This is a biography of Terry Pratchett written by his assistant, Rob Wilkins. He says that Pratchett always meant to write an autobiography, and had lots of notes for the beginnings of one, but his early onset Alzheimer’s meant that it was never finished.
The image that I got of Terry through this book is of a working class man with a huge sense of passion and loyalty. He was fascinated with science, technology, mythology, and the human condition. He was also very much a workaholic, writing two books a year for many years in a row.
He also comes across as occasionally belligerent, having no qualms about speaking his mind very forcefully. At one point in the book it tells of how on first meeting Sean Astin he was happily telling him to his face that he had been miscast as Twoflower in the TV version of The Colour of Magic. He did however change his mind once he saw his performance, and they remained friends.
The book also mentions a time when he phoned his accountant asking what advice they would give him about the schemes he was hearing of in the news other accountants were using to help their clients avoid paying taxes. When the response was that he should just pay his due taxes he finished the phone call, and remarked that this was good as otherwise he would have been fired.
The final few sections in the book, when his disease started taking over, deeply affected me. It takes parts of him piece by piece, until he is a very confused man unable to do the things that he thought made him who he was.