Herdo said:
I am thinking about watching the Game of Thrones but do I have to read the book series first or can I jump straight into the TV series without being completely lost?
The TV is an adaptation of the books. It's reasonably faithful, but there were always going to have to be changes in order to put it on TV.
As I'm sure you're aware, they're lengthy books, so it kind of matters how much you can be bothered to read.
Each series adapts one book, but season three only covers the first half of book 3.
I say give the first season a go, if you like it lots, read the books. If you're indifferent, just watch the TV.
Though you're going to have to wait for a year for the next episodes.