The challenge with trying to review a book by the inimitable Terry Pratchett is finding something to say that hasn’t already been said. The man’s unquestionable skill as a writer and the extensive body of his work makes it all but impossible to say anything about a new addition that hasn’t already been said—often.

I had the pleasure of receiving an advance copy of the newest Pratchett, Unseen Academicals, from the publisher, Harper. And trust me, it was very much a pleasure because once again Mr. Pratchett has cast his sharp eye and even sharper critical skills on two cultural phenomena that cry out for both--organized sports and the groves of academe.

Frequent visitors to Discworld are familiar with Unseen University, where the best of the world’s wizards, warlocks, sorcerers and magicians impart their wisdom whenever unable to avoid doing so and occupy the remainder of their time ensuring they do not suffer from malnutrition or lack of beverages suitable to accompany their comestibles.

In the mean streets of Ankh-Morpork, meanwhile, the citizenry engages in what passes for regular games of foot-the-ball, a game of long standing which leaves few of its players in the same position. In fact, football, as played in Ankh-Morpork, is essentially a gang war with cheerleaders.

It would seem these two societies would never have occasion to meet, but that’s not how Mr. Pratchett works. No, in Unseen Academicals, the faculty of UU are informed their steady supply of dining pleasure is based on an endowment that requires the university engage in a sports competition at least once every twenty years or lose their funding. And the twenty years since the last engagement are just about up.

The quartet whom we follow through the madness that follows are an engaging and eclectic group: Trevor Lively, whose late father was the last man to score four times in a game--and was killed in the process; Nutt, an alleged goblin who works with Trevor in the cellars of UU as a candle-dripper; Glenda Silverbean, the supervisor of the UU Night Kitchen, and her beautiful if not terribly bright neighbor, Juliet Stollop.

Many writers in the satirical vein would have left Juliet as she first appears, which is as someone for whom the term “dumb blonde” is high praise.

“Juliet was still reading as they waited for the horse bus. Such sudden devotion to a printed page worried Glenda. The last thing she wanted was to see her friend getting ideas in her head. There was such a lot of room in there for them to bounce around and do damage.”

Reading that might incline the reader to judge Glenda harshly, but that would be leaping to conclusions. Glenda is the kind of earth-mother character many either have in their family or wish they did--the steady-minded, practical, efficient woman who may not heap praise on your head but will always be there to bandage the hurts and fight for justice when the world turns against you. In her view, she’s not judgmental but clear-sighted, seeing both the virtues and flaws in those she loves.

“She didn’t have a career; they were for people who couldn’t hold down jobs.”

The pivotal character, however, is Nutt. He is a mystery, a creature clearly not human placed into service at the university by powerful people for reasons even he doesn’t seem to understand. It would seem that being a pivot is precisely why he’s there, not just to drive the story, with all its many threads, but to bring about the growth of those who come to care about him despite his differences.

“He was good at liking people. When you clearly liked people, they were slightly more inclined to like you. Every little helped.”

Nutt is the icon of the underlying lesson of Unseen Academicals. All of the varied threads and subthreads focus on the simple yet hard to implement idea that judging people on their surface appearance--whether it be Nutt or Juliet or even the seemingly “normal” Trev and Glenda, is shortsighted. In a world where people are deemed threatening solely on the basis of the color of their skin or their country of origin or their religious beliefs, this book warns that we risk depriving ourselves and our world of not just the wonderful uniqueness of the individual but also of any contributions they might make to society as a whole.

However, another lesson lurks in the alleys of Ankh-Morpork and the labyrinthine halls of Unseen U. That lesson is that sometimes what we tell ourselves is practicality is, in fact, fear of stepping beyond our comfort zone to see just what we, and those we care about, are capable of. If we trust and believe in ourselves, if we step beyond our self-imposed limits, we may just discover there really are no limits to what we can achieve.

JOIN CHESTER AARON THIS SUNDAY ON PODCAST RADIO

Judy Gregerson hosts Zumayan Chester Aaron, internationally known expert on garlic and award-winning author of Garlic Kisses, Whispers and Willa's Poppy on Sunday, 10 August, at 2 p.m. on her Podcast radio program The Real Connection.

Join Judy and Chester by signing in at The Real Connection for THE MANY FACES OF SURVIVAL.

Dachau Liberator, medical whistle-blower, award winning writer, college professor and world renowned garlic farmer, Chester Aaron talks about the hard choices he’s had to make, why he made them, and how it’s changed his life.

Mr. Aaron was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, and received the Huntington Hartford Foundation fellowship, which was chaired by Aldous Huxley and Thomas Mann. He also inspired Ralph Nader to expose the over-radiation of blacks in American hospitals.

Now Mr. Aaron is a world-renowned garlic farmer who spends his days writing about the liberation of Dachau. He is 86 years old and he has a thousand stories to tell. Although he has published more than 17 books, he is still writing more and looks forward to publishing again soon.