### Author:  [@\_xiao\_wenti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_xiao_wenti)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/1 "2009-10-07T12:20:49Z")
I got my opening day copy of Unseen Academicals and have enjoyed the first half of the book so far.
Some quotes from the book.
“It is a well-known fact in any organization that, if you want a job done, you should give it to someone who is already very busy.” p. 26
“They were hefty men with a look of having been carved out of Bacon.” p.73
“Just one, then,” said Glenda. “That should balance out the rat.” p. 142 [If read in context this is a hoot]
It is very disturbing that this is probably going to be one of the last handful of books that he writes. He can no longer touch-type and will be moving to dictation.
…more to follow, but buy your own copy!
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### Author:  [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)
#### Post date: [October 7, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/2 "2009-10-07T12:55:17Z")
Mine’s in the mail- should get it today. Can’t wait.
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### Author:  [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2009, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/3 "2009-10-08T11:07:38Z")
For me, it had been going real well till I hit the patch about Glenda and the fashion store. that stopped me dead and two days later i haven’t started back.
but Mustrum is about my favorite Discworld character and he’s been at his best.
this exchange had me bowing to the pratchett wit:
\*\*“ow do I know I can trust you?” said the urchin.
“I don’t know,” said Ridcully. “The subtle workings of the brain are a mystery to me, too. But I’m glad that’s your belief.”\*\*
So, UU magicians parts first-rate, don’t care much for Glenda. Got some hopes for Nutt. Plan to get back to it this weekend.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2009, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/4 "2009-10-08T14:47:38Z")
Thanks for the heads up that it’s out. I now have it on my Kindle and have started up … I’m excited! Back to not wasting my time here while there’s Pratchett to read!
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/5 "2009-10-08T15:59:51Z")
> [@\_xiao\_wenti](#):
>
> “Just one, then,” said Glenda. “That should balance out the rat.” p. 142 [If read in context this is a hoot]
\ I just got to that part last night.
I, OTOH, am really liking Glenda. I think football (all types) is a stupid sport, but so far the book is holding my interest.
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### Author:  [@\_xiao\_wenti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_xiao_wenti)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/6 "2009-10-08T21:11:11Z")
…dancing about spoilers. Unseen Academicals has a spiritual element to it quite like Feet of Clay, probably one of my top 5 favorites. Worth, as it were.
Nation has a lot of these worth themes. Our protagonists worth in the society they create.
“…within acceptable college statutes…”
“…upholstery, which had experienced humanity in all its manifold moods and insurgencies.” p.294 [you had that couch in college, if you were male]
“…my colleague professor Rincewind…” p.344 [Those who can’t, teach]
“Why is there a certain cast of the military mind which leads sensible people to do again, with
gusto, what didn’t work before.” p. 229
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/7 "2009-10-09T01:21:50Z")
Got my copy this PM! Off to read it!!
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/8 "2009-10-09T02:43:56Z")
“And don’t worry if you don’t have the balls. We’ll give you some!”
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### Author:  [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2009, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/9 "2009-10-09T04:48:33Z")
I rather like Glenda, and Nutt. I really like what Nutt says about Tolkien, something that has bothered me before about that universe.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/10 "2009-10-11T22:02:26Z")
Okay, finished it. Fun. Good. Not his best ever but enjoyable.
More ribald and punny humor that he often has I think …
“… after a week of Juliet’s presence many of the faculty were subject to (mostly) unfamiliar longings and strange dreams, and were finding things rather hard …”
" … they cigars are - ‘That is a fallacy!’"
“’…Just speak with a little ore class, eh? You don’t have to sound like - ’ ‘My fare, lady?’”
But perhaps a profound bit too - this from the Patrician:
“’ … Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.’”
I would love to know more of Pepe’s backstory.
As for the the fashion and sports - well both are covering the ways in which we _belong_ as a group. aren’t they. Team or lipstick, I think he’s saying it’s all in the Shove.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/11 "2009-10-11T22:55:31Z")
Oh, yeah. Pepe rocked.
It was interesting to see the Patrician drunk, too. Not quite what I had imagined.
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### Author:  [@\_xiao\_wenti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_xiao_wenti)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2009, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/12 "2009-10-11T23:33:05Z")
DSeid – you marked some wonderful passages. I am afraid that at least one got by me.
BTW I read with a pen to mark passages - how do you annotate with your Kindle?
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2009, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/13 "2009-10-12T00:10:02Z")
Just got it.
For some reason, the scene that strikes me most is when Ponder looks around and sees Rincewind putting on his sock.
The D- Archancellor Henry thing was… unexpected.
I noticed this book has a lot more gratuitous raunchiness than most of his previous books. I mean, _The Truth_ had its humorous vegetables, and in _Small Gods_ Brutha comes a cross a rock that is “very unexpected”, but here almost every other joke had something to do with sex. And it wasn’t even plot-related like in _The Last Continent_, or character-related like anything in the vicinity of Nanny Ogg. It just struck me as uncharacteristic of him.
I’ve always been trouble by Tolkien’s treatment of orcs as [always chaotic evil](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlwaysChaoticEvil). Actually, depicting any sentient race as completely bad has never gone down well with me, but the aforementioned species has an additional pathos for me, since they were made from normal people. So I applaud Pterry saying what I’ve always thought.
On the other hand, Nutt’s story was pretty predictable- “Ooh, look here’s one of those monsters who’s been given an education and see how he’s nice and articulate? Maybe those monsters are only monsters because people are so mean.”
I’m going to have to reread it. I didn’t like _Going Postal_ when I first read it, and now I think it’s great. Maybe I’ll like this one more on subsequent readings.
With the new book out, it’s probably time to resurrect the Discworld Book Club. I’m busy catching up on new posts, so I am officially declaring this Someone Else’s Responsibility.
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### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2009, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/14 "2009-10-12T00:37:50Z")
Another thing: TV Tropes says “Professor Bengo Macarona” is a Shout Out. To what?
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/15 "2009-10-12T02:03:36Z")
> [@\_xiao\_wenti](#):
>
> DSeid – you marked some wonderful passages. I am afraid that at least one got by me.
> BTW I read with a pen to mark passages - how do you annotate with your Kindle?
You just click to start a highlight and click again where you want it to stop and it gets put in your clippings file. I’ve become a big fan of its dictionary function but now I’ve already forgotten the word that began with an “e” that meant explaining something in an excessively wordy manner … dang.
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### Author:  [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/16 "2009-10-12T02:34:03Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> Another thing: TV Tropes says “Professor Bengo Macarona” is a Shout Out. To what?
> **[Diego Maradona](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Maradona)**
>
> Diego Armando Maradona\[a\] (30 October 1960 – 25 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the 20th Century award, alongside Pelé.
> An advanced playmaker who operated in the classic number 10 position, Maradona's vision, passing, ball control, and dribbling skills were combined with his small stature, which gave him a low centre ...
I don’t get it either.
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### Author:  [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)
#### Post date: [October 12, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/17 "2009-10-12T04:11:56Z")
One thing that I noticed about this book was that while Pratchett layered on the references thick, they were almost all references to existing Discworld books. Hwel the playwright. Rincewind and his sock (and the Hat). The buried golems of Making Money. Forgiveness. If you knew music, you got the references in Soul Music; if you happened to have the translation of Gutenburg fresh in your mind, you immediately knew who Gunilla was in The Truth. For this Discworld book? You kind of have to know Discworld.
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### Author:  [@\_xiao\_wenti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_xiao_wenti)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/18 "2009-10-14T12:32:13Z")
I watched and recommend the BBC’s “Living with Alzheimers.” It’s a 2-part 2 hour documentary of Terry’s first year with Alz. Shows him working on UA
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### Author:  [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/19 "2009-10-14T17:17:15Z")
In the opening credits, it says it was “typed by” some guy.
Has Pratchett progressed to the point where he can’t type?
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unseen-academicals-pratchett-no-real-spoilers/512923/20 "2009-10-14T17:31:03Z")
He can’t really type anymore, no.
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