Pratchett "Small Gods" on R4 Extra

[Flay]

I believe that Small Gods is Pratchett's best book. A dramatisation of it in four parts is currently available on the iPlayer

The book is hilarious, full of insight, and pokes fun at unquestioning religious zealots, which is currently quite relevant.

"Belief shifts. People start out believing in the god and end up believing in the structure."

Here is a list of good quotes from the book.

Some pages can also be read on Google books but really everyone should own it.

I suspect that Pratchett was inspired by reading about poor Aeschylus who was

killed outside the city by a tortoise dropped by an eagle which had mistaken his head for a rock suitable for shattering the shell of the reptile. Pliny, in his Naturalis Historiæ, adds that Aeschylus had been staying outdoors to avoid a prophecy that he would be killed by a falling object.

You couldn't make it up!

[aeolium]

Thanks, Flay, I'll give that a listen. I love Pratchett's writings and agree that Small Gods is very good. I also very much like Go Postal and Pyramids.

Interesting about Aeschylus' fate. The Austro-Hungarian playwright Ödön von Horváth remarked in 1938: "I am not so afraid of the Nazis … There are worse things one can be afraid of, namely things one is afraid of without knowing why. For instance, I am afraid of streets. Roads can be hostile to one, can destroy one. Streets scare me." And a few days later he was killed by a falling branch from a tree during a thunderstorm on the Champs-Élysées.

[greenilex]

Do you think that perhaps O.von H. and Aeschylus were so busy thinking they didn't look upwards? Can I urge all boardees to keep a very good eye open for flying objects in the current blustery weather?