The Folklore of Discworld: Legends, myths and customs from the Discworld with helpful hints from planet Earth |
 |
 click here for more details, find new or used items |
Jacqueline Simpson, Terry Pratchett
|
|
Pages: 360 (Paperback)
ISBN: 0552154938
Pub: Corgi Books
Pub date: 2009-10-08
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3861
Reader Reviews:
Develop an interest in cultural anthropology (0/0 people found this helpful)
The best literature makes you think, and want to go and read around the subject for more information to better understand what you're reading, and thereby become a better-educated person. Pratchett's work has this quality in spades, but sometimes it needs a book like this to point out what the reader may want to be searching out in the way of related work.
This book provides a good springboard for exactly that sort of investigation into the history of folklore an' all that.
Unfortunately the style of writing is a little more pedestrian than TP's usual work, probably because it wasn't him that wrote all of it. It's even tedious in places. But it's worth it. Just don't expect to be "entertained" as such.
The Folklore of Discworld by Terry Pratchett (1/1 people found this helpful)
An excellent add - on to any collector of Terry Pratchett. This book is informative and entertaining at the same time. This could be read by anyone interested in Folklore in general as there is so much of that as well. It is a book which can be dipped in and out of with ease so ideal holiday reading. Trouble is there is a great bibliography at the end so if you fancy reading more, you'd have to wait til you got home. As with all Pratchett, it educates at the same time as letting you think you are having some guilty Fantasy reading pleasure. Personally, I loved the artwork so would have liked more, but that's just greedy...
good addition to my collection (2/3 people found this helpful)
I enjoyed this more than the science of discworld books( mainly because I understood more) and I think that it's a worthwhile addition to any discworld collection.
A Discworld enthusiast's necessity (4/5 people found this helpful)
If you've not read a Discworld book, then don't bother reading this one - you'll be mystified and bored. It is really only a reference book and the references will be meaningless to you.
However, if you have read several Discworld books, or, better, lots of them, then this is facinating since it ties together unexplained oddities and also shows some of the thinking behind the quirky ideas. Some of the strangest are based on the reality found here on the Roundworld.
Jacqueline Simpson has an excellent light and humorous style and I soon gave up wondering who wrote which bits, and just enjoyed the book.
I would have liked more of it, but then that is always true of good things.
A wonderful book to enhance your Discworld experience (2/4 people found this helpful)
As a fairly long - term fan of the Discworld series, I found this book entrancing. I enjoy reading books on folklore and traditions, so this was right up my street, combining both interests. Sometimes I've read a Discworld passage and chuckled knowingly as to where Terry got THAT idea from - the gonnagles, Bel-Shamharoth, the Necrotelicomnicon for example. Some were ideas where nearly everyone can share the joke - Quoth The Raven, Cohen the Barbarian. I didn't know about Black Annis, though, the inspiration for Black Aliss, or that a stone in Rheims cathedral is said to have the marks of Christ's buttocks.
The book is full of interesting pieces, where Dr Jacqueline Simpson's deeply scholarly knowledge has explained some fact or told a story of which you were almost certainly previously unaware. If you are a person who has stumbled across this whilst looking for resources on folklore in general, it might be well worthwhile looking out for some of Dr Simpson's previous books - I certainly intend to. As for Sir Terry himself - this book is a worthy addition to the Discworld canon. I loved it.
Similar Products
The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld
Turtle Moves, The: Discworld's Story So Far
Terry Pratchett's Discworld Collectors' Edition Calendar 2010
Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> P -> Pratchett, Terry -> Audio Books
Books -> Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> P -> Pratchett, Terry -> Childrens Books
Books -> Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> P -> Pratchett, Terry -> Complete List
Books -> Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> P -> Pratchett, Terry -> Graphic Novels
Books -> Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> P -> Pratchett, Terry -> Hardbacks
Books -> Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> P -> Pratchett, Terry -> Maps, Calendars and Diaries
Books -> Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> P -> Pratchett, Terry -> Paperbacks
Books -> Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> P -> Pratchett, Terry -> General AAS
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Paperback
Books -> Refinements -> Font Size (format_browse-bin) -> Regular Size
Products -> All product
Products -> Books