Terry Pratchett and his creation: The Discworld

[Curly_810]

Hello everyone this is my first thread
I released that the forum doesn't have a Terry Pratchett thread so I thought that I might as well add one.

Is anyone else a fan of Terry Pratchett?

 

[micromass]

Never heard of Terry Pratchett of Discworld before. What's so good about the books? Why should I read them? (Hey, I'm always looking for new books to read)

 

[Borek]

Never heard of Terry Pratchett of Discworld before.

 

[Curly_810]

Terry Pratchett's books are very interesting Fantasy books. There are about 40 Discworld books in total.
If you are looking to start reading them i recommend reading The Colour of Magic first. At first they are a bit confusing but after the second book you get used to Terry's writing style.
Enjoy

 

[Curly_810]

You will probably like them if you like magic and wizards and bizarre creatures

 

[AlephZero]

Never heard of Terry Pratchett of Discworld before. What's so good about the books? Why should I read them? (Hey, I'm always looking for new books to read)

If you know nothing about TP and don't know if you would like the books, I suggest you start with his collaborations with mathematician Ian Stewart, "The Science of Discworld" (and its three sequels).

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Science_of_Discworld for a very short summary.

The great thing about Pratchett IMO is that the more cultural references you know, the better the books get. Pretty much the whole of human history is in there somewhere. (Only Pratchett would have his anti-hero, the failed wizard Rincewind, appointed to the University chair of "Egregious professor of cruel and unusual geography"...)

I would skip the first one or two (e.g. Color of Magic) which are a bit too formulaic "swords and sorcery" till he realized that wasn't really the point. And the last few (as his Alzheimer's is progressing, I suppose) are a bit of a decline. But that still leaves plenty to read.

Some of my favorites:
Pyramids
Moving Pictures
Small Gods
Soul Music
Thud!

 

[Curly_810]

I do have the science of discworld books but I just haven't got round to reading them
I have read the first five in order
I really enjoyed mort Sent from my iPod touch using Physics Forums

 

[arildno]

Don't agree, AlephZero. I love Color of Magic.

 

[AlephZero]

I read Color of Magic first, and it didn't stop me reading most of the others. But with hindsight, I wouldn't have started there.

 

[D H]

Another of Pratchett's books (not Discworld) is Good Omens, coauthored by Neil Gaiman. It's absolutely hysterical, but perhaps a bit too sacrilegious for some. Two of the central characters are the angel who was the guardian of the gates of Eden and the demon now named Crowley but originally was named Crawly because he was the serpent. They have become best of buds since then.

 

[AlephZero]

and the demon now named Crowley...

... and with Pratchett's breadth of cultural references, take you pick as to whether he or she was reincarnated as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivianne_Crowley

 

[maline]

I loved Hogswatch. I totally agree that the tooth fairy is really the bogeyman in disguise.

 

[Falgata]

The discworld series is great. I like the old books as well as the newest ones. Can recommend snuff as well as raising of steam. I have to get my hands on some more this summer

 

[none9103]

I feel like the more recent books have gone stale. They're very different from his earlier style. They all seem to follow the same formula now, new modern world invention-> lots of fuss -> danger, murder -> patrician appoints somebody to fix it -> gets fixed. I understand he has alzheimers, which might explain why he's getting more wordy, and is no longer as funny as he used to be.

 

[mal4mac]

You will probably like them if you like magic and wizards and bizarre creatures

... and if you like silly British comedy (e.g Wodehouse or Monty Python.) I don't think he's a great writer, and only find him mildly amusing. I might pick up one of his books if it appears on the public lIbrary "new" shelf, if I'm in the mood for a light read and zany humour. I find it amusing that micromass has never heard of him. It conjures up visions of micromass in a cellar devoting himself to physics, and remaining totally ignorant of popular culture. Then again, it might just be that Pratchett is only famous in the UK. I often wondered if his humour travelled, it is very British.

 

[stoney85]

Heard about this author a long time ago, but never got around to starting to read them,I just bought 23 books off ebay from the discworld collection, 2nd hand and cheap.

 

[mal4mac]

You buy 23 books, at once, by an author you've never read? Is that sensible?

 

[Borek]

If it was second hand, sold as a collection for a price of one in a bookstore... I can understand.

 

[AlephZero]

Even if you don't like the books, buying a collection cheaply on ebay and reselling the most popular items individually is often a simple way to make a profit.

 

[mal4mac]

Have you tried doing this AlephZero? I have - I spent a couple of years trying to become a specialist bookseller, before the tedium go to me. Buying a collection of paperbacks isn't worth the hassle - imagine 23 trips to the post office, each trip making a profit of, at best, a few dollars. Textbooks might, just about, be worth it, profits there might be > $10 per trip! But it's still not a great way to make a living. Flipping burgers, tutoring physics, Google AdSense whoring,... anything is better!

 

[AlephZero]

I know somebody who make a useful amount of "pocket money" (i.e. $000s per year) doing it with sheet music. I found out about them after I was outbid for wildly underpriced collections of stuff a few times, and then saw the items in the collection that I actually wanted on sale at their proper price!

 

[moriheru]

Never heard of Terry Pratchett of Discworld before. What's so good about the books? Why should I read them? (Hey, I'm always looking for new books to read)

TP is not like game of thrones or Lord of the rings. Most of the time TP is not serius or reffers to the author himself, for example read the first page of the 3rd part. The colour of magic is what I recommend you read first (!the savior of Twoflower and Rincewind! great).

 

[moriheru]

Yet TP says you can read them in any deired order, but there are main plots and sequel to specific storys so I think you should stay in the intended order.