The Folklore of Discworld

Sir Terry Pratchett has created an entire world, with its own culture, races, technology (mostly technomancy).....and myth cycles. Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson give Discworld fans a fascinating look at the terrestrial myths and mythic races (dwarves, elves, goblins, trolls) and creatures (vampires, werewolves, zombies, golems.) that gave rise to their Discworld counterparts.One good example is Discworld elves. Sir Terry's elves (Lords and Ladies, The Wee Free Men) are closer to the myths of Europe and the British Isles than Tolkien and other recent fantasy writers. When Irish peasants referred to "The Lords and Ladies," "The Gentry," or "The Shining Ones," it was because they were scared shitless of them! They were beyond mischievous; they were capricious, often cruel.He has re-interpreted other mythic races and creatures: Discworld vampires are basically the romanticized character we see in 19th and 20th century novels and 20th and 21st Century cinema; but, with interesting twists: "Black Ribboners" have sworn off human blood ("the b-vord") to integrate into society.Discworld readers with an interest in folklore and mythology will find The Folklore of Discworld entertaining.

Terry Pratchett is a wonderful storyteller. It probably has to do with the fact that in the Discworld, stories happen to the characters, instead of the other way around. It's well known that things from our world often find their way into Discworld, and vice versa. If you've ever wondered where the heck Pratchett gets ideas for some of the zanier things that go on in Discworld, here's your answer! Many, many things that happen on Discworld have also happened in our world, either in reality, or in myth. This book was a wonderful read, and I was truly sad when I got to the end, because I wanted to read more and more. If you love folklore, myth, and other old stories, this book should not disappoint.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003T0FK3U/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_imgThe Folklore of Discworld is actually the story of the folklore of earth, of which Terry Pratchett apparently has an unending supply, and how it was transmuted into the folklore of Discworld. For example, the turtle and elephants came from Sanskrit . . . most recently. But who knows where they started? Who knows where any real folklore started? There is some American folklore that definitely came while glaciers were still on the continent; you will find it in any very good book of Hopi folklore. That takes us back up to about ten thousand years ago. Some of the folklore in this book is very probably that old.If you like folklore, you will love this book.If you don't like folklore, what are you doing reading Terry Pratchett to start with?

Being very familiar with the books, I guess I was hoping for a bit more here. It's about 3/4 covering what we already know from the books themselves, with some background on context from US folklore, mostly consisting of here-they-believe-that. I was hoping for disc folklore beyond what's in the books (surely they can make stuff up :-) I mean, Pratchett is listed as an author!). But it's quite readable and entertaining and I do recommend it highly; and some interesting information, such as the origin of the name Sator Square and the King of the Bean.

I had gotten this on kindle but enjoyed it so much I wanted a paper copy to give as gift.

I have never read any of Terry Pratchett's books, but I have a deep love of folklore and mythology. And after reading this book, I am most definitely going to look into his books. The book is entertaining, full of interesting facts, and gives you a taste of Pratchett's Discworld. If you love mythology, folklore, or the Discworld universe, I recommend this book.

This is an explanation of some of the traditions behind the Discworld traditions. As such, it's quite entertaining. Some of the attributions are folklore themselves, however, such as the "pagan" origin of Christmas, so take with a grain of salt. It does contain quite a few tradtions specific to the British Isles, so I learned a few new things. All in all, very good.

I expected the typical light hearted fantasy look at some of the fictional, "presumed everyone knows" folklore that Sir Terry Pratchett created as background for his beloved Discworld series. Instead this rather dull book discusses various folklore, traditions, and superstitions that Mr Pratchett used as sources for his parody

You shouldn’t need me to tell you too much about what this book is about, because the clue is in the title – it’s essentially your hands on guide to the lore and legends that make up the Discworld’s equivalent of our folk and fairy tales.Because of that, you’re not going to be able to fully appreciate the book unless you’ve read a good chunk of Pratchett’s Discworld series – that said, there are plenty of thorough explanations of our own mythology as well, and so you’d still get a decent amount from it. It might even make you want to check out some of the Discworld books!Simply put, Terry and Jacqueline segment some of the traditions of the Discworld into different categories, and then they systematically explain both the fictional tradition and its real-life equivalents – some of them are obvious, like the Hogfather being similar to Santa Claus, while others are tenuous links at best which still serve to show how much research Pratchett has done in to the field over the years.Sure, it’s occasionally heavy-going, and it takes quite a long time to read, but it’s not as difficult as plenty of other books on the market – it’s a bit like how watching Q.i. takes up more of your brainpower than watching Deal Or No Deal does. Thing is, if you’re in to this sort of fantasy stuff, then you’re going to love it regardless, and you’ll find that it’s well worth the time investment that it takes if you plan to read the book from cover to cover.To give you an idea of what to expect, the book is split in to sixteen different sections, covering everything from the different races (dwarfs, elves, the Nac Mag Feegle, trolls and others) to beasties, witches, heroes, lore, legends and, of course, Death.Death is one of the Discworld’s most-loved characters, and you’ll be pleased to know that he gets his fair share of action here – the two authors often refer back to passages from Pratchett’s novels to give the reader examples of what they’re talking about, or to have something explained in a character’s own words. Because of this, and because of his immortality, Death makes quite a few appearances.So do the myths and legends of the Ancient Greeks, the Romans and the Ancient Egyptians, all of which have their place – the Discworld’s Ephebe is essentially their equivalent to Egypt, and the denizens of the Disc owe a lot to the Greeks and the Romans, just as we do.What’s cool about this book is that it makes you aware of your own ignorance whilst simultaneously rectifying it – you don’t know what you don’t know, until you find out about it. Terry and Jacqueline have done a fantastic job of teaching you about things that you might never otherwise hear about, without making you feel stupid while they do it. So buy it!

While I was never a fan of the Science of Discworld series, I picked this one up since it seemed to approach things from an interesting new angle. I'm certainly not disappointed - there is a whole gamut of folklore covered within, showing the links and relationships between Discworld and the Earth. It's very well written, and flows like fine honey!However...There isn't an awful lot of 'meat' to a lot of the content. It's very much a case of 'Here's a thing from Discworld, and here's it's real world equivalent.', and then after a paragraph or so it moved on to the next thing. I would have liked it to be a bit more in-depth, but there is a bibliography provided at the end that helps flesh out the detail.I wholeheartedly recommend it, though.

This is an excellent work tying Terry's work to its Real Word inspirations and other, similar sources; whether folk tales, legends or eccentric folk customs. It is well worth the read.However, the Kindle version is *not* the version advertised. The version advertised has been updated to include material from all Terry's books up to and including Raising Steam. The Kindle version goes no further than Unseen Accademicals.

The Folklore of Discworld: Legends, myths and customs from the Discworld with helpful hints from planet EarthWhat else can it be other than fabulous? It's Terry Pratchett.Informative, funny and everything else you'd expect.

As good as any of the Discworld novels.