I adore Terry Pratchett’s writing, but this book was harder for me to read than the others in Discworld, even though it’s so, so much better suited to me than, say, the first three he wrote. They were fun, but sexist; this one is the opposite of sexist, but hits me square in the feels. I think part of that is the knowledge that it’s the last book, that it was written with the help of Pratchett’s daughter, and that it was published posthumously.

I remember opening this book for the first time on the BART ride home, and struggling not to just sit in my seat bawling.

Spoilers for the next chapter and also the rest of the book, also tw for discussion of death:
V nz abg fher gur zhygvcyr gevttre jneavatf jrer rabhtu. Ohg V’z abg fher gurl pbhyq unir orra. Guvf obbx pnzr bhg sbe zr fbba nsgre zl pbhfva naq ure qnhtugre qvrq, naq vg’f vzcbffvoyr abg gb ernq gur arkg puncgre jvgubhg guvaxvat bs gurz, rira gubhtu gurl jrer gjragl-sbhe naq sbhe, naq qvrq va n pne nppvqrag. V nffhzr vg jnf zhpu gur fnzr sbe Znex, naq jvfu jr pbhyq unir jnearq uvz orggre jvgubhg fcbvyvat vg sbe uvz (abg fher gung’f cbffvoyr, whfg jvfu jr pbhyq unir.)

Gur jubyr obbx vf gvatrq jvgu fnqarff, sbe zr, rira gur ubcrshy ovgf yngre ba.

I agree, and Unir orra urnq-pbzcbfvat rznvyf gb Znex nyy qnl. Riraghnyyl V jvyy fraq uvz bar, ubcrshyyl orsber ur fgnegf.

I really wish there was an annotation for Samuel Rowbotham's "sexual pecadillos." I tried googling it, and all the references just come back to this book. I'm as curious as Mark is.

Welcome back, Mark! We’ve been thinking of you! Even my kids have asked how you’re doing.

I’m not sure I followed most of this chapter. I think summing it up as “the trousers of time” is about my level of understanding.

Jnvg, jnf guvf gur bar gung arrqf n fhvpvqr jneavat, gbb?

I'll be happy to forward one along, but it's been a while. Can you give me specifics to pass forward?

Edited for spoilers (rather generic spoilers, admittedly, but they speak to the overall theme of the book)

Rot13'd your comment for spoilers!

I was thinking about the workplace culture while Mark was commenting on it, too. I suspect it's fairly easy for it to become discriminatory.

My personal experience, from the hiring side, is that we mostly use it to classify arrogant white men. When I was first learning to hire, there was a guy I thought was a strong candidate for his knowledge base, who happened to be white and male; my boss rejected him on the basis of cultural fit. I asked for more clarification, and what my boss meant was that he condescended to me (I hadn't even noticed!) and they didn't want that kind of person on the staff. If they do it in an interview...

I've worked at a few other firms since then, and I've mostly seen it used in the same way: arrogance and condescension seemingly have no place in the companies I've worked at.

The exception that stands out in my mind was a woman who admitted during the interview to lying on her resume about an essential skill. That time, "not a cultural fit" meant: "we'd have been willing to train you, but telling us straight up that you wrote that you had the skill 'because it's a popular thing to put on resumes' was a bad answer. We don't take liars."

As I said, though, I can easily see that becoming a method of discrimination. The term is so broad and ill-defined that it'd be very, very easy for it to be an out for bigotry.

PBAFGNAG IVTVYNAPR!