Brave New World was a lot better, if you ask me.

Have you read any other orwell books Urbane? I am thinking for example of Homage to Catalonia, or The Road to Wigan Pier.

Orwell was a socialist. What gives 1984 its power is that it is written by someone who had a profound belief in workers' rights and the possibilities that abound in revolution. It was not (as is it is sometimes read to be) an attack on the left, nor on socialism. It is a satire on the possibility of political tyrrany in the future; an attack on the betrayal of the left by those who were supposed to inspire fairness, of the communist elite who had forgotten what they were fighting for and of the labour government who had done so little for the rights and living standards of workers in Britain.

Political tyranny comes in many forms Urbane.....not all of them are collectivist. The system which Orwell saw as most culpable in the world was that of capitalism.

I read the beginning of Brave New World but stopped, I'm planning on finishing it sometime by the end of the year.

Good book, I actually don't know why I stopped. Supposedly their is a book called "We" that is like both "1984" and "Brave New World". Haven't looked into it yet.

Both Brave New World and 1984 are extremely powerful works, forming, as UG has said, two bookends framing the dystpias' of the human race. I read them both in my early teens, way back in the sixties, and from my perspective both have become chillingly prophetic, from Orwell's double-speak (the now de-facto mode for our current politicions) and mind-control to Huxley's geneteic engineering and designer babies.

"We" is interesting, but not as good a read as either Brave New World or 1984. Here is an online version. I briefly skimmed it, seems to all be there (I read a borrowed copy years ago myself, but I think I remember the salient points).

I finished BNW wishing our Government controlled us with soma.... I finished 1984 wanting to read everything that Geo Orwell wrote. Dana - Homage to Catalonia is in my Top 10 books of all time. I take it as a stand-by anywhere that I'm unsure of the travel time or the wait at the other end. I've read it waiting for so many job interviews over the years that it automatically has a calming effect on me now.

I prefer Voltaire, y'know? I don't know why...I guess I just like saying, "Voltaire."

Read Animal Farm (loved) read BNW (loved) and Atlas Shrugged (despised) but never 1984. Do the above reads exempt me from reading 1984?

What was it that you despised about Rand? Was it just AS or have you tackled the Fountainhead too?

I know a number of people who have a love have relationship with the book, as well as the philosophy therein.

I liked them - but I no longer agree philosophically with the books as I did when I first read them. I don't have the time or mental energy to dig into them again and figure out what changed about me. I wish I did, but I don't :(

Well, for starters, her Luke and Laura-like plot--man rapes woman and then raped woman falls in love with rapist. RIIIIIIIIght.

Hated FountainHead even more.

Hate her politics. Odious.

Ever read Nathaniel Branden's bio of her?

Read it. Read it for the story at least. It will round out the cultural allusions you've heard for years.

And bear in mind that many of the ridiculous shortages suffered by the populace were fact at the time Orwell wrote it. To an extent we still are subject to baffling shortages. As Bill Bryson noted in Notes From A Small Island - try getting bread from a British supermarket on a Saturday afternoon! Or in my experience, any kind of fruit at all after 14.00 on Sundays.

Not to hijack the thread, but if you haven't read Notes then I suggest you do - especially those of you with a sympathy for this sceptered isle. It's very affectionate rather than warts n all, but it made me laugh so hard I disturbed a whole carriage on the Circle & District line one drowsy weekday afternoon.

Brianna, the ones you've read are great books, but I think 1984 is a better story. The plot is genuinely engaging and the characters have a very three dimensional feel. The love story between Winston and Julia is beautiful and tragic. Well worth a read:)

I'll chime in here that 1984 is a good book. Actually good to read in addition to being important.

FYI: wolf inspired me to listen to the Eurythmics' 1984 movie soundtrack on my commute home last night. I love 80's synthesizer music.

Bowie's Diamond Dogs is better, IMHO.

Diamond Dogs :) Man I loved that album. I remember my best mate and I were mad into Bowie when we were about 15, and we found a copy of Diamond Dogs in a second hand record shop. We went halves on it :P

Vangelis, soundtrack to Blade Runner.

IMNSHO--Annie Lennox sucked!