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Book review: Blood in the Machine, by Brian Merchant.

Chant no more your old rhymes about bold Robin Hood, His feats I but little admire. I will sing the achievements of General Ludd, Now the hero of Nottinghamshire.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a rare book which felt like it opened my eyes to something new; almost life-changing in some sense with the shift in perspective. The story of the Luddites and their fight to protect their way of life.

Nowadays of course, we think of a Luddite as a backwards, anti-technology person. Indeed, we use the word as an insult, to describe somebody who doesn't keep up with the times. But this is an excellent example of 'history written by the victors'.

The Luddites had a good, fulfilling way of life - they worked to their own schedule, they spent time with their families. They had a career for life, with progression guaranteed. They were weavers, knitters, stockingers, and the surrounding trades. Crucially, they relied heavily on technology to provide this way of life.

What they fought against was not technology, but automation and the factory system which allowed the new entrepreneurial class to rewrite the fabric of society - without their consent and against the laws of the time - in order to redistribute wealth into their hands. The technology which allowed the wealthy to deny them work and good wages, which forced them into a life of working for the benefit of the factory owners. In the words of the Luddite George Mellor, "a soul is of more value than work or gold."

The book gives a fascinating insight into a time of profound change, and compares it with our modern era where we can see many of the same patterns being repeated. The Luddites are written about with compassion and humanity, and Merchant gives them a respect and dignity which history has denied them.

Fantastic. Loved this one.

I think it's the third one in the Discworld series, chronologically, but it's the first one where I feel Sir Terry's true style became apparent.

In this novel, we meet for the first time Granny Weatherwax - probably my favourite Discworld character. Yes, there are many fantastic characters, but Granny Weatherwax always occupies a soft spot for me.

We learn about Borrowing, and how Granny can't Borrow bees; we encounter Headology - how people will believe certain things and words can prod them in the right direction.

The story itself is great - about a young girl, supposed to have been the eighth son of an eighth son - and therefore a wizard - she was in fact born a girl. So she inherits wizard magic in her genes, yet her genes do not match her physical appearance nor the way society treats her as a female. There's a strong element of equal rights between the genders (obviously, given the title), but I found it fascinating how Sir Terry seemed to touch on something deeper - that the bits we are born with between our legs do not define who are or what we are capable of.

I blasted through this in (for me) a very short space of time, every day I looked forward to reading it.

Feels like it aged very well, too.

#GNUTerryPratchett

I love this opening quote:

The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn’t sure it was worth all the effort.

This was a brilliant read. Really enjoyed it.

Where I felt the first one to be perhaps a little disjointed - lots of fun little scenes but maybe a bit less in the way of compelling overall narrative - this one is so much better.

I'm aware that Sir Terry recommended people ignore the first two books in the reading order, and whilst I can see why he may have said that about the first one, this one is very much worth reading.

It's funny, heartwarming, interesting; the main story is compelling and well-paced; there's plenty of sharp observations on humanity. His talent only develops upwards from here, of course, but the improvement between the first and second books is remarkable.

It's also got some incredible punes in it.

@bookstodon@a.gup.pe

#Discworld #GNUTerryPratchett