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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Harper
Manufacturer: Harper
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 368
Publication Date: 2007-10-01
Publisher: Harper
Product Release Date: 2007-09-25
Studio: Harper

For more than two decades, Terry Pratchett has been regaling readers with tales of Discworld—a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants, which are standing on the back of a giant turtle, flying through space. It is a world populated by ineffectual wizards and sharp-as-tacks witches, by tired policemen and devious dictators, by reformed thieves and vampires who have sworn to drink no blood. It is a world that is vastly different from our own . . . except when it isn't.

Now, in The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld, various nuggets of Pratchett's witty commentary and sagacious observations have been compiled by Pratchett expert Stephen Briggs, a man who, they say, knows even more about Discworld than Terry Pratchett.

Within these pages, you'll find musings on:

• Interior decorating: "It's a fact known throughout the universes that no matter how carefully the colors are chosen, institutional decor ends up as either vomit green, unmentionable brown, nicotine yellow, or surgical appliance pink. By some little-understood process of sympathetic resonance, corridors painted in those colors always smell slightly of boiled cabbage—even if no cabbage is ever cooked in the vicinity." (Equal Rites)
• Travel: "Any seasoned traveler soon learns to avoid anything wished on them as a 'regional speciality,' because all the term means is that the dish is so unpleasant the people living everywhere else will bite off their own legs rather than eat it. But hosts still press it upon distant guests anyway: 'Go on, have the dog's head stuffed with macerated cabbage and pork noses—it's a regional speciality.'" (The Last Continent)
• Young men: "And then there was the young male walk. At least women swung only their hips. Young men swung everything, from the shoulders down. You have to try to occupy a lot of space. It makes you look bigger, like a tomcat fluffing his tail. The boys tried to walk big in self-defense against all those other big boys out there. I'm bad, I'm fierce, I'm cool, I'd like a pint of shandy and me mam wants me home by nine." (Monstrous Regiment)
• Class: "'Old money' meant that it had been made so long ago that the black deeds that had originally filled the coffers were now historically irrelevant. Funny, that; a brigand for a father was something you kept quiet about, but a slave-taking pirate for a great-great-great-grandfather was something to boast of over the port. Time turned the evil bastards into rogues, and rogue was a word with a twinkle in its eye and nothing to be ashamed of." (Making Money)

. . . and more! Culled from all the Discworld novels, The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld confirms Pratchett's place in the pantheon of great satirists and proves why the Chicago Tribune has praised his Discworld as "entertaining and gloriously funny . . . an accomplishment nothing short of magical."

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Overview of Pratchett's Humor
Review: I have read every DiscWorld book that Terry Pratchett has written and can't wait to get my hands on the next one. This book boils down some of the humor (you can't get it all unless you read the book itself) into the high points. If you are looking at a chance to get an overview of what to expect from DiscWorld, here is a place to start. Recommend.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Good if you're a PTerry fan, otherwise, read the original books.
Review: A pretty good collection of snippets from Terry Pratchett's books. Most of them give you a giggle if you've read the book they are from. If not, you might find them a bit confusing out of context. Heck, even in context, I'm not sure why some of them were chosen over others that were much better and would have reached a much wider audience (ie those that haven't read that particular book). That said, it was a great read and sort of took you through the highlights of the books again, without all the weighty reading and stuff. :) But read the original books anyway, darn it, cause they're good, and much funnier and clever than little collected snippets.

I took off a star because a) if you've read the books, you've read this, b) if you've read the books, you'll complain that your favorite bit was left out, and c) if you haven't read the books, it won't be very entertaining at all.

If you haven't read a large (and I mean LARGE) number of Terry Pratchett's books, skip this one, because even if you've read a few, there isn't enough in this book to keep you entertained. Really geared towards avid PTerry readers.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great fun for Pratchett fans!
Review: There's not much to say about this book, aside from "buy a copy." Anyone who loves Terry's Discworld enjoys his humour and wit. Having what are arguably all the best lines from each book in one handy reference is great, since it means you can laugh your way through the development of the series in an hour or two. It's also handy if you're looking for a particular line and don't know what page it was on in the original book.

My favourite, of course, is:
Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.

Terry's famously doggy Latin rules!

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Waste of money for the serious terry prachett fan
Review: When i saw this product i was giddy thinking it was going to be an entire book of his funny footnotes and those short stories referenced in the books about something else in the world, event, person, ect. However I was greatly disappointed to learn it is 100% just reprinted material from the books themselves, in fact even organized by each book being a chapter. Already owning all the books I already own it all already.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Making Money [fom the fans!]
Review: I should say up front that this is not a real review since I haven't actually *read* that book! All I have done is leafed through it at my local bookstore, but that was enough to form a strong opinion on it.

The quotes are nicely reprinted and they are (as of 2007...) current, since all books up to Making Money are included. I did notice (like others have pointed out already) that many "fan favorites" are missing - the omission of the "we're on a mission from Glod" quote being a glaring example. Maybe Stephen Briggs wanted to save space to include some of the lesser-known quotes? It's an interesting approach - which would aim this book at dedicated Discworld fans who already know the famous quotes by heart.

What bothers me a lot though is that MOST OF THE CONTENT OF THIS BOOK IS ALREADY IN PUBLIC DOMAIN! I am of course referring to the PQF (Pratchett Quote File) and APF (Annotated Pratchett File) available on the L-Space Web (any Discworld fan knows that URL, right? Otherwise, Google is your friend!) These files have been compiled, discussed and edited over the years by loyal Discworld readers. I didn't contribute personally to them, but I strongly feel that Stephen Briggs has literally stolen that work of love to Make Money from it. I appreciate a lot of his Discworld work (such as the awesome Mapps and the stage plays) but with this book Stephen Briggs has crossed a moral line!

So, what do I think overall of this book?

It's a great book for the CASUAL Discworld fan. It would also make a perfect gift to introduce a friend to the Pratchett sense of humor.

I would not recommend it to the SERIOUS Discworld collector though. There is just not enough substance in that book. The The New Discworld Companion (Gollancz) would be a much better choice (I'm aware that it has a completely different content, it's just an example of more thoughful Discworld by-product).

As for the FANATIC Discworldian - well, he's going to buy this book no matter what the reviews say anyway!

* 5 stars for the quotes themselves
Well, duh. The best quotes from the Master himself!

* 3 stars for content and presentation
Someone having such a direct access to Terry Pratchett himself could and should have done better - how about comments from PTerry on particular quotes? A study of the evolution of the quotes since the early books?

* 1 star for the total lack of respect to the Discworld fans.
See above.

Total using arcane fuzzy maths including "gut feeling": 2 stars.

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