Interesting Links for 01-09-2023

[andrewducker]

1. Neil Gaiman almost inadvertently prevented Terry Pratchett's unfinished work from being steamrolled

(tags:terrypratchett neilgaiman death writing )

2. Las leyes de la física son inquebrantables.

(tags:physics funny video )

3. RSPB boss apologises after charity points out government lies

(tags:lies conservatives charity UK politics )

4. Ukraine unveils 'terminator' land drones that can fire machine guns and cross minefields

(tags:drone ukraine war Russia )

5. Comic Book Character Says "Bollocks" Every Once in a While so You Don't Forget He's English

(tags:swearing english UK writing comics funny )

6. Patients treated by female surgeons are less likely to die

(tags:surgery women death )

7. Bessie Watson, the incredible life story of the "Suffragette Piper Girl"

(tags:Edinburgh history music women voting Scotland wwi viaDanielDWilliam )

Comments

[nancylebov]

6. https://www.axios.com/2023/08/31/female-surgeons-see-better-patient-results

Link with effect sizes and links to studies.

[andrewducker]

Thank you.

1) Pratchett

[danieldwilliam]

I'm a big Pratchett fan but I think I'm not sad that his work in progress won't see the light of day.

I personally did not enjoy his later books as much as I enjoyed his mid or mid-late period books. I've never been sure if that was a change in his focus, a change in my tastes or the impact on his writing of his disease.

My guess is that his latter work in progress would not have been amoungst my favourites of his works had it been published.

Re: 1) Pratchett

[andrewducker]

I agree. Night Watch was the last one I loved. Unseen Academicals was the first one that I struggled with, and I stopped 30 pages into Thud.

I'm entirely comfortable that we don't get to see things that never even reached the end of their first draft.

Re: 1) Pratchett

[danieldwilliam]

Yeah, definately with you on Unseen Academicals. IIRC correctly I quite liked Thud! but it's been so long since I read it that I can't remember.

Re: 1) Pratchett

[channelpenguin]

Now I broadly agree ... But I love Thud and think it's 100% "in style", just ... darker.. and I am so so on Night Watch (but I have a dislike of time travel stories)

Re: 1) Pratchett

[poshmerchant]

I love Thud! and Making Money, am meh on Unseen Academicals, like Snuff, but hard bounced off Raising Steam

[flemmings]

See, I liked Unseen Academicals and Thud. Raising Steam was the one I struggled with, and still do. But the sadness about Pratchett's WIPs is that some were started way back before the embuggerance took hold. You can see it in the beginning of The Shepherd's Crown, which is prime Pratchett.

Pretty sure Rhianna wouldn't have let Rob renege anyway, but sheesh. They're printing his (sorta) juvenilia now. Couldn't they have spared us some fragments?

[calimac]

Authors have varying opinions on what's to be done with their literary leftovers. Tolkien wanted the Silmarillion published, though he might have been surprised by the form his posthumous works have taken. With some authors, the genius lies mostly in the final polishing, and unfinished works of theirs that have been published are somewhat disappointing. Both P.G. Wodehouse and Gustav Mahler fall in that category, and I wouldn't be surprised if Pratchett thought the same of himself, which could explain his 'destroy it all' instructions.

But you know what author instructed his executors to destroy his unpublished work, and they ignored this and published it, and it's most of what he's now best-known for?

Franz Kafka.

[andrewducker]

Oh yes. He's the usual counterexample, and I can't help but agree that we are better off with his works than without. But also that we are generally better off believing that our wishes will be taken into account when we die.

[channelpenguin]

Agreed, even though it makes me very sad in some cases where you KNOW they are perfectionists and that their unfinished works would STILL be better than 90% of most finished stuff (in the music arena - PRINCE!!) .

[cathrowan]

That thread about Bessie Watson is amazing. Thanks so much for linking to it.

[andrewducker]

My pleasure!

[hairyears]

Wot dey sed.

That's an amazing life story.

Neil Gaiman almost inadvertently prevented Terry Pratchett's unfinished work from being steamrolled

[anef]

I first read this as "Neil Gaiman (almost inadvertently) prevented Terry Pratchett's unfinished work from being steamrolled" and was puzzled when I read the article. Then I realised that you meant "Neil Gaiman almost (inadvertently) prevented Terry Pratchett's unfinished work from being steamrolled".

7. Bessie Watson, the incredible life story of the "Suffragette Piper Girl"

[anef]

Wow. Just, wow!