You obviously don't know France. ^_^ In France, formerly known as "the-land-of-Human-Rights" but no more ;), almost only roleplayers and fantasy fans know him. Still, the company that publishes his works is doing an incredibly excellent work: classy editions on high-grade paper, excellent translations and oh boy is it hard to try to translate his wit and humor!!
So, in France, Pratchett is a very underrated author, even if he still sells enough that the publishing company keeps on publishing his works.

A friend of my sister bought the hardback of "Where's My Cow?". On a page per dollar basis, its easily the most expensive book he's ever made

Pratchett is one of the few "successful" authors here in Singapore too. The funny thing is, I've observed more girls than guys reading his books. I haven't had the time to read any of the Discworld novels yet, being too busy munching up the remainder of Robert E Howard's stories atm, while previously going through some other authors' works (including Isaac Asimov, whose one particular story, and the only one I ever looked at, I couldn't quite tolerate past the first 3 pages). But yeah, I'll get to Discworld. Eventually.

Out of curiosity, which story was that? I'm a big fan of Asimov.
Please do, you'll be glad that you did.
Just be aware that the first couple of books are a bit different to the rest of the series. They're not bad at all, but it is evident that he was still working on the cast and the universe then, and they hadn't quite settled down to their final form yet. Generally, I think the series just gets better and better as it progresses.
The books are written in (more or less) chronological order, but you don't need to read them exactly like that. There are several different "story arcs" so to speak, with different main characters, and some of those go well together. On the other hand, there are a lot of references to stuff that happened in earlier books, so jumping around freely in the series is not a good idea. I'd avise consulting one of the numerous reading guides for the series.

I can't remember, but the prologue began with the protagonist in a conference with another man, demanding him not to start a holocaust by obliterating a planet, or something along those lines. The next chapter started off with the protagonist in a mining facility, where the other workers gave him the nickname of "Crazy Man". Although, I have to concede, I was rather tired when I embarked on reading it. I've heard a lot of good things about Asimov, so I'll likely give the book another shot, as I have with several others before.

This. When I introduce new people to him I tend to give them the first book in each series except the wizards and book 2 with esme ( wyrd sisters is the earliest I give them though sometimes Mort if I think death will catch their attention) Guards Guards works well theres something about carrot the 6foot dwarf that makes people laugh

Oddly enough, that rings no bells whatsoever. Of course, I haven't read everything by Asimov, but I've read a fair bit and I don't recognize that at all.
For starting out with Asimov, I'd recommend "I, Robot" and "The Rest Of The Robots" and then maybe the Foundation novels (only his own, not the ones written later by other authors).

Yeah, Death and Sam Vimes are my favourite characters.

I had to completely skip the first story of the little girl in I, Robot because it was just way, way too sugar coated, but I really liked the rest of the book. It's basically nothing but an exploration of the side-effects of his 3 Laws of Robotics, and he handles it very well.

Yeah, but then that story is, I think, one of the first he ever wrote. And you're right, it's not a good story. But the rest of them are excellent.

I'll let you know the book name if I can find it again. Thanks for the recommendations. I didn't know where to start with Asimov, so this is definitely helpful.

I'll throw "The Caves Of Steel" in between the robot collections and the Foundation series. It's the first of his robot novels. After reading that, you may want to read the other robot novels, but that is up to you.

Hmm, the new GOG appears to have swallowed my response...

Asimov's best short story IMO: The Last Question

I've been meaning to read Going Postal ever since reading Making Money. I got side tracked by the Tiffany Aching books. I didn't care for the "coming of age" bit as much as I enjoyed the Feegles. By the time I got done with them, my bookstore got in every book ever released from The Black Library, so I bought all the omnibuses and are working on them now. The Founding is the best so far.

This is a damn good story, and available for free? It's worth your time! I have a large anthology of his, and he can be hit or miss, but this is one of the really good ones.

Oh, and Terry Pratchett's new Tiffany Aching book is coming out on the 28th, at least here in the States. Buy it! Doooo eeeeeeet!

It's been out over a month in the UK and it is GOOOOOOOOOOD remember this one is a FULL discworld book however so theres some themes in it really not suitable for young readers.




*SPOILERS*
Like the fact a father beats his 13 year old pregnant daughter till she miscarries -.-