XLeptodactylous

Sir Terry Pratchett OBE died on the 12th of March, 2015, at the age of 66 from a rare form of Alzheimers. He wrote over 40 novels and was the creator of one of the greatest fictional worlds; Discworld.

When I was 12 I read my first Discworld and I hated it. It was The Colour of Magic and, from memory, the reason I hated it was because it had the word "bastard" on the first few pages. To me now, this is absurd. The first thing I do when I wake up is swear, usually one of the worst ones (ones much worse than "bastard"), and so my memory of this first read is tinged with confusion and humour.

I left them alone for nearly ten years, until a good friend of mine suggested I try them again. I don't recall which one I tried in my second attempt but, after being given almost all the books second-hand by a University friend, I devoured them wholly and without chewing and spat out an unadulterated obsession with the Discworld and Sir Terry himself.

A Slip of the Keyboard includes articles and short-essays that Terry has written, in between writing roughly two novels a year. Much like his Discworld series, they are funny, educational, insightful and very, very Human. The topics covered are as varied as the own man's interests, from Orangutans to hats and from writing and reading science fiction and fantasy to suffering and speaking up about suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's and the right to die with dignity.

Although I love this book, and will love it forever, and will re-read it more than I will re-read any other book, and have gained around thirty new books to add to my to-read pile, it has only gained four stars for the following reasons: one, the sadness I felt whilst reading a great dead man's words was overwhelming, and two, my blithe shelf is for fiction only. This is not fiction, but in heart it is five-star worthy.

It's a sad thing that this man died, but it is greater still that he lived.