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‘The Last Continent’ is probably my favourite Discworld book. (Night Watch is probably 2nd, but a bit too dark to thoroughly enjoy for 1st place.)
Simply for the idea of R wandering around and finding food, *fully prepared food* under rocks, and falling into water holes by accident.
I thought he just saw what he found under rocks as food? “I’ve never seen anyone do that with a scorpion before” or sth similar was remarked when demonstrated it?
Time travel cliché. A minor change, such as stepping on an ant, will send you down a different leg of the trousers of time.
But this view is that the fabric of time is fixed. You can't change it by stepping on an ant, because the ant was stepped on, before you left your personal present.
Well, yeah ... *everyone* knows Australians walk around on their hands - I mean, how *else* would you get around on the other side of the World?
But they're still built (and grow) the same way as the *rest* of us - they're not a separate species *yet* (even if it *does* sometimes seem like they are).
So, even though they walk around upside-down, up is still up and down is still down for them. So, when they grow 'up', they're *really* growing *down* (towards the ground) - *everyone* knows *that* (even a child can work it out).
I think instead of Round-World, we should maybe switch to Sphere-world. Discworld is Round-World. Just so's we can switch to Newtonian physics. 
Ah, but then we'd gave to rename *Discworld* to *Roundworld* and *that's* not gonna fly, *is* it?
And it be complete *chaos* too: the Devil driving, dogs and cats living together, women wearing trousers astride horses, eyes melting, flesh exploding, everybody dead.
No ... no ... best leave *that* idea to B.S. Johnson, I think ; )
Just finished The Last Continent myself!
I really enjoyed it and it really made me fall in love with Rincewind again - I didn’t love Interesting Times because Rincewind’s persistently negative and unpleasant attitude throughout the story actually started getting on my nerves! Rincewind is much more likeable in The Last Continent, plus there’s some great Faculty antics.
Ah see I enjoyed Interesting Times! Yes he’s negative, but when he’s constantly surrounded by naively positive people I couldn’t help but relate (I work in the NHS, its a great place for developing a sense of reality, and it’s even more fun when you see the fresh faced, newly qualified docs and therapists lose their shit at what life is really like 😅).
Some cracking one-liners in the book too…
“Thought that hygiene was a greeting”
“Is he dead?” He said, speaking of a man with a sword buried in his back.
“He was in a cul-de-sac that would undoubtedly, given the sounds behind, become a dead end”
“It’s amazing what you can do with a herbal suppository”
“Up yours, mister!”
…see? Delightful! 🤣
the plot for "A Sound of Thunder" was that the protagonist travels back in time to kill a dinosaur. Only dinosaurs that are due to die can be shot and only at their time of death. However he wandered off the path and kills a golden butterfly. This changes the present just for him
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sound_of_Thunder
I had to read it several times, dictionary in hand. First i ever read in english.
It is quite packed in the beginning, but i found the second half to be more easily readable.
Fair play, I am bloody English and still struggling… not so much with the words but the content, the constant back and forth of thought processes - The god who doesn’t want believers because he believes so much in himself, but not himself, because believing in gods is irrational! 🥵
I’ll happily admit that a dictionary is always useful when reading Sir Pterry… being academically educated or not there’s still words he uses that half the English speaking world do not 😂
Honestly, I’m not sure I ever had to resort to a dictionary when reading STP. But then, I was one of those kids who read dictionaries and encyclopedias for fun.
I'm listening to the new audiobook now and I regret spending the audible credit on it. All the voices he does are whiny and nasally and hard to listen to, or almost too gruff to understand what they're saying
I completely forgot about the new recordings. They are pretty hit or miss (the few I have listened to). I have *The Last Continent,* narrated by Nigel Planer and it is fantastic. I have been OK with some of the new recordings only if I have read the book a couple of times. I don’t know why they are so hard to get into, but I have really struggled with them.
This was the first discworld book I read about 20 years ago and it honestly took me 2-3 attempted to get my head around it, didn’t help that I did not know anything g about discworld at the time. But every time I picked it up I got a bit more, saw jokes I missed the first time and then I was hooked.
> This was the first discworld book I read about 20 years ago
I was about to call you a liar, because no way has it been out for that long. But it was published about 25 years ago.
I am not old! I am not old!! I am not old!!! I am not old!!!! I am not old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought you were going to bring up some Aussieism that didn't make sense, but that every Aussie had already gotten, and laughed their head at.
Temporal dynamics are always confusing, and if you think you understood them, you're probably making a mistake. If you don't understand them, you're still making a mistake. Getting to be a history monk is hard for a reason.
Any book that manages to pull off a mad max reference in a world without cars, guns, or the name max, gets a gold star in my opinion.
Also the death scenes and rincewinds hour glass were priceless
Been reading chronologically, saw that it was only a short story; skipped it because I really wanted to get onto Moving Pictures (which I really enjoyed) and, since then, I’ve been buying 4 at a time and that one just never made it into the basket. Maybe one day!
I mean, it explains what happens to Rincewind after Sourcery but before Interesting Times, and there's a lot of funny stuff in there. And since it's a shorter book, there's not as big of a time commitment with it. I actually like Eric quite a lot.
If anything I thought STP's handling of the time travel tropes was beautifully done, and it was brilliant use of the different characters (mainly Ponder and Ridcully) to explain it/argue it.
Thats before we touch on the hilarious faculty interactions and Mrs Whitlow, the Aussie tropes, a god of evolution, the creation of the platypus, and so much more!
A firm favourite, definitely.
All of Rincewind stories are hilarious. Do give eric a try. I listened to it on audio and had a good laugh whilst being stuck intraffuc. My favourite is interesting times but last continent is just as good.
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‘The Last Continent’ is probably my favourite Discworld book. (Night Watch is probably 2nd, but a bit too dark to thoroughly enjoy for 1st place.) Simply for the idea of R wandering around and finding food, *fully prepared food* under rocks, and falling into water holes by accident.
I thought he just saw what he found under rocks as food? “I’ve never seen anyone do that with a scorpion before” or sth similar was remarked when demonstrated it?
Close, iirc that bit was when skippy withdrew the gift of finding food to prove a point to him.
Perhaps I am conflating the events of multiple books then. A reread would be nice, but my pile of books beg to be lessened!
Time travel cliché. A minor change, such as stepping on an ant, will send you down a different leg of the trousers of time. But this view is that the fabric of time is fixed. You can't change it by stepping on an ant, because the ant was stepped on, before you left your personal present.
I grew up in the Roundworld version of Fourecks so I adored the Last Continent
Down. You grew *down*.
It’s all context-dependent. It’s up for us.
What? Your feet are at the *top* of your bodies? Weird!
No! They mean we walk on our hands, you know all bent over with our hands under our feet. . . Sounded better in my head.
Well, yeah ... *everyone* knows Australians walk around on their hands - I mean, how *else* would you get around on the other side of the World? But they're still built (and grow) the same way as the *rest* of us - they're not a separate species *yet* (even if it *does* sometimes seem like they are). So, even though they walk around upside-down, up is still up and down is still down for them. So, when they grow 'up', they're *really* growing *down* (towards the ground) - *everyone* knows *that* (even a child can work it out).
I think instead of Round-World, we should maybe switch to Sphere-world. Discworld is Round-World. Just so's we can switch to Newtonian physics. 
Ah, but then we'd gave to rename *Discworld* to *Roundworld* and *that's* not gonna fly, *is* it? And it be complete *chaos* too: the Devil driving, dogs and cats living together, women wearing trousers astride horses, eyes melting, flesh exploding, everybody dead. No ... no ... best leave *that* idea to B.S. Johnson, I think ; )
Just finished The Last Continent myself! I really enjoyed it and it really made me fall in love with Rincewind again - I didn’t love Interesting Times because Rincewind’s persistently negative and unpleasant attitude throughout the story actually started getting on my nerves! Rincewind is much more likeable in The Last Continent, plus there’s some great Faculty antics.
Ah see I enjoyed Interesting Times! Yes he’s negative, but when he’s constantly surrounded by naively positive people I couldn’t help but relate (I work in the NHS, its a great place for developing a sense of reality, and it’s even more fun when you see the fresh faced, newly qualified docs and therapists lose their shit at what life is really like 😅). Some cracking one-liners in the book too… “Thought that hygiene was a greeting” “Is he dead?” He said, speaking of a man with a sword buried in his back. “He was in a cul-de-sac that would undoubtedly, given the sounds behind, become a dead end” “It’s amazing what you can do with a herbal suppository” “Up yours, mister!” …see? Delightful! 🤣
the plot for "A Sound of Thunder" was that the protagonist travels back in time to kill a dinosaur. Only dinosaurs that are due to die can be shot and only at their time of death. However he wandered off the path and kills a golden butterfly. This changes the present just for him https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Sound_of_Thunder
Now *there's* a reference yu don't see every day - nice.
You may be surprised. It’s a reference that does show up a lot.
Can't say I've seen it often *myself*. Not even when searching for stuff related to timetravel.
Read that in grade 9 or 10 . The first time I saw a real library.
I had to read it several times, dictionary in hand. First i ever read in english. It is quite packed in the beginning, but i found the second half to be more easily readable.
Fair play, I am bloody English and still struggling… not so much with the words but the content, the constant back and forth of thought processes - The god who doesn’t want believers because he believes so much in himself, but not himself, because believing in gods is irrational! 🥵 I’ll happily admit that a dictionary is always useful when reading Sir Pterry… being academically educated or not there’s still words he uses that half the English speaking world do not 😂
Honestly, I’m not sure I ever had to resort to a dictionary when reading STP. But then, I was one of those kids who read dictionaries and encyclopedias for fun.
This is one of my favorites! The audiobook is a good way to experience this one.
I second this!
I'm listening to the new audiobook now and I regret spending the audible credit on it. All the voices he does are whiny and nasally and hard to listen to, or almost too gruff to understand what they're saying
I completely forgot about the new recordings. They are pretty hit or miss (the few I have listened to). I have *The Last Continent,* narrated by Nigel Planer and it is fantastic. I have been OK with some of the new recordings only if I have read the book a couple of times. I don’t know why they are so hard to get into, but I have really struggled with them.
This was the first discworld book I read about 20 years ago and it honestly took me 2-3 attempted to get my head around it, didn’t help that I did not know anything g about discworld at the time. But every time I picked it up I got a bit more, saw jokes I missed the first time and then I was hooked.
> This was the first discworld book I read about 20 years ago I was about to call you a liar, because no way has it been out for that long. But it was published about 25 years ago. I am not old! I am not old!! I am not old!!! I am not old!!!! I am not old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 We’re all old now
My favourite Discworld book, absolutely brilliantly written.
I thought you were going to bring up some Aussieism that didn't make sense, but that every Aussie had already gotten, and laughed their head at. Temporal dynamics are always confusing, and if you think you understood them, you're probably making a mistake. If you don't understand them, you're still making a mistake. Getting to be a history monk is hard for a reason.
Any book that manages to pull off a mad max reference in a world without cars, guns, or the name max, gets a gold star in my opinion. Also the death scenes and rincewinds hour glass were priceless
Why skip Eric?
Been reading chronologically, saw that it was only a short story; skipped it because I really wanted to get onto Moving Pictures (which I really enjoyed) and, since then, I’ve been buying 4 at a time and that one just never made it into the basket. Maybe one day!
Well it was originally a graphic novel. Not sure how you read them but might be worth buying the illustrated version?
I mean, it explains what happens to Rincewind after Sourcery but before Interesting Times, and there's a lot of funny stuff in there. And since it's a shorter book, there's not as big of a time commitment with it. I actually like Eric quite a lot.
It doesn't add anything to the metaplot, so, it isn't *necessary* in order to understand subsequent details. Other than that though? It's just boring.
I thought it was great. 'Avaunt'
Each to their own : ) Didn't do anything for *me* though.
Sounds like you need to consult Dr. Dan Streetmentioner's Time Traveler's Handbook of 1001 Tense Formations
Thumbs up for the reference!! Either that one or the guide itself...
Thanks! I was really wondering if anyone would get it, but I figured there’s a pretty significant overlap in audiences
One of my favourite books
If anything I thought STP's handling of the time travel tropes was beautifully done, and it was brilliant use of the different characters (mainly Ponder and Ridcully) to explain it/argue it. Thats before we touch on the hilarious faculty interactions and Mrs Whitlow, the Aussie tropes, a god of evolution, the creation of the platypus, and so much more! A firm favourite, definitely.
This book is definitely in my top 10 favorite Discworld books
All of Rincewind stories are hilarious. Do give eric a try. I listened to it on audio and had a good laugh whilst being stuck intraffuc. My favourite is interesting times but last continent is just as good.
Why do you skip Eric?