On 17/07/2012 18:41, Reader in Invisible Writings wrote:
> I am surprised by the lack of any comment as WMC? sparked plenty of
> chat, even with -[S]- tags.
> From the "Look Inside" feature of an nefarious e-seller* it is clear
> that there is plenty of real story so what do people think?
> *due to an imminent birthday I am on book buying embargo!
Mine arrived a fortnight ago, but I was working through The Long Earth, and then got distracted by some Ben Aaronovich books... (which I'm really enjoying).
I won't be allowed to buy anything on my wish list from August onwards, as that will be my Xmas book buying embargo, courtesy of the children :-)
-- Grymma AFPOh Goddess Of Hangovers; DAcFD, BF (UU)
I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce.
>I am surprised by the lack of any comment as WMC? sparked plenty of chat, >even with -[S]- tags.
> From the "Look Inside" feature of an nefarious e-seller* it is clear that > there is plenty of real story so what do people think?
> *due to an imminent birthday I am on book buying embargo!
I assumed it was going to be insanely short so went into the bookshop hoping to read it in about 8 minutes or so.
It was A LOT more detailed than I expected it to be.
I'm still not going to buy it though.
On Tuesday, July 17, 2012 1:41:02 PM UTC-4, Reader in Invisible Writings wrote:
> I am surprised by the lack of any comment as WMC? sparked plenty of > chat, even with -[S]- tags.
> From the "Look Inside" feature of an nefarious e-seller* it is clear > that there is plenty of real story so what do people think?
> *due to an imminent birthday I am on book buying embargo!
> -- > Reader in Invisible Writings
> Something to Ponder on!
For what it's worth, I thought it was pretty darned adorable and amusing, personally. I've read it through at least a couple of times. It very much felt like a book that could be written by a Miss Felicity Beedle. It's got a slightly different approach than Where's My Cow?. Definitely more plot and interesting facts, fewer pictures, but still aimed squarely at looking like a children's book.
Without being spoiler-y, this was part of my Amazon review.
"The best way I can describe the book is to call it something of an "in-context joke" that ties in with the events of the latest Discworld novel from the Watch/Vimes series, Snuff. In the Discworld universe, Young Sam is a huge fan of Miss Felicity Beedle's children's books, which tend to focus on the sorts of things that really interest and amuse young readers, like bodily functions. The World of Poo is written completely in "in-universe" style, part seemingly prim, proper and slightly twee Victorian children's author plus a healthy dash of Ankh Morpork matter-of-factness with illustrations to match. Where the previous tie-in, Where's My Cow?, gave a few winks to the fact that it was a Roundworld book based on a book mentioned in a Discworld book, The World of Poo never breaks character. A number of familiar places and familiar character names do pop up in the course of the story.
The tongue remains firmly planted within cheek from start to finish and the tone balances nicely between innocent, wide-eyed parody and informative, gleefully gross children's book."
All that to say, I figure if you enjoy Discworld and/or ever read and enjoyed a "disgusting science/biology" book as a kid and you aren't ashamed to get a good chortle out of one as an adult, you'll likely get plenty of grins. For anyone worried it's all puns, it's not, and there's enough plot and characters to keep things moving along. It's more "earnest young hero scientifically inquires into the science behind X subject and meets people who assist him in his endeavors", to my way of thinking. The illustrations were a treat, too, but I'm given to being fond of children's books with nice illustrations.
It's... well, it's pretty much the book you probably imagined when it was described in Snuff. It's presented as though it were yanked off of Young Sam's bookshelf, right down to the little touches like the "author signature" inside the front cover. I hesitate to discuss it in much more detail, because to me half the fun of reading it was seeing who Geoffrey met along the way and the places he visited, and how the characters come across filtered through a Miss Felicity Beedle attempting to show how they would come across filtered through a young boy. All in all, for a book completely about poo, it's surprisingly tasteful.
> On Tue, 17 Jul 2012 18:41:02 +0100, an orbital mind-control laser
> caused Reader in Invisible Writings <markfowera...@hotmail.com> to
> write:
>> I am surprised by the lack of any comment as WMC? sparked plenty of
>> chat, even with -[S]- tags.
>> From the "Look Inside" feature of an nefarious e-seller* it is clear
>> that there is plenty of real story so what do people think?
>> *due to an imminent birthday I am on book buying embargo!
> I have a major conflict here. I'm very fond of A.A. Milne's Pooh
> stories, and I consider poo/Pooh jokes to be stupid and in very poor
> taste.
> But on the other hand, I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan, too...
Poo jokes and fart jokes are the new black. I don't understand the fashion; I don't find them offensive, but I don't find them funny either. And yet Danny de Vito, one of the funniest people around, devoted a whole episode of his semi-improvised /Always Sunny in Philadelphia/ to poo jokes, taking the curtain line himself as the answer to "Why?" with "Because... poo is funny!", delivered straight into the camera with a serious expression (and his beautiful New York accent) and clearly his true opinion. I just don't get it.
Lesley.
-- This address is real, but to reach me use leswes att shaw dott ca
>> I have a major conflict here. I'm very fond of A.A. Milne's Pooh
>> stories, and I consider poo/Pooh jokes to be stupid and in very poor
>> taste.
>> But on the other hand, I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan, too...
> Poo jokes and fart jokes are the new black. I don't understand the
> fashion; I don't find them offensive, but I don't find them funny
> either. And yet Danny de Vito, one of the funniest people around,
> devoted a whole episode of his semi-improvised /Always Sunny in
> Philadelphia/ to poo jokes, taking the curtain line himself as the
> answer to "Why?" with "Because... poo is funny!", delivered straight
> into the camera with a serious expression (and his beautiful New York
> accent) and clearly his true opinion. I just don't get it.
My 6 year old son finds poo and fart jokes funny. Heck, he finds poo and farting funny. Me? I find joy in my son, so when he laughs, it's hard not to laugh with him :-)
Point is though, I guess, that he's *6*. That's a good enough reason for finding humour in such things...
He likes 'Where's My Cow?' as well :-)
-- --
Grymma AFPOh Goddess Of Hangovers; DAcFD, BF (UU)
"There can't be a crisis today, my schedule is already full"
On 18/07/2012 3:11 AM, Reader in Invisible Writings wrote:
> I am surprised by the lack of any comment as WMC? sparked plenty of
> chat, even with -[S]- tags.
> From the "Look Inside" feature of an nefarious e-seller* it is clear
> that there is plenty of real story so what do people think?
> *due to an imminent birthday I am on book buying embargo!
I quite enjoyed it - the style of the story is as per those early British childhood stories, and you can just hear the voice of Miss Felicity Beedle in your head.
The story follows young Geoffrey as he visits his Grand-mama in the big city of Ankh-Morpork, and Geoffrey's new-found fascination with all things excretia. The language is rather delicate, despite the subject matter, and there's lots of fascinating facts in the text & footnotes,
most of which is true on Roundworld as well as Discworld. Admittedly,
there's still quite a bit that is Discworld specific, but for fans, it's
fun as we see Geoffrey visit the Patrician's menagerie, the Sunshine Sanctuary, and Harry King's "processing plant" amongst other things.
It is rather short (around 100 pages), so quick and easy to finish, but it's definitely a further step in the progression of "Young Sam" spinoff books.
> On 19/07/2012 17:28, Lesley Weston wrote:
>> On 07-17-12 5:27 PM, Chris Zakes wrote:
> <snip>
>>> I have a major conflict here. I'm very fond of A.A. Milne's Pooh
>>> stories, and I consider poo/Pooh jokes to be stupid and in very poor
>>> taste.
>>> But on the other hand, I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan, too...
>> Poo jokes and fart jokes are the new black. I don't understand the
>> fashion; I don't find them offensive, but I don't find them funny
>> either. And yet Danny de Vito, one of the funniest people around,
>> devoted a whole episode of his semi-improvised /Always Sunny in
>> Philadelphia/ to poo jokes, taking the curtain line himself as the
>> answer to "Why?" with "Because... poo is funny!", delivered straight
>> into the camera with a serious expression (and his beautiful New York
>> accent) and clearly his true opinion. I just don't get it.
> My 6 year old son finds poo and fart jokes funny. Heck, he finds poo and
> farting funny. Me? I find joy in my son, so when he laughs, it's hard
> not to laugh with him :-)
Well of course. When my sons were that age the fashion hadn't started, but I'm sure they would have been just as happy if it had.
> Point is though, I guess, that he's *6*. That's a good enough reason for
> finding humour in such things...
> He likes 'Where's My Cow?' as well :-)
Oh well, fair enough. I like WMC too.
Lesley.
-- This address is real, but to reach me use leswes att shaw dott ca
>On 19/07/2012 17:28, Lesley Weston wrote:
>> On 07-17-12 5:27 PM, Chris Zakes wrote:
><snip>
>>> I have a major conflict here. I'm very fond of A.A. Milne's Pooh
>>> stories, and I consider poo/Pooh jokes to be stupid and in very poor
>>> taste.
>>> But on the other hand, I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan, too...
>> Poo jokes and fart jokes are the new black. I don't understand the
>> fashion; I don't find them offensive, but I don't find them funny
>> either. And yet Danny de Vito, one of the funniest people around,
>> devoted a whole episode of his semi-improvised /Always Sunny in
>> Philadelphia/ to poo jokes, taking the curtain line himself as the
>> answer to "Why?" with "Because... poo is funny!", delivered straight
>> into the camera with a serious expression (and his beautiful New York
>> accent) and clearly his true opinion. I just don't get it.
>My 6 year old son finds poo and fart jokes funny. Heck, he finds poo and
>farting funny. Me? I find joy in my son, so when he laughs, it's hard
>not to laugh with him :-)
>Point is though, I guess, that he's *6*. That's a good enough reason for
>finding humour in such things...
Just finished it. (The e-version) It's not entirely terrible.
It is incredibly childish, I'm sure I'd have loved it when I was 10.
It might possibly still have been slightly funny when I was 13.
Geoffrey is fairly bearable, the ensemble characters are what make the piece though.
It expands the Discworld quite nicely, we learn more about some characters and places.
I really should have sussed why he'd been sent away from home though.
I blame that on being the youngest child, and a single bloke.
I'm sure if I reread now I'd pick up on it.
Pictures are quite fun (including the Meerkats who manage to not look like a certain insurance seller!) and it was nice to revisit certain locations in the city to find out how they are fairing these days.
It is VERY short. The footnotes are cool though.
Shame they still have no bloody clue how to do footnotes properly for an ereader.
On 19 Jul 2012, Grymma <n...@grymma.co.invalid> wrote:
> My 6 year old son finds poo and fart jokes funny. Heck, he finds poo
> and farting funny. Me? I find joy in my son, so when he laughs, it's
> hard not to laugh with him :-)
> Point is though, I guess, that he's *6*. That's a good enough reason
> for finding humour in such things...
> He likes 'Where's My Cow?' as well :-)
Which is why I'm doing the sensible thing, and buying TWOP for my nephew, who is also the same age as Young Sam. His mother says the initial reaction will be "Thats DISGUSTING!", and then he'll laugh.
(I personally found bits of it amusing, but am nonetheless hoping I won't be the one who actually has to read it to him.)
In the meantime, my scanning it to check it has his mother's approval (I asked her about the word "piss" and she said "Um ... I can work round that") has yielded three annotations:
When Widdler starts running around with the toilet paper, this is a reference to the classic Andrex advertisments with the golden retriever puppy.
The Bashful Pandas are a reference to the difficulty in breeding Ming Ming and Bao Bao at London Zoo in the 1990s, Tian Tian and Yang Guang at Edinburgh Zoo last year, or both.
-- Dave
The problems in this world are not caused by those who love.
They're caused by those who hate.
--Arthur, King of Time and Space.
> It is rather short (around 100 pages), so quick and easy to finish,
> but it's definitely a further step in the progression of "Young Sam"
> spinoff books.
There's a thought; given Young Sam's aging, in the next one he'll probably be 11 or so, and Pterry will have to write *an entire extra novel*.
-- Dave
The problems in this world are not caused by those who love.
They're caused by those who hate.
--Arthur, King of Time and Space.
>> It is rather short (around 100 pages), so quick and easy to finish,
>> but it's definitely a further step in the progression of "Young Sam"
>> spinoff books.
> There's a thought; given Young Sam's aging, in the next one he'll probably
> be 11 or so, and Pterry will have to write *an entire extra novel*.
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Perhaps that is where 'Scouting for Trolls' might fit in to the canon?
On 27 Jul 2012 10:25:26 GMT, an orbital mind-control laser caused
Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidchened...@aol.com> to write:
>On 18 Jul 2012, Chris Zakes <donti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I have a major conflict here. I'm very fond of A.A. Milne's Pooh
>> stories, and I consider poo/Pooh jokes to be stupid and in very poor
>> taste.
>> But on the other hand, I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan, too...
>I've only scanned it, but I have to say I didn't spot any poo/Pooh jokes >beyond the "poosticks" gag first seen in Thud!
Well, that, and the title of the book. Over here, the one-volume set
of "Winnie the Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" is called "The
World of Pooh." So if I had it in my library, I'd see that annoying
title every time I was looking for something to read.
-Chris Zakes
Texas
--
Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't.
On 27 Jul 2012 10:23:58 GMT, an orbital mind-control laser caused
Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidchened...@aol.com> to write:
(snip)
>The Bashful Pandas are a reference to the difficulty in breeding Ming >Ming and Bao Bao at London Zoo in the 1990s, Tian Tian and Yang Guang at >Edinburgh Zoo last year, or both.
<shrug> Getting pandas in zoos to mate is a problem everywhere, not
just in Britain. I suspect it's the same way in the wild, which is why
they're an endangered species.
-Chris Zakes
Texas
--
Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't.
On Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:36:45 -0500, Chris Zakes wrote:
> On 27 Jul 2012 10:23:58 GMT, an orbital mind-control laser caused
> Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidchened...@aol.com> to write:
> (snip)
>>The Bashful Pandas are a reference to the difficulty in breeding Ming
>>Ming and Bao Bao at London Zoo in the 1990s, Tian Tian and Yang Guang at
>>Edinburgh Zoo last year, or both.
> <shrug> Getting pandas in zoos to mate is a problem everywhere, not just
> in Britain. I suspect it's the same way in the wild, which is why
> they're an endangered species.
They managed to mate just fine in the wild for the millions of years before the human population boom that overstressed and destroyed the pandas' habitat. I don't think it was a coincidence that the panda population fell as their habitat and food supply disappeared, and what was left was fragmented into tiny patches.
As a high-energy species with a low-energy diet, pandas are never likely to have been exactly breeding like rabbits, but in the wild their reproduction rate is comparable to other species of bears. Blaming their endangered state on their breeding psychology misses the great bulldozer in the room.
Bringing it back to the subject line: a big +1 to World of Poo. I'd buy the other Felicity Beedle books in a heartbeat, if only they actually existed.
In message <0l25181la9lh2kse91il9umusk7556r...@4ax.com>
Chris Zakes <donti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 27 Jul 2012 10:23:58 GMT, an orbital mind-control laser caused
>Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidchened...@aol.com> to write:
>(snip)
>>The Bashful Pandas are a reference to the difficulty in breeding Ming
>>Ming and Bao Bao at London Zoo in the 1990s, Tian Tian and Yang Guang at
>>Edinburgh Zoo last year, or both.
><shrug> Getting pandas in zoos to mate is a problem everywhere, not
>just in Britain. I suspect it's the same way in the wild, which is why
>they're an endangered species.
I'm surprised they ar not extinct, as they are natures couch potatoes.
Chris Zakes wrote:
> On 27 Jul 2012 10:25:26 GMT, an orbital mind-control laser caused
> Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidchened...@aol.com> to write:
>> On 18 Jul 2012, Chris Zakes <donti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I have a major conflict here. I'm very fond of A.A. Milne's Pooh
>>> stories, and I consider poo/Pooh jokes to be stupid and in very poor
>>> taste.
>>> But on the other hand, I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan, too...
>> I've only scanned it, but I have to say I didn't spot any poo/Pooh jokes >> beyond the "poosticks" gag first seen in Thud!
> Well, that, and the title of the book. Over here, the one-volume set
> of "Winnie the Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" is called "The
> World of Pooh." So if I had it in my library, I'd see that annoying
> title every time I was looking for something to read.
> -Chris Zakes
> Texas
The late, great Alan Coren was a master of pastiche.
In repsonse to an interview he'd read with a noted publisher who claimed that "every great writer has a children's book in him/her", he wrote a series of wonderful vignettes, including Raymond Chandler's "Farewell My Brownie", Shakespeare's "Five Go Off To Elsinore" and - germane to the matter at hand - Hemingway's "The Pooh Also Rises".
Coren's pastiches of Ernest (he did a number of them) were always far more entertaining than the originals.
> On 27 Jul 2012 10:25:26 GMT, an orbital mind-control laser caused
> Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidchened...@aol.com> to write:
>>On 18 Jul 2012, Chris Zakes <donti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I have a major conflict here. I'm very fond of A.A. Milne's Pooh
>>> stories, and I consider poo/Pooh jokes to be stupid and in very poor
>>> taste.
>>> But on the other hand, I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan, too...
>>I've only scanned it, but I have to say I didn't spot any poo/Pooh jokes >>beyond the "poosticks" gag first seen in Thud!
> Well, that, and the title of the book. Over here, the one-volume set
> of "Winnie the Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" is called "The
> World of Pooh." So if I had it in my library, I'd see that annoying
> title every time I was looking for something to read.
Ah. okay. My copy's just called "The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh". (Although, presumably, it's now "The Possibly Complete Winnie-the-Pooh, Depending On Whether Or Not You Think 'Return To The Hundred Acre Wood' Counts".)
-- Dave
The problems in this world are not caused by those who love.
They're caused by those who hate.
--Arthur, King of Time and Space.
On 27 Jul 2012, Chris Zakes <donti...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 27 Jul 2012 10:23:58 GMT, an orbital mind-control laser caused
> Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidchened...@aol.com> to write:
> (snip)
>>The Bashful Pandas are a reference to the difficulty in breeding Ming >>Ming and Bao Bao at London Zoo in the 1990s, Tian Tian and Yang Guang at >>Edinburgh Zoo last year, or both.
> <shrug> Getting pandas in zoos to mate is a problem everywhere, not
> just in Britain. I suspect it's the same way in the wild, which is why
> they're an endangered species.
Yes, of course, but these are the ones I thought Pterry would be likely to have seen in the news. (ppint pointed out that there was also a non-
breeding pair at London in the seventies, which was before my time, but not Pterry's.) It might have been more accurate for me to say "..are a reference to the RW difficulty in getting pandas to mate in captivity, such as..."
-- Dave
The problems in this world are not caused by those who love.
They're caused by those who hate.
--Arthur, King of Time and Space.
>On 27 Jul 2012, Chris Zakes <donti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 27 Jul 2012 10:25:26 GMT, an orbital mind-control laser caused
>> Daibhid Ceanaideach <daibhidchened...@aol.com> to write:
>>>On 18 Jul 2012, Chris Zakes <donti...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> I have a major conflict here. I'm very fond of A.A. Milne's Pooh
>>>> stories, and I consider poo/Pooh jokes to be stupid and in very poor
>>>> taste.
>>>> But on the other hand, I'm a big Terry Pratchett fan, too...
>>>I've only scanned it, but I have to say I didn't spot any poo/Pooh jokes >>>beyond the "poosticks" gag first seen in Thud!
>> Well, that, and the title of the book. Over here, the one-volume set
>> of "Winnie the Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" is called "The
>> World of Pooh." So if I had it in my library, I'd see that annoying
>> title every time I was looking for something to read.
>Ah. okay. My copy's just called "The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh". (Although, >presumably, it's now "The Possibly Complete Winnie-the-Pooh, Depending On >Whether Or Not You Think 'Return To The Hundred Acre Wood' Counts".)
No, it doesn't. They're not bad stories, but they don't quite have the
magic.
-Chris Zakes
Texas
--
Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't.
