game in his dreams, where he must deal with the suspicious Gunnery Officer as well as the understanding Captain, and work out exactly what they're all supposed to do now. This might all be the result of an over-active imagination except that the ScreeWee have disappeared altogether from everyone else's copy of the game. With the help of another player, Kirsty, who calls herself "Sigourney" (as in Weaver), Johnny must try to get the ScreeWee home.

Ideas and themes It plays with the effects of perception. For instance, since Kirsty refuses to see the ScreeWee as anything other than alien monsters who exist to be shot, they are much less human-like in her presence than when only dealing with Johnny. Wobbler writes a computer game entitled Journey to Alpha Centauri. The game is meant to be played in real-time, meaning it would take three thousand years to finish the journey. If the game were actually played for three thousand years, the player would be rewarded with a message saying "Welcome to Alpha Centauri. Now go home". This inspired an interactive fiction game developed by Julian Fleetwood, Journey to Alpha Centauri (In Real Time). It was released in 1998, with the same premise of requiring three thousand years of game play to complete.

Adaptations In 1996, Only You Can Save Mankind was adapted into a three-part radio drama on BBC Radio 4, starring Tim Smith as Johnny. In 2004, a musical adaptation for the stage was premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with music by Leighton James House and lyrics by Shaun McKenna. A UK national tour is planned for opening in late 2011 with director Nikolai Foster. The album was released online November 23, 2009. A national CD release came out in April 2010.

References

External links [1] Only You Can Save Mankind - Website of The Musical Only You Can Save Mankind title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Only You Can Save Mankind

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Only You Can Save Mankind claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Only You Can Save Mankind before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Only You Can Save Mankind ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Only You Can Save Mankind

In research: Only You Can Save Mankind appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Only You Can Save Mankind in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Only You Can Save Mankind is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1992 British novels, 1992 English-language novels, 1992 children's books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Only You Can Save Mankind outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Only You Can Save Mankind in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Only You Can Save Mankind means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Only You Can Save Mankind out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Only You Can Save Mankind in simple terms?

Why does Only You Can Save Mankind matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Only You Can Save Mankind?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Only You Can Save Mankind.