Discworld

And yes: Tolkien, Dune, Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Asimov/Foundation, McCaffrey/Pern, Janny Wurts, Raymond E Feist, and more recently Brandon Sanderson, Patrick Rothfuss, and Melissa McPhail (who sadly passed away, with the Pattern of Shadow and Light incomplete).

Started rereading Pratchett's discworld novels. Gosh I love his writing.

Can second this! Read Monte Cristo last year and still think about it. I’m also working my way through discworld chronologically, just read “Eric”. Highly recommend this series :)

Which one is the last? There are so many! I personally like the copper stories the best.

Monbiot's _Regenesis_, which investigates ways in which it might be possible to make global food production both sustainable and affordable, seemed very well written to me. Finally finished the last _Discworld_ book. The whole series is great, of course.

I'm currently reading Nation by Terry Pratchett. I have previously read all of the Discworld novels and thoroughly enjoyed them. Then last year I read the Terry Pratchett biography (also worth a read, IMO!), where it is mentioned that Terry himself thought Nation was probably his best book. Had to give it a read after that! So far it's pretty good, but I do miss the characters from the Discworld universe to be honest.

i embarked on a full reread of the discworld series, and really nothing can compare to pratchett!

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. I've heard about, and tried to get into the Discworld a few times, but it never really happened. I think I tried Guard! Guards! twice. Maybe I was in a different headspace, or maybe it was just not for me. But then I tried Small Gods, and it's the best thing I've read since (the nutrition label on the back of) sliced bread. No, really, it's lovely! I'll be done tomorrow according to my Kobos statistics, and then I just need to figure out what I'm gonna read next. Cannot wait to find out about all the things out there in the Discworld that I don't know about yet.

Hogfather by Sir Terry Pratchett. I read it a couple of days before Christmas every year without fail and have since it came out. I absolutely adore the discworld (Pratchett's books shaped me as a child - I wouldn't be the person I am now nor have had the career I do without him). > “The senior wizards of Unseen University stood and looked at the door. > There was no doubt that whoever had shut it wanted it to stay shut. Dozens of nails secured it to the door frame. Planks had been nailed right across. And finally it had, up until this morning, been hidden by a bookcase that had been put in front of it. > 'And there's the sign, Ridcully,' said the Dean. 'You have read it, I assume. You know? The sign which says "Do not, under any circumstances, open this door"?' > 'Of course I've read it,' said Ridcully. 'Why d'yer think I want it opened?' > 'Er ... why?' said the Lecturer in Recent Runes. > 'To see why they wanted it shut, of course.' > This exchange contains almost all you need to know about human civilization. At least, those bits of it that are now under the sea, fenced off or still smoking.”

Dune. Specifically the parts about how a human can choose their reaction to an external event. And the ability to overcome fear. Man's Search For Meaning. Again, overcoming the worst situations and finding joy anywhere. How to Practice. Understanding what you are feeling and why you are feeling it. Emotional Intelligence. How the amygdala sends signals to the brain, why it does that, and how to recognize your negative reactions. And all the Discworld books, to find joy and humour in everything. GNU Terry Pratchett.

Read the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. They are always funny, but not always light. For the HN crowd "going postal" is probably a good first read. You can mostly read them in arbitrary order.

I don't know about 'contemporary' but I always loved Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land is probably appropriate for the HN crowd) Also, really can't go wrong with Terry Pratchett. P.S. - I have the same problem, its been years since I read for 'fun'. Mostly all tech stuff now.

Mort, by Pratchett. It is a great introduction to the Discworld and one of my favorite books ever. It is a good read over the holidays and you’ll be thinking about some of the lines in it for years to come. “ History isn't like that. History unravels gently, like an old sweater. It has been patched and darned many times, reknitted to suit different people, shoved in a box under the sink of censorship to be cut up for the dusters of propaganda, yet it always - eventually - manages to spring back into its old familar shape. History has a habit of changing the people who think they are changing it. History always has a few tricks up its frayed sleeve. It's been around a long time.”

I’ve read most Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett 3 or more times. Finite and Infinite Games, by James P. Carse is another philosophical favourite when it comes to getting something new each read through. Book of Mirdad, which is like a modern take on the Abramelin, don’t recall the author’s name, but it’s very much into the symbolic/mystic/esoteric ways and very revealing to that side without explicitly stating any “secrets” First Law trilogy, by Abercrombie. This is what Gritty Fantasy should read like. It’s got scenes in them that I want to reread the books just to get to. Really hope these would be made into a series or films, as the cinematography in them is already perfect. Without spoiling the first book as it’s revealed early on; Logan Ninefingers is essentially a Barbarian, but throughout you get the feeling he’s deeply afraid of that side. (If you’ve watched how Mike Tyson talked about his fear of that side in him on his podcast, this is essentially it...) There’s been other books as well, but these are the biggest reread-able ones for me.

Second this. In the ongoing protests etc. I’ve realised how much the stories about Vimes have shaped my ideas of what a policeman should be.

I've read all of discworld by Terry Pratchett at least three times. I'm almost finished with my second sequential reading. It's comfort food in book form for me.

see my nick, but in addition to stephenson, the books i come back to over and over again for comfort and wisdom include: - Lord of the Rings: The other bible. Not even the very wise can see all ends; be of good cheer. - A Wrinkle In Time: 9 year old me, there is such a thing as a tesseract, and there is also Mrs. Beast. - The Master and Margarita: apocalyptic reading from someone who knew, and a cat who always pays his way. - the Discworld series: Sir Terry knew our hearts better than most, and sin, young feller, is treatin’ people as things. - If On A Winter’s Night, A Traveler: a perfect joke that you can tell once, plus a love story. - Good Omens: Gaiman and Pratchett team up, what’s not to love? - Moby Dick: And so the universal thump is passed round, and all hands should rub each other’s shoulder-blades, and be content. - Lucky Jim: grad school, a survival guide. Come in on the fa la la las, there’s a good chap. This doesn’t include poetry, which is also in my head constantly.

I'm working my way through Steven Pinkers "How The Mind Works", it's a really interesting perspective on the brain and how it theoretically might produce human intelligence and consciousness. I didn't expect to be exercising my CS background while reading it, but it's very heavy on CS techniques and jargon despite being a psychology book (the author spends a solid chunk of the first chapter walking the reading through creating what turns out to basically be Prolog). On the fiction side, I'm on my third Discworld book and loving them (Men At Arms).

I just read "A hat full of stars" yesterday evening. I can recommend all discworld books. But this one was especially moving. Now that I know that Terry was a advocate for assisted dying, I finally understand the alegory at the end of the book. Moved me to tears.

I personally hate self improvement books/management, so here are some narrative books that I loved and got lost in 1) The tiger's wife - To me it has a brilliant full universe. Its comprised of a overarching narrative broken up with lots of short stories. 2) night watch/ making money / going postal - terry pratchett Fun stories with full characters. 3) THe pigeon tunnels - john le carre, Again composed of short stories, not overly spy-y just fascinating character studies, with a bit of history. 4) differently morphous - Yahtzee croshaw this one is a scifi comedy, 100% worth getting in audiobook form 5) rivers of london - ben aaronovich, policeman who was all set for a life of being a desk clerk accidentally becomes a wizard policemen. 6) harry potter, obviously :)

> The Color of Magic - Terry Pratchett (Kinda interesting, but rather odd) This is the first book on Pratchett's Discworld. It definitely has a different tone than his later works. If you've not totally annoyed by it, or if you'd like to read fantasy which strongly mirrors our world, with a dry and playful humour, I'd recommend reading some later ones. They are quite independent of one another, so that you don't have to read them in order (although there's several sets with the same protagonists). Personally, I'd always recommend Going Postal, maybe Night Watch (a bit of back story could help but is not necessary), or Monstrous Regiment.

Since no one has mentioned it so far, I recommend the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. This year, I finished (numbers in Discworld order, annotated by the series): 9. Eric [Rincewind] 10. Moving Pictures [Independent] 12. Witches Abroad [Witches] 18. Maskerade [Witches] 19. Feet of clay [The City Watch] 23. Carpe Jugulum [Witches] 32. A Hat Full of Sky [Tiffany Aching] 37. Unseen Academicals [Wizards] 38. I Shall Wear Midnight [Tiffany Aching] Brilliant series, highly recommended. Whenever I feel down, I re-read one of the Witches series - I spot something I never noticed before - an immediate mood-booster!

Personally I found the witches arc the slowest to get in to. It's too long ago to remember why I found that, but they sat unfinished. I've read them all several times now, and enjoy them, but only after I'd thoroughly got into the rest of Discworld. The City Watch sub-series is my favourite with the Death arc a close second. laurentl already made recommendation on City Watch, if you want to try the Death arc Mort is the first.

Actually, the whole Dune series, and risking to be controversial - the extended universe with the abomination of books by Frank Herbert's son. Yes, they break the rules, yes, they are rushed and yes some explanations plain don't make sense, but ohmygod the additional tens of thousands of years added to the story just put on so much more grandure... But why I like it: I open random page, and I just enjoy falling back to the epic story and remembering small details, discovering new ones, pondering upon the small artificial quotes before the chapters. Those books have so much going on for them, and thanks to the time spans involved you can actually pretty much jump in at any moment. Other one is Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison, those are very funny and don't attempt to take themselves too seriously, and have the same principle - you can jump into the story at any moment and just enjoy rapid pace of events splashed with humorous commentary. Plus the protagonist is a very much self made man in a world where it doesn't come easily, so there's that bit of hope for you. Thirdly - Discworld. I guess it does not need comment, does it?

I think I've read the entire series at least two times. Now I tend to pick and choose - the Death books and the Watch books are my favorites.

I've read them all multiple times, and go back to them again and again. As with you, I still occasionally spot new things, or get taken afresh by a turn-of-phrase. I still laugh out loud at some points.

Pratchett discworld series. Started when I was young and I still enjoy rereading them all, still spot some new things in them now and again too.

Was this topic submitted by an AI experiment? I've taken a quick shufti at arikr's profile and English is not a problem there. I will submit: anything written by Sir Terry Pratchett (may he rest in piece)

Hard to pinpoint. In terms of entertainment books, it'll probably come down to a tie between Douglas Adams' Last Chance to See and Walter Moers' The City of Dreaming Books, or maybe something by Terry Pratchett (although I couldn't single out a book there, either). The reason for those is just that I can't imagine ever being bored reading them. Maybe also Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes) for being a really creative concept (the way the story is told) and for being a wonderful example on how interesting modest sci-fi can be without resorting to "LAZERZ!!!". Edit: Another contestant: Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Physicists. Grim yet humorful. I generally really like Dürrenmatt's dark endings. Edit 2: And another one: Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann, specifically for how well he got me to understand Gauss' weird reactions and motives without going into his work at all. Before I've read it, I would have sworn that a book that tries to present one of the greatest mathematicians would need loads of math in it.

Absolutely. Amazing writer. His nuanced observation of human nature, his wit, his affection for his characters and their humanness.. his entire series, especially the stories that center around AM and involve Vetinari, Vimes or Moist Von Lipwig..

The same here. I so wish that Sir Terry could be here now, helping us to make sense of what is happening with some silly little stories.

I'll second The Baroque Cycle (or Cryptonomicon: it doesn't matter which). But might I also suggest the works of Terry Pratchett, particularly Discworld? Sir Pterry's work is among the best I've ever read. If you're looking for something a bit fluffier than the above, then I would suggest The Dresden Files. Sure, it's mindless fluff, but man, it's good mindless fluff. The same applies to The Codex Alera (which apparently resulted from a bet that the author couldn't make a good book from an awful idea: the idea given was the lost roman legion crossed with Pokemon). I can also suggest Ready Player one in this category. Ready Player One is essentially geek culture (especially gaming culture) furiously... well, you know. Giving itself one. But it's a fun ride (unlike Armada. But that's another story).…

I gave this to one son when he was about 18, along with a pretty much complete set of Discworld: http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/discworld-reading-order/. These were collected over many years, so a bit of a wrench. The best of which might be: "Wyrd Sisters" (Shakespeare), or "The Truth" (Newspapers). He can make fun of pretty much anything, while still showing it great affection. Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" is a great book for reading to younger kids. Weird, creepy, but strangely uplifting, even if it does begin with a triple murder. I can't remember which kid took that. I bought Robert Silverberg's "Nightwings" in the 80s and read it several times. I was going to give away but couldn't find it, so I had to buy a new copy and read it again first. This seems to anticipate a lot that followed, from genetic modification to drastic climate change, but it is essentially about a character trying to cope in a mad world.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett + lots of the Discworld novels (also by Terry Pratchett). The latter have become one of the basic building blocks of my life.

"Mr Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore" - Robin Sloan (a brilliant mix of history, mystery, humour and technology) "The Cuckoo's Egg" - Clifford Stoll (it really is as good as they always say ;-) ) "Winnie the Pooh" - A.A. Milne (delightful, not only for children) "Sofie's World" - Jostein Gaarder (a novel about the history of philosophy) several Discworld novels - Terry Pratchett (a series that manages to satirize fantasy and real life at the same time) ... as well as a few others, but those were the best.

I can see that being an issue. I'm in the same habit with LOTR, ASOIAF and Harry Potter, reading each series once every two years or so, and it crushes my ability to read a lot of new books. I've avoided rereading Discworld so far because I know that it will never be as magical as the first read through. But oh god, Baroque Cycle was unparalleled from a character-building perspective. I loved every second of it.

The Baroque Cycle - Neal Stephenson - It was 3000+ pages all told, and I LOVED it. His writing has always enthralled me, and I was hooked from the start Every Discworld Novel - Terry Pratchett - Not much can be said that hasn't already been said a million times over. If you haven't read them yet, start now The Theory of Poker - David Sklansky - Helped out my poker game tremendously. I'm much more ev+ now

Discworld: Going Postal, Making Money, and Raising Steam (3 books total) The Lies of Locke Lamora (and sequels, 3 books total so far) The Name of the Wind (and sequels, 3 books total so far) Ancillary Justice (and sequel, 2 books total so far) All of Iain M. Banks Culture series Old Man's War (and sequels)

Recently finished: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow -- frankly, I found it kind of boring, and also found the narrator unsympathetic. I'm not sure if the author intended him to be an Unreliable Narrator or not. Facts, Values, and Norms by Peter Railton -- Gains three stars for combining serious consideration of ethical and meta-ethical issues with a completely naturalistic worldview and a genuine grappling with history and ideology. Loses two stars for being far, far too long-winded and using vague, colloquial terminology and appeals to intuition where a methodoological naturalist can and should appeal to the fruits of science. (Copy-pasta'd from my Amazon review) Rapture of the Nerds by Charles Stross -- pretty funny, even if it made a transhuman superintelligent supercivilization look kind of... dumb. Currently re-reading for fun: The Wee Free Men and I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett -- It's Discworld. Go read them. NOW. And read A Hat Full of Sky in the middle. Then there's been a lot of textbooks I've been reading, which I won't list. Though...…

I just finished this: http://www.amazon.com/The-Antidote-Happiness-Positive-Thinki... (http://www.amazon.com/The-Antidote-Happiness-Positive-Thinking/dp/0865478015) I think you will like it. It paints Buddhism and Stoicism in a very pragmatic light. I second the Discworld recomendation. The series is fantastic. Read everything Pratchett has written, it is worth it. Also: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn: the only book to truly explain the genesis scripture. The prophet by Khalil Gibran: One of the most beautiful books I've read. And please ignore Paulo Coelho books. Paulo Coelho is to Richard Bach what Dan Brown is to Humberto Eco.

I binge-read Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. If you're looking for something religious-y, start with the brilliant Small Gods.

A Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett is usually for me a good way to step back from everyday life and work. It's funny, there are many references to scientific and nerd culture and it helps to reconsider some "serious" things...

Terry Pratchet 'The last continent', but it is 22-nd book of a serie 'flat world'. You should start from the begining. It's a really funny fantasy, and easy to read. Another variant is 'Rework', authored 'DHH' for example - it is easy to read and usefully! Have a great vocation :)

I'm imaging myself around 20 and missing out of a couple of decades of great reading: the Aubrey/Maturin canon - Patrick O'Brian any book in the Discworld series - Terry Pratchett anything by Iain M. Banks (although, strangely, I don't find his non-SF as compelling; perhaps it is too dark for my tastes). and something to stimulate me to learn Lisp then instead of now.

I'm a huge Pratchett fan. I especially like the Watch novels, but every one of them has its merits. You might find this useful: http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discwor... (http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-20.jpg)

Kurt Vonnegut has some good stuff. Slaughterhouse Five, Cats Cradle and I really liked A Man Without a Country. The Discworld series (Terry Prachett) is good if you liked HHG

Anything by Terry Pratchett. There are a lot of books, and you might want to check this: http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discwor... (http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-20.jpg) I personally loved "Guards! Guards!" and would recommend it. Also enjoyed "The player of Games" by Iain M Banks. Consider also "Snow Crash"

For fiction, I'm surprised no one has mentioned: The Dune series by Frank Herbert. Unlike anything else I've read, and one of the most compelling and detailed fictional universes in literature. The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Don't confuse it for fantasy - it's brilliant satire. Littered with geeky references and clever wordplay, I actually enjoy it a bit more than the Hitchhiker's Guide books. If you like Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett is a pretty safe bet. Anything by Stanislaw Lem - clever and funny science fiction. A good match for my weird sense of humour. All of the above can slightly change the way you see the world. For non-fiction, another vote for the Mythical Man Month.