Customer Reviews

The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The problems with selecting the best Pratchett quotes are that no one agrees on which are the best and there are too many to include them all. So while there aren't any bad Pratchett quotes, it's annoying to find your favorites aren't included in this compilation.

As just one example, the selections from "Soul Music" omit both the "felonious monk" pun - maybe the best pun in Pratchett - and "we're on a mission from Glod." I mean, reasonable minds can differ, but what can Briggs have been thinking? Maybe that's the best way to describe the problem with this book: what was Stephen Briggs thinking? Which is why I give this effort only two stars, the lowest rating I've given any Pratchett-related product. And it goes deeper than that. Many of the quotes in this compilation are only amusing in context. Lifted from context, they can be a little flat. So who is this written for? Folks who haven't read the books will be bewildered, unamused and disappointed. Hard core fans will disagree with and be annoyed by the selections. It's hard to see the target audience.

I respect Mr. Briggs' dramatizations of Pratchett's novels, and his various editions of "Discworld Companion." But this effort falls flat. Notably, it does not contain an introduction from Pratchett, unlike some of the other non-canon books. Perhaps that omission is a comment all by itself.

The bottom line: read the books. Read all the books. They are a lot more fun, and you can decide for yourself what's witty and wise. Recommended only for those who want to keep their Pratchett libraries complete.

Steven Briggs, the man behind the Discworld maps and stage versions of the Discworld stories and the Discworld Companion, has compiled in this single volume many of the funniest -- and wisest -- moments from the whole series of Discworld novels, all the way from "The Color of Magic" to "Making Money" (and including the four "youth" books). I say "many" moments, not all, because to do that, as Briggs says in his foreword, he might as well have tied a set of all the Discworld novels up with a ribbon. Some jokes, Briggs tellsus, would not fit in this compilation because too much context was required, and the judgment of what is most funny is too subjective for everyone to agree. But any Discworld fan can be assured that at least many moments happily remembered make their appearance in "The Wit & Wisdom of Discworld" (and, if the fan is like me, some moments you have forgotten). Excerpts range from single sentences to several paragraphs, and occasionally Briggs supplies a comment or two of background to explain what the joke is about. The excerpts are arranged in chapters, one for each novel. And there is even an index in which you can look up such things as "witches: Omnians and," and "Vetenari, Havelock, Lord (Partrician of Ankh-Morpork): tyranny in practice".

The book makes for wonderful browsing, or reading straight-through. And it makes you want to go back and read the novels themselves again.

Stephen Briggs has compiled a selection of quotes and passages from every Discworld book through MAKING MONEY. As Terry Pratchett is known for his clever sentences, puns and jokes, this may seem like a great idea.

Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work. In the context of the Discworld novels, most of these passages are witty and humorous. Piled together here and ripped kicking and screaming from narrative context, it seems overmuch, and many passages end up giving the reader a "you had to be there" kind of feeling. Timing is everything with humor, but here, it's all out the window.

This is not to say there is no value here. Pratchett's cleverisms are certainly worthwhile and enjoyable. However, fans of Discworld are better off sticking with the novels, and those who are new to Discworld won't get it. Nor should they be expected to.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

This is a decent book if you want to explore a bit of the humor that makes up the Discworld books, but you'll get a much better experience from reading the books themselves. It's also missing some of the reader-favorite quotes!

A fun book, but nothing I would recommend over the books on their own!

Obviously the book has some good parts. It quotes Pratchett. But the collection is lacking. Barely a half dozen quotes from any book and many of them cut off before they get to anything good. On top of that many of the more well known lines aren't even in it including "Light a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life." "Multiple exclamation marks are a sure sign of a diseased mind." and many others. Frankly I was disappointed and got the feeling that except for one of two of them the compiler just picked a few quotes at random and then had better things to do.

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.

This is just a compilation of discworld quotes, etc. Nothing original, which is fine if that's what you're looking for.

its laid out well and is very amusing, but it is just a collection of quotes from the books. only for the hardcore fan!

This is all your favorite discworld quotes, taken straight from the books. Some of the quotes are a little out of context, but still very giggle- worthy

If you, like me, have a Pratchett quote for every eventuality, you'll want this nice compilation of quotes from all the Discworld books. It doesn't have every favorite quote that every reader might have wanted, but it's a good collection and it's fun to read through them.