Book Review (for recreational reading)

[TheStatutoryApe]

Tell us what book(s) you have read recently and what you think about them.
Be sure to add in whether or not you think it is a specialized taste that will enjoy a title or if you personally don't like a particular book but think others might.
And try not to give away surprises!

 

[fourier jr]

lol the only non-math book I'm reading right now is http://www.web.net/blackrosebooks/histcanb.htm by r tom naylor. i think most people would consider it heavy-duty economic history, but i think it's more like Canada's answer to howard zinn's "a people's history of the united states".

from mel watkins' preface:
"...from a criminological perspective the present volume, with its appalling recitation of scams and scandals, of corporate brigandage and governmental corruption, can be seen as a comprehensive account of the history of white collar crime in Canada...
...the Social Science Federation of Canada decides to honour the 20 most outstanding books among the some 2,000 titles that have been subsidized over the 50 years in which this has been done. Two books in Canadian economic history make the list. The first is the monumental Fur Trade in Canada by the great Harold Innis. The second is History of Canadian Business 1867-1914 by R.T. Naylor. Enough said. Read on."

it's where i read the following quotation of sir john a macdonald, supposed rabid nationalist in 1881:
"Independence is a farce. Canada must belong either to the British system or the American system... If we had to make the choice between independence and annexation, I would rather that we should have annexation and join with the United States at once."

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

The Rule of Four

by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason

I just finished reading this the other day. It starts off giving you the impression that it will be very pretentious. The main character is Thomas Sullivan an english major, one of the top of the class, in his senior year at Princeton working on his thesis regarding Mary Shelly's Frankenstien. The other main characters are his three friends, all Priceton seniors, who are also in the top of their class.
The subject of the plot is a book called the http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/HP/ written approximately five hundred years ago and so dense that even today it still has yet to be very well understood, like the Finigans Wake of the Renaissance. The main Tom Sullivan's father had been working on cracking a supposed secret code hidden in the book all his life but had little success. Tom himself having seen what his father's love of the book had done to him did not want to have anything to do with it. One of Tom's friends though, Paul, became intranced with the book himself and made it the subject of his own thesis. In the process of the story the two princeton students begin to crack the code written into the book. Then people begin to die.
Very much a Da Vinci Code style book but apparently not quite as good. I haven't read the Da Vinci Code yet so I couldn't say. What I have read of Dan Brown I don't rate very highly. This book definitely doesn't keep the suspense up like Dan Brown tends to do. Where Brown has the tendency of piling high the fantastic from the get go and never slowing down these two have tried to add suspense and momentum with a more even hand. The outcome of this isn't very smooth however especially with regard to continual flashbacks which seem to make up a bulk of the book. The continual philosophizing gets a bit trite.
Other than these things it's not so bad especially for being the first book either author has had published. The product is a more creative knock off than I thought it would be. Worth picking up if you are just looking for some reading material to pass time.

 

[arildno]

Recently, I've re-read the anthology of anthropological essays
"Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia", edited by Gilbert Herdt.

This examines the traditional secret male initiation rites in various cultures, among them the feared Marind-Anim, at one time the fiercest head-hunters on New Guinea.

It is a very interesting book; I can't possibly see why this is in any way should be for people of "specialized" taste. It is suitable for the general public..

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

I used to be a bit of a bookworm, but now I work full-time, study-part time and have too many other past-times to read as much as I'd like. Working my way (slowly) through the William S. Burroughs back catalogue though. I'm conflicted. On the one hand, a lot of his work, Naked Lunch in particular, is essentially sensationalist pornography for the titillation of no-one but the writer. Recurring fantasies such as hanging as a sexual act (severe auto-aspyxiation), copraphilia, and other depravities come across as Burroughs getting himself off safe in the knowledge it will cause a stir. In Interzone he even writes about his desire to write something more shocking than anything ever written. On the other hand, his writing about drugs, its peddlars and users, effects and uses, is endlessly fascinating, and his 'routines' are extraordinary. Essentially short prose, but it often goes a lot further than your average short story by doing less. Often his routines are just absurd and hilarious; often they even lack epiphany, highlighting that scenarios can be fascinating in themselves, and need not be resolved since the resolution is not of interest. Also, reading his work in context of what we know about him (e.g. his 'accidental' shooting of his wife, his avoidance of his son, etc) is a psychologist's wet dream. And then there is his (non-sexual) fantasy writing: the drug- and paranoia-inspired worlds he creates that essentially gave birth to the cyberpunk genre, often riffing on the cliches of Chandleresque detective fiction, but developing by its own twisted logic. The writing is original and done with immense talent and is, at least, honest, often homaging an aspect of his lifestyle (be it Tangiers, New York, drugs, boys) in one breath, then damning it in the next. Not so much specialist as a test of endurance - if you can stomach it and ignore the bad porn, it's great. If not, avoid.

 

[Smurf]

I'm currently re-reading my Encyclopedia of World History. I think it's great.

 

[Smurf]

lol the only non-math book I'm reading right now is http://www.web.net/blackrosebooks/histcanb.htm by r tom naylor. i think most people would consider it heavy-duty economic history, but i think it's more like Canada's answer to howard zinn's "a people's history of the united states"."

I tried reading that, got kind of bored. I'm going to try again when school starts again and I can do that to avoid doing assignments

 

[primal schemer]

Hey all, Currently reading 2 books,

(1)Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond): This is pretty good so far (about 2/3 of the way through) All about how different cultures evolved and why europe and asia got so far ahead of the rest of the world in terms of technology, armies etc. Well worth a read.

(2) A Devils Chaplain (Richard Dawkins): I'm a bit of a Dawkins fan, this is the third of his books I've read in the last year or so. Basically this is a selection of essays he has written in the past on varying topics from religion to politics etc. 'The selfish gene' and 'the blind watchmaker' (other books from the same author) were both excellent. Made me look at evolution and why things are the way they are quite differently.

Also recently read "The know it all" by A Jacobs, which was kinda funny. Basically the author decided to read the britannica encyclopedia from A-Z. Every chapter is a letter, and he writes about some of the more interesting parts of the encyclopedia. He also interweaves in stories about his own life. Worth a read if you want something light.

PS

 

[brewnog]

"Backroom Boys: The Secret Return of the British Boffin", by Francis Spufford. A collection of tales about the British boffins behind projects such as Black Arrow, Concorde, Vodafone, Acorn and Beagle 2. Sometimes slightly unlikely, but entertaining all the way through. Definitely a 5-star book. I'd recommend it to people like Astronuc and Danger.

 

[loseyourname]

Well, I re-read The Lord of the Rings earlier in the summer, and am currently working on Ovid's Metamorphoses and Mooney's History, Myths, and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees. I'm also teaching myself classical Greek and Irish Gaelic (which my girlfriend and I are learning together). I re-read Dune really early in the summer, along with the whole Space Odyssey series. I'll probably tackle The Count of Monte Cristo when I get a chance, which I haven't read since I was 12. As you can see, I'm not tackling a whole lot of new ground. Oh, and I've had more than my fill of science books over the last few years. I've sworn off of that for at least a year (except conservation ecology). The only technical books I've looked over recently mostly had to do with urban planning, unless you consider the language texts to be technical.

There isn't much point in me reviewing any of these, as they're all pretty well-known and I'm sure have already been widely read here.

 

[primal schemer]

I'm also teaching myself classical Greek and Irish Gaelic

Gaeilge? An a mhaith ar fad.

 

[loseyourname]

Gaeilge? An a mhaith ar fad.

Sorry buddy, I haven't begun yet. The book and tapes should be arriving this week. If you stick around, though, I should be able to comprehend some of what you say, and maybe even talk back, in about a month or so.

 

[primal schemer]

Sorry buddy, I haven't begun yet. The book and tapes should be arriving this week. If you stick around, though, I should be able to comprehend some of what you say, and maybe even talk back, in about a month or so.

My irish is pretty crap anyway, can only remember bits of what I learned in school!
Good luck with it though, its a cool language to speak.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Recently finished Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King, a detailed history of the commission and painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and how it all fit into the political backdrop of he day.

I knew little about the whole thing and this book is a revelation. The period was unbelievably rich, historically speaking; the Pope was, in effect, The Godfather violently protecting his turf, and his story is enriched with such supporting actors as Martin Luther, Machiavelli, Da Vinci, and Raphael.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Hmmmm... I was thinking that there might be a bit more fiction being talked about. Non-fiction is more than welcome though ofcourse.
Thank you for the description of Burroughs Hombre. Readig books without any style to the writing really bothers me. It's one of the things that bothered me about The Rule of Four.

Speaking of writing without style I'm almost done reading Deception Point by Dan Brown. Even though the writing is rather soulless Dan Brown's story lines are usually interesting enough to keep my attention. This particular story revolves around campaigning for the presidential election and a NASA discovery that turns the tides of the campaigns. Ofcourse a conspiracy is uncovered along the way... and people start to die. I really need to get my happy butt to a book store during the day instead of continuing to buy these cheesy pieces of crap in the grocery in the middle of the night.
Anyway... It's a Dan Brown novel. It has just as much quality as Angels & Demons did in my opinion. I haven't finished reading it but I think the twist ending is going to be very familiar. I guess we'll see.


On a side note. I need some good resources to do research for a book concept. Can anyone offer some good titles in regards to the history of American Presidencies and elections? I'm mainly looking for material about elections and campaigns specifically and not just recent but as far back as possible. Preferably something not too terribly dry.

 

[fourier jr]

I tried reading that, got kind of bored. I'm going to try again when school starts again and I can do that to avoid doing assignments

yes you should finish reading it sometime! i don't know how it could be boring though; i love reading the dirt on the deified politicians of the past. i haven't gotten very far in it but already I've put the book down shaking my head. our first bank laws were written by a committee of people who worked for the banks and people who worked for the banks & were members of parliament (or senators) simultaneously. & they were supposed to write the laws that would regulate the banks?!

 

[Mk]

Again, I will recommend the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, everyone that gets past the unappetizing first book will fall in love with it. The Dark Tower is the backbone of Stephen King's legendary career. Inspired more than thirty years ago by works as diverse as J. R. R. Tolkien's epics, Robert Browning's poetry, and Sergio Leone's Westerns, this is the tale that Stephen King has never abandoned. When he typed the first sentence in 1970, King feared the telling might take several lifetimes, but over 30 years and five thousand pages later, the tale is told.

Anybody and everybody I know who's read it loves it, and I suggest all to read it once again.

 

[Astronuc]

Well, I just started reading Christopher Paolini's book, "Eldest", which is a second book of a Trilogy "Inheritance". He is currently writing the third book. The first book is "Eragon", a story about a young man who finds a blue stone that turns out to be a dragon's egg.

The story is similar in nature to "Lord of the Rings" - good vs evil, young individual vs evil emperor.

The writing is youthful and would appeal to adolescents. Nevertheless, I enjoy the story.

I wrote some info about here - https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=723989&postcount=752

 

[Knavish]

Just finished Catch-22. Awesome book; funny and enlightening.

 

[loseyourname]

Sorry to say, but I really couldn't stand Catch-22. One hundred pages into it and there had been nothing but a long line of gags and witty one-liner descriptions of new characters. There didn't even seem to be any plot at that point. I got tired of it and just stopped reading.

Anyway, given that the book is so widely acclaimed, I'm sure it must hatch an actual story at some point, and it is probably fairly compelling and makes some worthwhile points. But when it takes that long to get to the point, you're going to lose some people.

 

[juvenal]

loseyourname - I felt the same exact way about A Confederacy of Dunces.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Yossarian Lives!

Sorry to say, but I really couldn't stand Catch-22. One hundred pages into it and there had been nothing but a long line of gags and witty one-liner descriptions of new characters. There didn't even seem to be any plot at that point. I got tired of it and just stopped reading.

Anyway, given that the book is so widely acclaimed, I'm sure it must hatch an actual story at some point, and it is probably fairly compelling and makes some worthwhile points. But when it takes that long to get to the point, you're going to lose some people.

I think that it is just his style. He jumped from story to story quite a bit. It sort of reflects the madness Yosarian found himself in and shows a build of that madness as the book moves along. I think that I had felt it was dragging a bit here and there. The odd sort of light heartness that it starts out with disappears eventually and things become much darker and twisted. The story line starts to fall into place much more too but if I remember correctly for the most part he continues with the patchwork structure. I liked it quite a bit myself. I'm very much a fan of satire. And after reading books by Robert Anton Wilson the patchwork structure didn't really bother me at all.


I finished Deception Point. It was ok. I realized that in his infinite laziness Dan Brown completely side stepped the existence of a vice president or even a running mate for the senator running against him in the election.
After that I gave into my desire for a fix and picked up another grocery store novel. Code To Zero by Follett. I liked it more so than Dan Browns books. I'm thinking that it may have been because of the subject matter and the time period it was set in. The plot revolves around a rocket scientist who wakes up one morning on the floor of the bathroom in Union Station dressed as a bum with a hangover and having lost his memory. The author did a relatively good job of the lost memory bit. The rocket scientist was actually one of the ones working on the Explorer One launch which was scheduled to occur with in the next few days. He slowly begins to figure out who he is and realizes that there is a Russian plot to sabotage the launch. Someone had wiped his memory to prevent him from uncovering the plot. I think I liked it mainly because of my fondness for the Pulp Detective/Spy novel genre.

Last night I finally went through my boxes in storage to see if I have any books lying around that I haven't read yet. I found a treasure. I somewhere along the lines picked up a complete collection of Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles and forgot that I had it. I was hooked after reading the first couple of pages. Usually I don't go for fantasy much but it's not quite your average fantasy novel it doesn't seem. When I've finished the first book I'll tell you more of what I think.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

So the Amber Chronicles are a bit more epic than I had thought they would be. I can't really say much about it after only the first book. Coincidentally it starts out with the main character having amnesia and not knowing who he is being kept like a prisoner in a private hospital on drugs. He figures out who put him there and then escapes the hospital. He finds the person who had checked him in who is supposedly his sister. From there he begins to realize who he is, a member of a royal family from a place called Amber. He goes there with one of his brothers to Amber all the time conning his family into believing that he knows what's going on even though he doesn't. Eventually he regains his memory and realizes that he wishes to challenge one of his brothers for the throne of Amber which has been under dispute. I'll stop there before I give away too much.
Amber itself is supposed to be like the hub of the universe. It is the only place that is real and every other world is only a shadow of Amber. The royal family of Amber, the children of Oberon, are the only ones that are capable of traversing worlds at will. Some think that to some extent these worlds are created by those who travel to them and wouldn't exist otherwise. There are infinite shadows of Amber.

So far I'm about a third of the way through the second book. Like many fantasy novels do there are points where the story drags because of descriptions of long arduous journeys and long arguous battles... you'd think that more authors would realize that this makes for rather long arguous reading. One of the reasons I don't care much for fanatasy. Other than that I love the book.

 

[Knavish]

Yeah, Yossarian lives!

Anyway, Heller's book may seem a bit plotless at first, as if it's only a collection of short stories thrown together. But this isn't true. Slowly Heller unravels his plot, be it from the steady loss of Yossarian's friends or from the unrelenting rise of combat missions, and slowly but surely does the madness climax; the frivolity twists into something cruel and bitter, the "long line of gags and witty one-liner descriptions" changing from humorous to frightening and cold and dark. You must read the entire book!

 

[Astronuc]

Heavy Words Lightly Thrown

I heard an interesting interview on the local public radio station about the book "Heavy Words Lightly Thrown" by Chris Roberts. Roberts explained the meaning of English nursery rhymes and the history.

Chris Roberts explains the meaning behind nursery rhymes. Did you know 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' was about taxation? And 'Goosie Goosie Gander' full of sexual misconduct? It's also possible that Old King Cole was an Aboriginal cricketer, Humpty Dumpty a cannon, and the Mulberry Bush planted in a prison. These innocent rhymes will never be the same again.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/ling/stories/s1359590.htm

From Penguin Books

Was Little Jack Horner a squatter? "Baa Baa Black Sheep" a bleat about taxation? What did Jack and Jill really do on that hill? Chris Roberts reveals the seamy and quirky stories behind our favorite nursery rhymes.

Nursery rhymes are rarely as innocent as they seem—there is a wealth of concealed meaning in our familiar childhood verse. More than a century after Queen Victoria decided that children were better off without the full story, London librarian Chris Roberts brings the truth to light. He traces the origins of the subtle phrases and antiquated references, revealing religious hatred, political subversion, and sexual innuendo.

Roberts reveals that when Jack, nimble and quick, jumped over a candlestick, he was reenacting a popular sport that tested whether a person was lean and healthy. Humpty Dumpty was actually a cannon mounted on the walls of a church in Colchester, blown up during the English Civil War. Few know that the cockles in "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" actually refer to cuckolds in the promiscuous court of Mary Queen of Scots. Or that "Rub-a-dub-dub, three maids in a tub" was inspired by a fairground peepshow.

A fascinating history lesson that makes astonishing connections to contemporary popular culture, Heavy Words Lightly Thrown is for Anglophiles, parents, history buffs, and anyone who has ever wondered about the origins of rhymes. The book features a glossary of slang and historical terms, and spooky silhouettes of nursery-rhyme characters to accompany the rhymes. Mother Goose will never look the same again.

 

[Astronuc]

Well, I just started reading Christopher Paolini's book, "Eldest", which is a second book of a Trilogy "Inheritance".

Finished it last week. It seems to drag a bit during the first half, but picks up toward the end - kind of like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (1st book of the three).

The story is quite compelling. I enjoyed it. There are some hints as to what happens, but also some surprises.

It's pretty good for a first major effort of a young (20 yr old) writer.

 

[loseyourname]

Yeah, Yossarian lives!

Anyway, Heller's book may seem a bit plotless at first, as if it's only a collection of short stories thrown together. But this isn't true. Slowly Heller unravels his plot, be it from the steady loss of Yossarian's friends or from the unrelenting rise of combat missions, and slowly but surely does the madness climax; the frivolity twists into something cruel and bitter, the "long line of gags and witty one-liner descriptions" changing from humorous to frightening and cold and dark. You must read the entire book!

It's not like I'm an impatient reader. Heck, one of my all-time favorite books is Sons and Lovers, and that spends something like a hundred pages describing what took place before the protagonist is even born. As I said, I'm sure the novel eventually picks up, but even the quality of the gags was really unimpressive to me at the beginning. Heller was rolling out a new character every two pages, and their development consisted of a stereotype descriptive blurb worthy of something like Snatch. It was like reading a sitcom that changed casts every other week and it annoyed the hell out of me. I guess I'm just being too picky. As Astronuc points out, Lord of the Rings sucks until about 300 pages in, but I still love that book. I must have been in a bad frame of mind or something when I was reading this; I'll have to take another look at it when I get a chance. Considering the amount of Aristotle and Mill (two of the worst writers to ever live) I've gotten through, I'm sure I can get through this.

 

[Astronuc]

As Astronuc points out, Lord of the Rings sucks until about 300 pages in, but I still love that book.

Those weren't quite my words , but anyone whose read LOTR, book 1, will remember the hike through the wilderness to get to Farmer Maggot's and Tom Bombadill's. It was very descriptive and seemed to go on and on and on, and actually it does remind me of those times when I have been hiking in the wilderness - bushwacking - and not being able to see anything of a horizon or long distance for all the trees and shrubs. Such a hike then seems interminable.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Well this didn't go over so well but maybe it'll do better now. Let us know what you are reading or have read lately and what you think of it.


Currently I am reading the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula Le Guin. You might like this one Evo, if you haven't already read it. I'm currently reading the fourth book in the series. The first is 'A Wizard of Earthsea', then; 'The Tombs of Atuan', 'The Farthest shore', 'Tehanu', and 'The Other Wind'. The first was published in '68 and the last in '01. There is also a book of Earthsea short stories called 'Tales From Earthsea' that fills in various little bits of the overall story apparently.
The Earthsea world is a large grouping of islands, some quite small and others quite large, that make up all of the known world. Technology is rather limited and most aid for everyday living comes from magic rather than science. Magic to insure healthy crops and livestock, to put wind in the sails of a ship, to heal the sick, ect. The stories in the books follow the legendary exploits of Sparrowhawk the mage from boyhood to old age. There is little in the way of war and combat. The stories are more about the people, who they are, and who they become. The 'quests' are more like personal trials that hold great consequence. I've enjoyed the books very much so far.

I've also read quite a few other books since I started this thread but I'll only mention the particularly noteworthy.

I read all of Neil Gaiman's novels and I would suggest all of them. I'm even considering trying to find a collection of his Sandman comicbook series to read. If you like fantasy you should read his books. He is an amazing author.

I started reading the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. They're a fantasy/alternate history series. It is set during the Napoleonic Wars with the alteration that they have 'air forces' comprised of dragons manned by crews of 'aviators'. The first book is 'His Majesty's Dragon' and there are four so far in the series though I think that the fourth began to get a bit weak. It's not the best writing but it is definitely a fun series.

I've also read all of the novels by 'Robin Hobbs' which I enjoyed quite a bit. The most recent trilogy, the 'Soldier Son' trilogy, was rather interesting though strange. It is fantasy set in a world somewhat similar to Colonial America.

So what has everyone else been reading?

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Oh... I just realized this is in 'History and Humanities'. No wonder it didn't get much traffic. I thought I had started it in GD.

 

[Evo]

I can move it, but it seems to kind of fit in here.

I'm going to buy the first Earthsea book, I need new books.

 

[arildno]

I recently read Michael McCormick's "Origins of the European Economy", a slender volume of about 900 pages.

It concerns (amongst much else) the type of communication lines and trade routes that existed in the early middle ages, and how, gradually, in (and beyond) the Carolingian age, European economy gained its momentum.

A very nice book.

I just bought Chris Wickham's "Framing the early middle ages, 400-800", about the same length, but haven't read it yet.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

You have interesting taste in leisure reading Arildno. lol
Are these books as dry as they sound?


I finished the Earthsea Cycle. The fourth book, Tehanu, is a bit domestic but not bad. It seems almost as if it is there only to set up the story for the next book which is much more exciting. The last book, The Other Wind, wraps up the story line rather nicely I think. Sparrowhawk is only a side character and has little to do with the story though. The whole world changes and the author delves deeper into the source of magic and the world of the dead.


Now I am reading a book by Greg Bear called Quantico. It's near future hard scifi. The story is about handling both international and domestic terrorism in the post 9/11 and Iraq war intelligence community. He plays a "what if?" scenario regarding the culprit behind the Amerithrax attacks which becomes a key element to the plot. So far it's quite good though certain aspects of the plot are a bit typical. I guess that's what happens when you write a thriller though (not the type of book Greg Bear normally writes).
I think that Russ would probably like this one and maybe Ivan too.



Evo I'm torn between wanting to support the other forums and wanting more traffic so I can read about more books. I sincerely don't think that this is a very academic thread though and would go better in GD if that is ok with you.

 

[B. Elliott]

Right now I'm halfway through reading Synchronicity: The bridge Between Mind and Matter by F. David Peat. So far it's a pretty good in my opinion. In a nutshell it incorporates theories and ideas presented by Carl Jung, David Bohm, John Wheeler, Wolfgang Pauli, Prigogine, ect., and explains how synchronicities around us could possibly be explained by aspects of quantum theory. Common everyday coincidences, actually not being so coincidental.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Finished Quantico. It was pretty good. The after notes contained a good bibliography of sources that Greg Bear used in researching the subject matter and a few pages describing his experiences being invited to various government confrences and think tanks. I vaguely remember hearing that after 9/11 the government had collected together a number of fiction writers for their creative thinking to throw around various, perhaps more outlandish, ideas on possible terrorist threats to national security. Apparently Greg Bear was one of them. Around that time he had proposed his idea of the possible source of Amerithrax (the one in this book) which was apparently quickly shot down. And supposedly shortly after the release of the book the government came out stating that such a scenario may not be terribly far fetched.


Currently I have started Men At Arms by Terry Pratchet. Its from the Disc World series, a Night Watch novel. Can't say much about it yet since I have only started.
I've been picking up the Disc World novels two at a time when ever I hit the book store. He's a great author. Imagine Douglas Adams writing fantasy novels instead of scifi. You could read most of the Disc World books on their own and still be able to understand them though there are always several in-jokes in the books that you will miss out on if you haven't read the previous books. The first two or three in the series are a bit rough for repeativeness but they become much better as you go.
Probably one of the finest I've read so far was Small Gods. The plot revolves around a church and its Quisition attempting to stamp out the heathenist notion that the world is flat (which in the Disc World it is and rides on the backs of four[or five] elephants standing on the back of a great cosmic turtle to boot). A parallel plot revolves around the plight of a god deposed from greatness by the dogmatic insincerity of his own worshippers. A very good book (and series) for those who enjoy fantasy and silliness.