Feet of Clay
by Terry Pratchett · first published 1996
25% recommend75% neutral
Nineteenth in the Discworld universe and third entry of the City Watch series, this novel follows Captain Carrot, Commander Vimes, and the rest of the Night Watch as they attempt to unravel the mystery of who poisoned Lord Vetinari the Patrician.
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…Pratchett. This year, I finished (numbers in Discworld order, annotated by the series): 9. Eric [Rincewind] 10. Moving Pictures [Independent] 12. Witches Abroad [Witches] 18. Maskerade [Witches] 19. Feet of clay [The City Watch] 23. Carpe Jugulum [Witches] 32. A Hat Full of Sky [Tiffany Aching] 37. Unseen Academicals [Wizards] 38. I Shall Wear Midnight [Tiffany Aching] Brilliant series, highly recommended.…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino This Book is Full of Spiders::: Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It by David Wong
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗…Fundamentally do you like, wizards, witches, guards, death, or the chancer (moist Von lipwig) ? I say this because the whole set is basically split up into those themes. Personally, my favourite is Feet Of Clay. However, if pinned down, I will always say, read them in the order they were published, as is true for all book sets.
on “Ask HN: Where to Start with Discworld?” ↗…had three basic ones. They were the direct (“Did you do it?”), the persistent (“Are you sure it wasn’t you that done it?”), and the subtle (“It was you what done it, wasn’t it?”). " -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
on “A Virginia hacker catches the attention of federal law enforcement” ↗>We're just one big family and, when you've been to a few domestic disputes, Littlebottom, I can assure you that you'll see the resemblance. - Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay
on “Loneliness on the Job: Why No Employee Is an Island” ↗…One Of You Must Volunteer To Undergo The Same Process.” There was silence. “That’s not fair,” said a priest, after a while. “All anyone has to do is bake up your dust again and you’ll be alive…” - Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett
on “Finland's ChatGPT equivalent begins to think in Estonian as well” ↗…One Of You Must Volunteer To Undergo The Same Process.” There was silence. “That’s not fair,” said a priest, after a while. “All anyone has to do is bake up your dust again and you’ll be alive…” - Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett
on “Things are about to get worse for generative AI” ↗…this: "The Vetinari Clock originates from Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld series of books, specifically appearing in the waiting room of Lord Vetinari, a recurring character. It is first described in Feet of Clay and also features in Going Postal, where its purpose is to psychologically unsettle visitors by ticking irregularly while still maintaining accurate time"
on “Vetinari's Clock (2011)” ↗Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks (re-reading) Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett (re-reading) Invitation to Forth by Harry Katzan Jr (reading to my son) Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl, Der Kleine Peter in der Katzenstadt, An Caisteal fòn Mhuir. Got quite a lot…
on “Ask HN: What are you reading?” ↗…is not one of them. opinion is also split on where to start, since it is generally agreed that the early books weren't the best, and yet the recurring characters do develop over time. I started with Feet of Clay, which took me like 3 attempts before i finally "got it". I now often recommend Small Gods to people, because it is a self contained book with only cameos from recurring characters, and it has really…
on “Royal Mail to Issue “Terry Pratchett’s Discworld” Stamps” ↗"Feet of Clay", his book about golems written in 1996, was about AI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feet_of_Clay_(novel)
on “I Miss Terry Pratchett” ↗…brought up Jingo yet. It's a wonderful satire of extreme war nationalism, it's part of "The Watch" series of Discworld books so it helps if you've read the previous books ( Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay ) but reading it by itself is fine.
on “Sir Terry Pratchett has died” ↗Apart from his pun-a-thon books, most of his Discworld novels have some sort of moral underpinning. Small Gods on being religious versus being good is an obvious one, Feet of Clay being about slavery and what defines a person is another. But if you take a step back and look at most of his books, you'll find a moral lesson intentionally put in there.
on “Sir Terry Pratchett has died” ↗