I'm not a very smart person, and never studied philosophy at school or college. I've been reading Discworld books since I was a wee little person and even though I've pretty thoroughly absorbed the messages to the best of my understanding, I'm sure there's lots I've missed.

I know this question has a bit of complexity in it, as someone like Vimes believes different things to the Patrician, or Granny Weatherwax, or Brutha, or Death.

Still, I feel like there might be something that links it all together and was wondering if anyone smarter than me might know?

Hello Tildes! I often find myself intimidated by authors of great sagas, trilogies upon trilogies, and dozens of standalone novels. How do I know which book (or series) to read first?

I've been recommended Terry Pratchett and Brandon Sanderson recently. I've read zero novels by either author. I've also been warned that there is a definitive best place in the canon to start, "and it's this one!" But then someone else interjects and says, "no, it's this one!" followed by passionate reasoning. Okay. If it is really worth starting somewhere in particular, where should I begin?

I'm unlikely to read an author's entire corpus. I just have too many books to read and not enough time. But I'm not opposed to reading longer series if they're really fun. I'd appreciate any input about these authors in particular and this problem in general. Thanks!