Tech News Today Turkey: Thank You, Internet

Shows / November 25th, 2010

There may be no new TNT episodes while we are away in observance of the American Thanksgiving holiday, but that didn’t stop us from talking about how cool you are.

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Running time: 

07:12

Tech News Today 125: In Your Face

Shows / November 25th, 2010

Last chance to save Face from Zuckerberg, German Google fans egg houses, deep packet inspection is not just for the TSA anymore, and more.

Download or subscribe to this show at http://twit.tv/tnt.

We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes at wiki.twit.tv.

Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show.

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Running time: 

41:31

No more Arthur! – The S&L Podcast #47

Shows / November 24th, 2010

Giveaway for The Once and Future King books! Post to the thread to win.

    
QUICK BURNS    
    
Did Harry Potter Really Steal All These Story Ideas?   
    
Worst book ever to win a Hugo   
    
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novelist Tells the Tale of the World’s First Computer   
    
    
BARE YOUR SWORD – feedback from the audience    
    
What makes Arthur so great?   
    
Alternate History   
     
  
BOOK KICKOFF / WRAPUP   
    
We wrap up The Once and Future King and The Princess Bride .
    
Next book! – How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe: A Novel by Charles Yu   
    

EMAILS

  
Just listened to Episode #46 where it was asked at what point is there good books to start off to get into Discworld. I too have been wondering how to get into reading Terry Prachett’s books, so I did a little search and found this post from the Guys and Gals at BoingBoing. http://boingboing.net/2007/09/30/pratchetts-discworld.html#. Thought you might like it if someone has not already suggested it.

Thanks for all the hours of shows! Love everything you both do.

Chris

——–
    
Just listened to episode 46 and heard you pondering about where to start in the Discworld series. Well as someone who has absorbed the entire works of Terry Pratchett (TP) I would advise you not to worry about it and just jump into the series where ever you feel like.

The Discworld novels do not occur in chronological order with one underlining storyline.  Each book is its own individual story which just occurs within the Discworld universe. Characters constantly re-appear throughout the series however each book focus on one main character, therefore never encountering any of the characters before will not hinder your enjoyment.

However the Tiffany Aching books are aimed at younger audience than the rest of the discworld series, which results in the books having a different feel. Therefore I would recommend you to check out some of TP’s other works such as Guards, Guards, Interesting Times, Witches Abroad or Going postal to get a true feeling for the series.

YoYo

——–

Terry Pratchetts Author’s Note in “”Lords and Ladies””:

By and large, most Discworld books have stood by themselves, as complete books. It helps to have read them in some kind of order, but it’s not essential. This one is different. I can’t ignore the history of what has gone before. […]

So Pratchett has always tried to write the books Discworld books is such a manner that you can pick it up wherever you’d like. You might enjoy a couple of references and inside jokes if yu’ve read the whole series, but you shouldn’t let it stop you if you’re new to Pratchett. Especially not when it comes to the Tiffany Aching series.

In all fairness it is possible to group together “”series”” within the Discworld series that you might like to read in order. So that the handful of books starring Captain Vimes of the City guard would be more rewarding to read in their proper order, but it’s entirely unimportant whether you read these before or after the books about the Lancre Witches. The Tiffany Aching books constitutes such a saga.

Martin
    
Thanks also to Gavin, Curt and Rob who wrote in about Pratchett orders as well! Kate also posted this helpful chart in the forums.

ADDENDUMS    

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