# Terry Pratchett - Strata - wow
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 10, 2012, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357 "2012-04-10T10:01:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2012, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/1 "2012-04-10T10:01:05Z")
I just re-read Terry Pratchett - Strata - after all this time - have had it on my shelf and only ever read it the once - just after I started reading The Colour of Magic - and the Carpet People.
I did not realise at the time the start of the Diskworld.
Yes it was about a disk shaped world – I got that – but he did mention the 4 elephants on the back of the giant turtle and the Broken Drum pub – you can’t beat it…… Sir Terry obviously liked the disk so much he brought it to life.
Am I the only one who just got it? After all these years…. Was I so caught up on re-reading the Diskworld stuff that I ignored the start??
---
### Author:  [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2012, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/2 "2012-04-10T11:19:27Z")
I don’t have a copy to check but I’m pretty sure Dark Side of the Sun has some Discworld references
---
### Author:  [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/3 "2012-04-10T11:25:35Z")
I will have to get my hands on a copy.
---
### Author:  [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2012, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/4 "2012-04-10T11:31:46Z")
The disk in Strata is a pardoy of the Ring in Niven’s Ringworld. Presumably Prattchet liked the idea, so he carried it into his fantasy stuff.
---
### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/5 "2012-04-10T11:47:09Z")
Yes, this was his first playing with the concept. It is always interesting to see concept sketches and similar exercises for things which we are most familiar with as a finished product.
---
### Author:  [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/6 "2012-04-10T12:23:17Z")
Me too. Things like the Broken Drum - never knew why or what it meant - Now I do
The Broken Drum - 😃 You Can’t Beat It 😃 – LOL – even after all this time
---
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/7 "2012-04-10T12:27:28Z")
> [@Hogfather65](#):
>
> The Broken Drum - 😃 You Can’t Beat It 😃 – LOL – even after all this time
After the fire in _Colour of Magic_, it was “The Mended Drum.”
---
### Author:  [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/8 "2012-04-11T02:47:28Z")
While _Strata_ and _Dark Side of the Sun_ don’t get a lot of love, or fame, they really do show an immense amount of imagination in their depiction of alien races, societies, and settings. Good stuff.
---
### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2012, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/9 "2012-04-11T11:58:51Z")
> [@galen\_ubal](#):
>
> While _Strata_ and _Dark Side of the Sun_ don’t get a lot of love, or fame, they really do show an immense amount of imagination in their depiction of alien races, societies, and settings. Good stuff.
The only problem is that they suffer from kind-of “meh” endings - I like the whole The-Space-Gods-Were-(_You!_/Your-_Pet_!)-All-Along message in both but they do kind of fizzle out towards them. Having said that, the First Sirius Bank and Silver are two of my favourite SF aliens. And props to Pterry for introducing me to Roche limits in a throwaway joke!
\*The Carpet People \*and _Bromeliad_ don’t get enough love, IMO.
---
### Author:  [@Hogfather65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hogfather65)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/10 "2012-04-15T09:03:12Z")
Finally read ‘the dark side of the sun’ and thought it was OK - it did mention 3 days - Hogswatch, Small Gods and Soul Cake Tuesday
---
### Author:  [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terry-pratchett-strata-wow/618357/11 "2012-04-16T12:14:05Z")
> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> The only problem is that they suffer from kind-of “meh” endings - I like the whole The-Space-Gods-Were-(_You!_/Your-_Pet_!)-All-Along message in both but they do kind of fizzle out towards them. Having said that, the First Sirius Bank and Silver are two of my favourite SF aliens. And props to Pterry for introducing me to Roche limits in a throwaway joke!
>
> \*The Carpet People \*and _Bromeliad_ don’t get enough love, IMO.
I was probably slow to realise. But after the second or third time I read Strata I realised _we_ are supposed to be the decendants of the disc people that Kin Arad evacuated.