this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2024
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Kind of a hard question to word, but is there anything in your life you have recommended to other people but no one's ever gotten into?

I love podcasts and have friends who still thank me for getting them into this one or that one. But I've never gotten anyone to listen to My Brother, My Brother and Me. I don't know if the name is unappealing or the concept but people seem to bounce off immediately.

So what can't you get people into and why should we check it out?

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Discworld by Terry Pratchett. It's got something for just about everyone and I have a few avid readers in my family but they keep putting it off.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I've had similar problems. I think party of the issue is that, IMHO, the first two are amongst the weakest in the whole series and are less inspiring. I keep trying to tell my daughter to start with #3, but she hasn't done it yet.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Start with Guards! Guards! And the Vimes cycle and then move on from there.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

Seriously. If they don't get hooked on Vimes, I don't see them enjoying anything in the Discworld series.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

I read the Colour of Magic (Book 1) and started the second one, but I wasn’t very hooked by it? I mean it was funny, but maybe I just didn’t like all the fourth wall breaks.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You can watch the 2 colour of magic movies instead.

They are pretty good and feature Sir Terry Pratchett himself.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I’ll check them out!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm currently reading the Color of Magic right now and it is...painful. I know, I was warned, but I ignored the pleas. Now I'm kind of stuck reading this book that feels like it was written by a snarky 8th grader on a bus ride home after school. I truly hope the books get better.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

What sort of warnings did you get? All I ever got were recommendations about random Discworld books that weren’t the first ones.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I did read the first one and liked it a lot, I wanted to continue the series but other stuff gets in the way and recently I've been more into gaming than reading 😭

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I really just can't get into fiction books but I definitely wish I was every time this series comes up. It sounds pretty cool

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I'm the opposite. I only read fiction, both scifi and fantasy and everything in between, because why read something else? I love imagination possibilities of authors that can put something crazy in, something you simply can't get in non-fiction literature. Why read "boring" stuff that can (have/did) happen to everyone in normal life?

I know I'm exaggerating, but I hope you know what I mean. And I highly recommend Discworld.

PS: I believe Discworld is not for everyone because it's British with their style of humour baked in. If you don't like Monty Python, Red Dwarf, IT Crowd or other British shows, you probably won't enjoy Discworld either.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Because there are very worthwhile texts to read that improve ones knowledge about oneself and humanity and the universe, which in turn allows oneself to make better decisions and have a better mindset.

Reading fiction still helps a little with that, but is mostly "just" entertainment, which of course is also worthwhile.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Well, I do read quite bit of articles about history or technical progress, but not really whole books. IDK why, it just feels different for me and while articles are ok, I feel like book is too much. So books are almost exclusively fiction for me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

When I was young I only read fiction, but as I got older I realized reality is incredibly complex and disturbing and found non-fiction far more interesting. So much of the past remains relevant today and there are no shortage of times real people have not only imagined but also implemented ways to exploit each other and their environments, for good and for bad, often in ways that do come across as utterly crazy, so it is hardly a boring category. These days I would rather make sense of the world I am in than some fictional universe. I do like British humor though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Aside from the accurate list you posted, I felt similarities as well with hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Yeah, that didn't cross my mind, but it's definitely true!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I finally took the dive in audiobook form about 2 weeks ago

Yesterday I finished The Light Fantastic in one day at work while listening

On equal rites rn and I now see that all of my favorite inline creators for the last 18 years have just been repackaging Pratchet

And I love it