Nineteen Eighty-Four - great book

[Robert]

I'm just reading Nineteen_Eighty-Four (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four) (by George Orwell) for the first time, and I think it is great!

:rockya

It was published in 1949, but it seems so fresh when reading it. Totalitarianism sure exists today too, and the fears the book centers around are still just as valid as ever.

Recommended read!

If you'll excuse me, I need to go get me another cup of Victory Coffee... from the Ministry of Plenty.

[Eric]

Hmm. I should re-read that some day. Isn't Brave New World supposed to be a similar sort of dystopian novel? I've been meaning to read that one for a while.

[bcdon]

Hmm. I should re-read that some day. Isn't Brave New World supposed to be a similar sort of dystopian novel? I've been meaning to read that one for a while.

1984 is my favorite book. It's more than a work of fiction as the concept of thought crime and double think explain a lot of the world today. Brave New World is similar to 1984 but instead of using 1984's heavy-handed police-state control it instead uses control via medication (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma).

If you want to understand the world today, look no further then the philosophical underpinnings that are dramatized in 1984. And it's a good bit of fiction too! :dude

[bcdon]

BTW, you can download the PDF from archive.org here (http://www.archive.org/download/1984ByGeorgeOrwell_236/1984-george-orwell-1937-dystopia.pdf).

[Bookkeeper's Son]

Brave New World was amazingly prescient, too.

[Robert]

What's with the smell of boiled cabbage anyway?

[piebaldpython]

My daughter was the voice of the Narrator in her High School production of "1984" about 8 or 9 years ago. I had never read the book and was amazed at all that was entailed in the message of the play.

[aeolian]

When I read this book it wasn't even 1984, so to see what society was like when 1984 came around was interesting. I haven't read the book for a long while now, maybe I should.

My son's English class assigned "Animal Farm" this year and I re-read that book. I had forgotten most of it already and this second time is just as fresh and thought-provoking as the first time many decades ago.

[R_of_G]

One of my favorites.
It becomes more and more relevant all the time.
Orwell had everything right but the date.

[sunvalleylaw]

Yep. Great book. The actual year 1984 seems so long ago now, and seems so innocent as compared to our times.

[deeaa]

1984 is one of those books I think every kid has to learn in school here. Along with some others, I can't remember all of them but 1984 and Lord of the Flies at least were two mandatory ones.

Great stuff. Animal Farm is another great Orwell book. Huxley's Brave...also, totally classic of course. I've read all those at least twice.

[Robert]

Everyone should read this book. The ending is great too. :)

What a good writer. Not everyone is that skilled with words!

Now remember, Big Brother is watching you - RIGHT NOW! hahahaha