article_snippet: London (CNN)Best-selling British fantasy author Terry Pratchett has died at the age of 66, CNN)Best-selling British fantasy author Terry Pratchett said Thursday.
article_snippet: Pratchett, who wrote more than 70 books, including those in CNN)Best-selling British fantasy author Terry Pratchett "Discworld" series, had been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease in 2007.
article_snippet: A statement on his website announced the news of CNN)Best-selling British fantasy author Terry Pratchett death at home Thursday with "immeasurable sadness."
article_snippet: "I was deeply saddened to learn that Author Terry Pratchett has died.
article_snippet: In over 70 books, Author Terry Pratchett enriched the planet like few before Author Terry Pratchett.
article_snippet: As all who read Author Terry Pratchett know, 'Discworld' was Author Terry Pratchett vehicle to satirize The world:
article_snippet: Author Terry Pratchett did so brilliantly, with great skill, enormous humor and constant invention.
article_snippet: Author Terry Pratchett continued to write following Author Terry Pratchett diagnosis, completing Author Terry Pratchett last book, a new Discworld novel, in the summer of 2014.
article_snippet: Revealing Author Terry Pratchett illness in 2007, the author -- who had a strong following among fans of fantasy fiction -- said Author Terry Pratchett had been diagnosed with "a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer's," which Author Terry Pratchett described as "an embuggerance.
article_snippet: Author Terry Pratchett said then, "Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet."
article_snippet: According to Thursday's statement, Author Terry Pratchett had posterior cortical atrophy, a progressive degenerative condition involving the loss and dysfunction of brain cells, particularly at the back of the brain.
article_snippet: The last posts on Author Terry Pratchett verified Twitter account, run by Author Terry Pratchett with close friend Rob Wilkins, give a poignant farewell -- and have already been retweeted thousands of times.
article_snippet: Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, a charitable organization, said Pratchett -- who spoke out publicly about SIR TERRY condition and called for greater funding for Alzheimer's research -- had "fundamentally changed the way dementia is seen and understood.
article_snippet: Pratchett was also a patron of the British Humanist Association, which paid tribute Thursday to the humor and dedication with which the author "turned SIR TERRY suffering into a positive campaign.
article_snippet: Pratchett, who began writing while a provincial newspaper journalist in the 1960s, became a full time writer in 1987 and received the Order of the British Empire "for services to literature" from Prince Charles in 1998.
highlights_snippet: Author Terry Pratchett has died age 66, Author Terry Pratchett website says .
  
highlights_snippet: In over 70 books, Author Terry Pratchett enriched the planet like few before Author Terry Pratchett," says publisher .