New Scientist Interview with Terry Pratchett

Watch out, new discworld novel!
Looking forward to "Unseen Academicals".

Came across an article via Twitter (THX to @jsbelfiore).

Terry Pratchett talks about tinkering with science, his battle with Alzheimer's and the odds of escaping from a crab bucket.

Link to full article: newscientist.com

Going Postal (Terry Pratchett Discworld Novel)

One of the latest discworld novels is 'Going Postal' (published in 2004). A new character, Moist von Lipwig, is introduced, therefore it might be a good book for discworld newbies.

The story is intriguing and pure Pratchett style. The trickster Moist von Lipwig lies under a sentence of death. His only chance to survive is to become postmaster and get the moribund postal service up and running again. That's quite a difficult task, because letters aren't state of the art anymore, moreover they have been replaced by clacks communication via signal towers (sounds familiar, doesn't it).

If you'd like to learn something about business & innovation, I truly recommend to read it. Here's a nice example, optimized service plus perfect promotion slogan:

Moist made a mental note: envelopes with a stamp already on, and a sheet of folded paper inside them: Instant Letter Kit, Just Add Ink! That was the important rule of any game: always make it easy for people to give you money.

Talking about money, I'd like to cite Moist's counterpart, Reacher Gilt, the unscrupulous headman of the Grand Trunk (the one and only clacks communication company):

Money is not a thing, it is not even a process. It is a kind of shared dream. We dream that a small disc of common metal is worth the price of a substantial meal.

That rings true IMHO :-)

This book offers an ironic, sophisticated and witty mirror of our time. It might be easier to appreciate the story if you like fantasy. If you don't ... well, you should really try this one out. But be warned, you might come to like it, even become addicted to ;-)

Hogfather (Terry Pratchett - Discworld Novel)

The 20th Discworld Novel "Hogfather" is one of my favourites. It's a most felicitous piece of work ... and I simple love Terry Pratchett's Death, who ONLY TALKS IN CAPITAL LETTERS.

Death in person did not turn up upon the cessation of every life. It was not necessary. Governments govern, but prime ministers and presidents do not personally turn up in people's homes to tell them how to run their lives, because of the mortal danger this would present. There are laws instead.

In "Hogfather" Death undertakes a quite different commitment, and that's why his granddaughter, Susan Sto-Helit, suffers from severe "scythecism".

Although she hates both her gentility (which got her some good education) and her supernatural heritage someone has to do the job ... otherwise the sun won't rise again.

Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.

She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella.

I've just found out that there is even a movie ... but if you like Fantasy please read the book, it's absolutely recommendable!

Thud (Terry Pratchett - Discworld Novel)

THUD! is one of the best discworld novels IMHO.

Nonetheless you have to be a frequent reader of these novels. Otherwise you won't be able to appreciate the development of a certain character: Ankh-Morpork's City Watch Commander, Sam Vimes.

Koom Valley? That was where the trolls ambushed the dwarfs, or the dwarfs ambushed the trolls. It was far-away. It was a long time ago. But if he doesn't solve the murder of just one dwarf, Commander Sam Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch is going to see it fought again, right outside his office.

With his beloved Watch crumbling around him and war-drums sounding, he must unravel every clue, outwit every assassin and brave any darkness to find the solution. And darkness is following him.

Oh ... and at six o'clock every day, without fail, with no excuses, he must go home to read Where's My Cow?, with all the right farmyard noises, to his little boy. There are some things you have to do.

I especially like this text part, it's pure Sam Vimes, his essence you might say:

The important thing is not to shout at this point, Vimes told himself. Do not ... what do they call it ... go spare? Treat this as a learning exercise. Find out why the world is not as you thought it was. Assemble the facts, digest the information, consider the implications.

Then go spare. But with precision.

I love that. It's perfect for some days, where nothing seems to work out right and everyone seems to have gone nuts. Go spare? Yes, but with precision. ROTFLOL!

Cell - Stephen King

Did I ever mention that I like horror?

And if you like horror, you'll be a reader of Stephen King.






His novel CELL is quite disturbing. It's about cell phones and a interference signal (the Pulse) which changes human beings into zombies ...

'Civilization slipped into its second dark age on an unsurprising track of blood but with a speed that could not have been foreseen by even the most pessimistic futurist. By Halloween, every major city from New York to Moscow stank to the empty heavens and the world as it had been was a memory.' The event became known as The Pulse. The virus was carried by every cell phone operating within the entire world. Within ten hours, most people would be dead or insane.

It is fiction, but you can't help thinking about the possibilites and how much of it could come true.

A Preference for Scotland?

I seem to have identified a preference for scotland. Fascinating, I've never been there and still ... I like Simple Minds since I've been a teenager and - as mentioned in previous posts - Fairground Attraction and Salsa Celtica.

But there is not only Scottish music I like, there are some quite interesting men coming from Scotland, like Sean Connery (since he's a grown up man, not as James Bond) and Gerald Butler (300).







While looking at some pictures of Gerald Butler (who wants to blame me for appreciating good looking men, huh?) I found out that he played in "Beowolf and Grendel" in 2005. How come I've missed that movie?? That's one of my favourite stories!

I've read quite a lot of stuff like that as a child and I still love these stories. The Song of Roland, the Nibelungenlied, the Illiad and the Odyssey ... talking about movies I liked Braveheart as well as Rob Roy.

Seems like I'm holding out for a hero ... quoting Bonnie Tyler ;-)

I think I have to go to Scotland, visit the country, get to know some people over there. One of my favourite retirement plans is to live by the sea (guess where ... yup, Scotland) writing books. But as I am a little bit too young to retire I might spend a holiday there first of all. Let's see whether I really like it.

Jonathan Carroll - Outside the Dog Museum Citation

Beside my already mentioned favourite authors Terry Pratchett and John Irving I also like Jonathan Carroll very much. His novels are quite weird, there's fantasy, magic, horror ... his stories are fantastic and discerning.

Jonathan Carroll was born in America and is now living in Vienna, Austria (and just like John Irving he mentions Austria in his novels from time to time).

In his novel 'Outside the Dog Museum' (about a famous architect who shall build a dog museum for a wealthy Sultan) there is an interesting statement concerning music:

Some centuries are happy being quiet and looking at the sky. Ours spends all ist time trying like crazy to fill that sky up!

There's no silence left, no minute when you can think or be still a while. How about places like elevators or the 'hold' line on a telephone: Elevators used to give you those few precious moments when you could stop in between floors and think about what you were going to say or about what'd just happened in your life. Now you walk into a little box full of 'Strangers in the Night'.

It also ruins the whole idea of music, which is something you should pay attention to, not resent or ignore while you're waiting for a call to go through.

Quite nicely stated IMHO. My personal strategy to escape a noisy environment is to walk around 'plugged in', listening to my MP3s. That way it's not quiet, but at least it's music I like to listen to.

The Last Continent (Discworld Novel)

If you are familiar with Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, you know Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler and his sausages-in-a-bun.

In 'The Last Continent' (yes, it is about Australia, so no worries mate) there is another Dibbler (they seem to be everywhere, kind of) and he sells a meat pie to Rincewind, another famous Discworld character.

Needless to say that these meat pies are just as questionable as the original Ankh Morpork versions ... but the interesting thing is (again) the footnote concerning questionable food (quoting the last sentences):

There are hot dog fillings which have more in common with meat than mere pinkness, whose lucky consumers don't apply mustard because that would spoil the taste. It's just that people can be trained to prefer the other sort, and seek it out. It's as if Machiavelli had written a cookery book.

Even so, there is no excuse for putting pineapple on pizza.

ROTFLOL!

Who's to say that Fantasy is mere entertainment? I think Terry Pratchett is edutainment (the combination of education and entertainment). You need some good educational background to understand his footnotes.

BTW in this novel the God of Evolution appears, so that's a perfect complement for my BAC thesis ... *g*

Amazon Reviews (in German)

Books are really part of my life. Having breakfast / lunch / dinner ... I'm reading. No sleep without reading some pages first. It's quite an annoying habit come to think of it *g*

And I love to write reviews for Amazon (in German), some of them seem to be even helpful.

One day I'd love to write a book by myself - my ideal author is John Irving. I admire his style of writing quite a lot. How he describes his characters and the way he tells his bizarre stories - that's simply adorable.

New Digicam: Praktica DPIX 530Z

Thank God, I've got a digital camera again. It's a Praktica DPIX 530Z (5.0 mega pixels, 3x optical zoom) and as you can see in one of my first pictures it works perfectly for such a low priced camera.

BTW that's the Paltental, Styria (click to enlarge picture). Beautiful, isn't it?

It was one of the most beautiful spring days today - warm & sunny. I even got a slight tan, sitting outside on our house bench, reading Daniel C. Dennett's 'Darwin's Dangerous Idea' for my bachelor thesis. Pretty sophisticated stuff, but also very witty.

One chapter is about processes as algorithms:

Algorithms don't have to have points or purposes. In addition to all the useful algorithms for alphabetizing lists of words, there are kazillions of algorithms for reliably misalphabetizing words, and they work perfectly every time (as if anyone would care).

I've still got 500 pages to go ... phew! But on the other hand, should I really complain about reading for a sensible purpose, sitting on a bench, enjoying the sun? Hm, don't think so.

That's one of the real advantages of growing older, you appriciate the good things much more!

Men At Arms (Terry Pratchett - Discworld Novel)

I'm just "re to the power of x" reading this novel. Not my absolute favourite, but a very funny one - and quite important if you want to follow the development of the Night Watch characters.

What I like most about Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels is the way he combines Fantasy and Modern Science, adding highly sophisticated remarks - sometimes using as many footnotes as a researcher in his science paper would.

Here's how he explaines the becoming of an antisocial personality (Edward d'Eath):

Individuals aren't naturally paid-up members of the human race, except biologically. They need to be bounced around by the Brownian motion of society, which is a mechanism by which human beings constantly remind one another that they are ... well ... human beings.

Quite nicely said IMHO.