Fans pick 100 books like The Science of Discworld

This is the story that first got me interested in science fiction. Of course, we now recognise some of the flaws in the science, but consider that at the time of its writing steam propulsion was still in its infancy, most ships were still built of timber, and Verne envisaged a ship capable of indefinite travel beneath the ocean surface – something not even possible until the advent of nuclear power almost a century later. Even today Verne’s vision and the story he wove around it can inspire.

Irreverent, hilarious, and surprisingly touching, this book is Terry Prachett at his best—the rapier-sharp wit, the brilliant satire, and, my favorite of all, the moments where his characters are shoved up against questions of morality and the choice whether to give in to ugliness and hopelessness or to hold onto a hardscrabble optimism.

Cynical, jaded Sam Vines may be one of my favorite examples of a character who stubbornly refuses to give up on believing that while the world might never be perfect, just maybe, if enough imperfect, barely-holding-themselves-together people try hard enough, it can be a little better than it was.

Heinlein created a fascinating story of an engineer double-crossed by his partner and his girlfriend. Like all Heinlein’s stories there are several twists in the tale along the way, a lot of wry humour, some well thought-out ‘science’, and the light relief is provided by the hero’s cat who accompanies him on a journey that involves cryogenics, time travel and ultimately a double-double cross that sees the hero come out on top.

I could have picked any of Heinlein’s books, they are all very well thought out, and all follow believable twists to the science of the day. In a sense his work is timeless and still very readable. The Door into Summer is one of the first of his books I read, and I was hooked.

When it comes to fantasy books, it’s hard to narrow things down to only one book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

He was a master of satire and the use of asides to parody the tropes of fantasy while also telling compelling stories and building a world you could imagine visiting. If we’re going to annoy the people trying to ban LGBTQ+ books, though, I’d have to recommend starting with The Fifth Elephant.

As the kingdom of dwarves is in disarray over the disappearance of the Scone necessary to crown their king, a group of Night Watch detectives from a distant land must work together to solve the crime while dodging evil werewolves.

One of the detectives on the case is Cheery, a dwarf who causes waves for openly identifying as female (the dwarves follow logic similar to J.R.R. Tolkien’s dwarves in that every dwarf has a beard and gender… show more.

To the surprise of nobody who knows me (and my relationship with gender) today, my favorite fairytales were Fantaghiro the Beautiful and Mulan—two stories of women who donned men’s armor and male pronouns in order to go to war. So, it’s no surprise that I’d be a fan of Polly Perks and her regiment.

I had so much fun trying to figure out which of her brothers-in-arms were actually sisters, especially with the way Pratchett deals with those nuances of gender in the midst of classic fantasy races like trolls, vampires, and igor(ina)s. Normally, I’m wary of older writers like Pratchett handling this kind of subject matter, but he handles the subject thoughtfully and sensitively without ever losing his trademark sense of humor.  

We all know what happens when Death takes a holiday, but what happens when Death is given notice? 

Dismissed from the only job he’s ever known, Death must decide how to spend the time he has left. Taking on the random name “Bill Door,” he offers his talents scything hay, “one blade at a time, one time, one blade.” Death is a recurring character in Discworld and has the casually brutal forbearance of someone who has seen it all.

Seen, but not experienced and it is the dawning comprehension that I love most about Reaper Man: “[Death] wondered if he’d ever felt wind and sunlight before. Yes, he’d felt them, he must have done. But he’d never experienced them like this; the way wind pushed at you, the way the sun made you hot. The way you could feel Time passing. Carrying you with it.”

How often have I heard, “Oh, Q. W. Aardvark’s fantasy is awesome, but you really need to read all 8,326 books in the series to get it”! How about no? Fortunately, I learned the secret of Pratchett’s Discworld series: each novel is freestanding.

I like this book because it’s like a cynical, bitter uncle who secretly has a teddy bear—despite the outward grime and gloom of the setting, there’s a hilarious wit, punning, and barrage of pop references underlying the story that gives it a heart. It’s fantasy for those who don’t think they like it.

I said I would limit myself to two Discworld books, so here we have my other favourite. This is quite an early one, before the world is fully formed, but the portrayal of the wizards and their University is beginning to emerge, full of chaos and joy and demented energy. But again, this madcap, surreal mania is corralled masterfully, the characters feeling like real people with real agency, moving through a world that—while full of vivid colours and impossible, surreal things—is also somehow solid and real. It is a testament to Pratchett’s incredible storytelling powers that Ankh Morpork is more real to me than several cities I have actually, physically visited. It is unreal and yet hyper-real at the same time. You should go visit. It is wonderful. 

What I liked most about this book of the Discworld series, in particular, is the characters. They are very well written and the dialogue of banter between them is fantastic. The world, too, is something I will always remember, how it sucks you in and is so vivid.

But the best part of this book is Ricewind's ability to stumble into trouble and always come out on top.

I laughed out loud and had moments of deep philosophical reflection, normally at the same time, with this book. I loved the clever and deep meanings and parodies of faith and the divine. I think that this book taught me to always take things with a pinch of salt, and I started thinking critically because of it.

I could not stop reading it and devoured the other books in the series and I think this is one of my favourite authors. I am inspired to emulate some aspects of the author’s thinking and this book is why.