Terry Pratchett - GENIUS

[PointyHairedJedi]

From Going Postal, which I finished yesterday -

An omniscope is the most powerful instruments known to magic, and therefor one of the most useless.
It can see everything, with ease. Getting it to see anything is where wonders have to be performed because there is so much Everything - which is to say, everything that can, will, has, should, or might happen in all possible universes - that anything, any previously specified thing is very hard to find. Before Hex had evolved the control thaumarhythms, completing in a day a task that would have five hundred wizards at least ten years, omniscopes were used purely as mirrors because of the wonderful blackness they showed. This, it turned out, is because 'nothing to see' is what most of the universe consists of, and many a wizard has peacefully trimmed his beard while gazing into the black heart of the cosmos.
There were very few steerable omniscopes. They took a long time to make and were expensive to make. And the wizards were not at all keen on making any more. Omniscopes were for them to look at the universe, not the universe to look at them.
Besides, the wizards did not believe in making life to easy for people. At least, people who weren't wizards. An omniscope was a rare, treasured and delicate thing.
But today was a special occasion, and they had thrown open the doors to the richer, cleaner and more hygenic sections of Ankh-Morpork society. A long table had been set for Second Tea. Nothing too excessive - a few dozen roast fowls, a couple of cold salmon, one hundred feet of linear salad bar, a pile of loaves, one or two kegs of beer, and of course, the chutney, pickly and relish train, one trolly not being considered big enough. People had filled their plates and were standing around chatting and, above all, Being There. Moist slipped in unnoticed, for now, because people were watching the University's biggest omniscope.
Archchancellor Ridcully thumped the side of the thing with his hand, causing it to rock.
'It's still not working, Stibbons!' he bellowed. 'Here's that damn enormous firey eye again!'

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Chancellor Valium]

You only bought it yesterday?
Ya - that book is certainly one of his best for many a moon.......*shudders at spectre of Night Watch*
My favourite part is the bit where Horsefry says "Oh, that's just THUD!" and all that..... :lol: :lol: :lol:

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll away back to St. Wilgeforts'

[PointyHairedJedi]

Originally Posted by Chancellor Valium

You only bought it yesterday?

Well, it's been in the house a while - I've only just gotten around to reading it (along with A Hat Full of Sky) I don't know why, but out of his recent books, for some reason the one I like the most is The Truth.

I did have one interesting thought - how far will Pratchett take the Discworld? I mean that in both the sense of how long he will keep writing it, and how far he will develop it as the distorted mirror-image of Earth?

[Chancellor Valium]

yeah, I know what you mean.....I have to agree with you on his latest books, The Truth is the best of the bunch.....but overall, I'd say his best two books are The Light Fantastic and Reaper Man. How about you?

Sorry, got to dash, the Monastery's calling....

[PointyHairedJedi]

Hmm. That's a really tough choice. I can pick out my least favourite quite easily - The Hogfather (although I liked the Oh God of Hangovers a lot) - but picking a favourite is quite a different matter. I think for the moment I'll say Guards, Guards - for me it's at that point the Disc really made it's transition from being a parody of a place to an actual place in its own right.

[Chancellor Valium]

Originally Posted by PointyHairedJedi

Hmm. That's a really tough choice. I can pick out my least favourite quite easily - The Hogfather (although I liked the Oh God of Hangovers a lot) - but picking a favourite is quite a different matter. I think for the moment I'll say Guards, Guards - for me it's at that point the Disc really made it's transition from being a parody of a place to an actual place in its own right.

really? I'm not too keen on it......my favourite Watch story is the Fifth Elephant.....

And now I really must be back at my cave.......

[richardson]

oops. Looks like somebody goofed, and gave sauron the wrong address.... :lol: Anyway.... Still funny.

[The Squid]

I know the thread is kinda old, but I had to give my two cents. The Truth was actually the first Pratchett book I ever read, and since then I've read all the novels. I think the Tiffany Aching books and Going Postal are wonderful though. That's the amazing thing about Pratchett - 2 books a year and they just get better. I can't think of another author who's both as prolific and as talented.

[Draknek]

I recently finished Going Postal. I found it great, but I can't really compare it to the others, as I haven't read another one since the last book in the main series came out.

(Plus, I'm no good at comparing things like that.)

The guy is indeed a genius, though.

[PointyHairedJedi]

It's almost kinda sad though - the Discworld seems to be exclusively what he writes now, and, excellent though it is, and all his Disc books have been, it's a shame he hasn't/doesn't write more non-Disc books. He has proved in the past that he is an excellent writer anyway, and I just think it would be nice if he didn't concentrate quite so exclusively on this one literary universe, rich and varied though it is.

[The Squid]

That's an interesting point... I certianly loved the Bromeliad and Good Omens. But I think now that he's found such a great niche as the disc, he can tell just about any story he wants there. I know I wouldn't want to go back to the real world. I mean he gets to make up his own Physics. I'd love to do that - the real ones drive me crazy anytime I try to write sci-fi.

[Chancellor Valium]

That shouldn't worry you too much, squid. After all, Douglas Adams ignored them throughout the HitchHiker series :wink:

[PointyHairedJedi]

Gravity is a right bastard. I broke a leg trying to ignore gravity once. They guy who the leg belonged to wan't very happy about it, I can tell you. It worked out okay though - he couldn't chase after me on account of having a broken leg.