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A Slip of the Keyboard by Terry Pratchett
From dispatches on storytelling to hilariously human observations, Terry Pratchett’s voice shines in A Slip of the Keyboard. These essays offer warmth, wit, and wisdom from a beloved satirist—perfect for anyone who loves craft, compassion, and a cleverly aimed joke.
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In A Slip of the Keyboard, did you enjoy ...
... dry, sideways humor in personal essays and oddments?
The Salmon Of Doubt by Douglas Adams
If the wry asides and mischievous footnote energy in A Slip of the Keyboard made you grin—especially the convention anecdotes and gently barbed observations—Adams’s posthumous grab‑bag will feel like finding a long-lost cousin. The Salmon of Doubt mixes essays, talks, and fragments with the same deadpan, brainy wit you enjoyed in Pratchett’s musings about genre, fandom, and everyday absurdities, delivering laugh-out-loud lines alongside sly, thoughtful jabs.
... barbed, commonsense satire of bureaucracy and spin?
Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley
Pratchett’s sharp jabs at puffed-up officials and the nonsense of bureaucratic double-speak in A Slip of the Keyboard find a biting fictional mirror here. Buckley’s novel follows Nick Naylor, a tobacco lobbyist who weaponizes language the way Pratchett skewers it—exposing how words can be twisted to sell anything. If you relished Pratchett’s tart essays on politics and public rhetoric, this razor-edged satire will hit the same nerve and keep you smirking.
... short, mischievous essays that ping-pong from travel snafus to life’s oddities?
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Part of the charm of A Slip of the Keyboard is how it hopscotches from travel pieces to backstage publishing moments to eccentric observations. Sedaris delivers that same breezy, vignette-by-vignette delight. His tales—from language-class humiliations to family quirks—mirror the quick, crystalline punchlines and humane undercurrent you enjoyed in Pratchett’s lighter essays and tour recollections.
... thoughtful, humane reflections on storytelling, ethics, and why fantasy matters?
The Wave in the Mind by Ursula K. Le Guin
If A Slip of the Keyboard moved you with the reflective depth of pieces like “Shaking Hands with Death” and the way Pratchett teases out big ideas from everyday sense, Le Guin’s essays will feel like a wise conversation. She explores how stories shape moral imagination, why language matters, and what responsibility writers carry—echoing the same compassionate, lucid inquiry that runs beneath Pratchett’s humor.
... impassioned defenses of libraries, literacy, and the right to read?
The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman
Pratchett’s advocacy in A Slip of the Keyboard—from his love-letter to public libraries to his fierce stance against censorship—meets its match in Gaiman’s speeches and essays. Pieces like his talk on why libraries and daydreaming matter carry the same heartfelt conviction and plainspoken clarity. If those moments of moral spine and cultural stewardship resonated with you, this collection will, too.
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