1984

I had to read a book for my english class. and I ran out of time, so I just picked one by default that i grabbed off a shelf. and it was 1984 by George Orwell. Come to find out it was an amazing book and i'd recommend it to everybody.

 

I was actually going to start a thread asking about this book. Is it good? I bought it last night at Books-A-Million, but I haven't read it yet. I'll probably start it tonight.
xoxo, Chely

 

1984 is on my shelf but right now I am reading A Brave New World. Just finished Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury a must read.

 

It's a book that's so good.I definitly feel like Winston though.
We're watched every second,told what to do.Still living in parania
really.
Governments are omnipotent.We never saw the"red scourge"
in a high tech age did we?It could be scary.We've got so many
natural disasters to worry about these days as well as political
ones.

 

1984 is great and if you like that you'll defintley like Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I studied them both in college.

 

Slutter, You are completely wrong. 1984 is a far superior book. Huxley's use of language is elementary at best, and besides Orwell was a socialist.

 

I enjoyed this book. A unique insight into the exploiation of normal people by the establishment. Strikingly similar to the way things are progressing in 2006. Continuing monitoring of people with CCTV cameras, the proposals to introduction ID cards and the increasing willingness of the government to infringe on people's human rights by having us in a constant state of surveillance.

A great, prophtic book for any intelligent reader. I highly recommend.

 

all of that was in a british tv series call = The Prisoner, in early mid 60s way ahead of that book.

 

I can't believe that you think Huxley's use of language is elementary at best. Perhaps you should read more of his work. I would recommend Island if you haven't read it.

 

I'm actually in the middle of reading 1984, right now. I find it to be very thought provoking and exciting. I'm really diggin it.

 

I read 1984 on holiday a couple of years back (light reading I know) and I found it really thought-provoking. Always been interested in Russian history so I guess maybe I was drawn to a lot of the Communist parallels, but in general I think it's a great book!

 

Nineteen Eighty-Four was first published in 1949, so how can a TV show that was produced in the mid 60s be well ahead of it?

 

1984, Brave New World, and Farenheight 451 are all some of my favorite books. i recomend all three.

 

Exactly he wrote it in 1948, that's what make it so special.

 

I know when I was in high school many years ago...1984 was required reading...and it is such a shame our school system doesn't have this master-piece as required reading any more....I guess it is all part of the dumbing of america which is taking place

 

Never a truer word spoken. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who feels this way. I was begining to feel paranoid and keep my opinion inhibited. The biggest excuse we are given today in most countries is that funding is held back on education, while more and more arms are produced for unnecessary conflicts with third world nations.

This book, and a few others, such as Brave New World, and Animal Farm etc. are still available in libraries, and yet students of a younger generation are not illuminated to the essential reading that will provide a guideline for their future.

Nineteen Eighty-Four was aimed at exposing the tyranny of Stalinism. If, however, the education Mandarins think that all is safe now that the USSR is but a memory, and that the monsters of totalitarianism are long since extinct, then perhaps we brought out the sparkling champagne out too early to celebrate.

The monster is still in our back yard. It is sitting there pretending to be dead, but growing day-by-day. Already it has invaded our homes, our schools, our workplaces. Its hive is no longer in Moscow. It breeds inside a big white house on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The monsters tell you that we are fighting a War On Terrorism, but we are not. We are fighting a War Against Ignorance, and we are losing. The monster feeds on our ignorance and multiplies from it.

If you want to combat it, no matter how much you've been put off as a kid by teachers who were employed to do just that, you have to read, read and read.

We will never agree on everything. True democracy dwells on the variety of different ideas. But at least we will be able to construct an opinion, rather than open up a packaged one that has been prepared for us, courtesy of the State Department and its delivery rodents, the media.

Read as many good books as you can, no matter how trivial they may seem, or out of date. Fight the biggest killer threatening our species, ignorance.

 

I love that book.I've read it countless times.

 

I never studied 1984 in school, but was lucky enough to study Animal Farm which is another of Orwells greats.

 

1984 is a compelling book. As is Animal Farm.
Orwell also wrote some fine journalism, printed in book form: The Road To Wigan Pier, Down and Out in Paris etc.
There are also a collection of his essays in book form called As I Please.
Orwell was an English upper-class apologist for his class.

He was, in fact, a pseudo-socialist snob who believed that educated, high-born 'intellectuals' could lead a revolution in British society.
Complete nonsense, off course, but that doesn't mean you cannot take something from his writings.

 

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but if we are going to make a statement that is supposed to be factual, it would be worth some merit to base it on some documented evidence