A wonderful look at the folklore of Terry Pratchett's Discworld and the related/similar folklore of our world. Fascinating but light reading.

This is an exellent, exellent reference book for the 'things that everyone knows' that crop up on the Discworld (and have strange parallels in different parts of the trouseres of space-time continuum, like, say, on Earth). Mirthfully the authors trace escaped particles of narrativum across the universes and observe their astonishing effects.

I have been looking for a book like this for years, and much regret buying some that were not co-authored by the man himself. It is charming to note the difference in writing styles of the authors and I caught myself grinning occasionally, thinking 'this is pure Pratchett'.

In 16 chapters different species, regions or character groups of the Diskworld are examined and their folk-loric or legendary background traced back to it's roots and presented for easy reference. A lot of chapters are sub-divided; for example the Chapter 'Beasties' has the sub-chapters 'Dragons', 'Basilisk and Chimera', 'Sphinx', 'Phoenix', 'Salamander', 'Unicorn' and 'The Luggage'.
But it is easy to find specific persons or places or events using the magnificent Index, and the Bibliography is mouth-watering and very tempting.

I am very happy I found this. ( )

A fascinating book although rather repetitive. One for Discworld fans only I think. ( )

Pratchett's Discworld series deeply mines myth and folklore, but I hadn't known just how deeply until I read this book. It provides background on the legends which underlie many characters and incidents in the books. As he says in the introduction, "I think of folklore in much the same way a carpenter thinks about trees."

The book could have stood a bit more editing; in several cases the same material is repeated in different sections. It's also not easily available in the United States. But it's a good addition to the library of any dedicated Pratchett fan.

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. ( )