Front flap:

THE
PRACTICE
EFFECT
by David Brin

Physicist Dennis Nuel's career has taken a sudden and startling turn.  After being denied access to the Zievatron Project through the political machinations of his chief rival, the self-righteous, priggish Bernald Brady, Dennis is needed back - badly.  The zievatron, a device created to provide access to parallel worlds, has indeed made contact.  But now the return mechanism is malfunctioning, and the only way to repair it is for someone to go through to this alien world where no human has yet ventured.  That some-one is to be Dennis Nuel.  He will also take with him the tiny, flying, pig-like creature he's dubbed a "pixolet" (because it looks like a cross between a pixie and a piglet) to return the little alien to its homeland.

Only after Dennis has stepped into the air lock, with the door about to close, does Brady mysteriously hint that they've discovered something strange on the other side, something
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Back flap:

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different about the other world's physical laws. But before Dennis can question Brady, the door swings shut.

Stepping through the door into this new world, Dennis discovers to his horror that the return mechanism isn't malfunctioning - it's been vandalized.  Instead of mere repairs, he has a complete job of reconstruction on his hands!

The search for the materials and technology he needs to make the repairs takes Dennis on a journey that will introduce him to the Coylians, people who are quite human and speak a recognizable form of English, but whose culture is disconcertingly different from any on Earth.  Coylian society is based on "The Practice Effect," the anomalous physics Brady hinted at.  The Coylians need not make implements and clothes.  Rather, they "practice" goods into perfection.  Primitive instruments of flint and twigs are practiced into gleaming tools; rough garments are worn and practiced into silks and brocades; huts are practiced into the soaring buildings of a tiered city.

Dennis wants only to return home, but he soon finds himself entangled with the ruthless political schemer, Kremer, in his plot to take over. Dennis is to be Kremer's secret weapon in his conquest of the world.

Aided by a clever thief, a plucky little exploration robot, the irrepressible pixolet, and the beautiful L'Toff Princess Linnora, Dennis must combine the science of Earth with his still nascent ability to "practice" if he is to vanquish the formidable Kremer and repair the zievatron in order to return home.