I havent read this yet but i just may!!

I hear this is when things started going downhill :(

1984.pdf

I havent read it, but I read a summary, and saw the film ages ago.

I read it ages ago in high school.

it was required reading in the 80s.  we read it in high school in 1983.

Read it, hated it but not as much as I hated Animal Farm.

Read it, hated it but not as much as I hated Animal Farm.


that was another one from the high school list.

1984
Animal Farm
the Effect of Gamma rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds
Tale of Two Cities
somtihng by Stephen Crane
Grapes of Wrath
Macbeth

Read it, hated it but not as much as I hated Animal Farm.
I was forced to Animal Farm when at school. Several of the other boys in my class were giggling at it, for they did not realise the true meaning of the book.

I was forced to Animal Farm when at school. Several of the other boys in my class were giggling at it, for they did not realise the true meaning of the book.
The poor horse.  :(

The poor horse.  :(
Yes, I know and with the other boys in the class, I good not get to appreciate the book properly.

I was forced to Animal Farm when at school. Several of the other boys in my class were giggling at it, for they did not realise the true meaning of the book.


Yes well we got sniggered at for Animal Farm too because they thought we were watching bestiality porn, lol.

I have read 'Animal Farm' and '1984' and enjoyed them. They were a breath of fresh air after reading material from that old wind-bag Thomas Hardy, lol.

Yes well we got sniggered at for Animal Farm too because they thought we were watching bestiality porn, lol.

I have read 'Animal Farm' and '1984' and enjoyed them. They were a breath of fresh air after reading material from that old wind-bag Thomas Hardy, lol.
I feel that it is time to pick these books up and read them.

Haven't read it...but I've heard of it!

Never heard of it.

it was required reading in the 80s.  we read it in high school in 1983.


Probably be banned reading any year now...


Read it, hated it but not as much as I hated Animal Farm.


Not to worry, as it'll eventually be banned... but out of curiosity, why'd you hate it?  (Or was it just because most English teachers/professors try their damndest to turn every work of literature into a bore?)

I have not read it, not did I see the movie, but I do love the soundtrack to the film, composed by the Eurythmics.  The song 'Sex Crime (1984)' was a Top 40 hit in both Canada and the UK

I have not read it, not did I see the movie, but I do love the soundtrack to the film, composed by the Eurythmics.  The song 'Sex Crime (1984)' was a Top 40 hit in both Canada and the UK


Google around.  It's actually a relatively short book, and the full text is available online.  Easily readable in an afternoon, no money required, and we're not yet at the point where the act of reading it is sufficient to require corrective action. 

It really is required reading these days.  Orwell wrote it as a warning of what not to do, but in doing so, he unintentionally provided (or intentionally leaked, since it's hardly a secret to the sort of people who matter :) a HOWTO or functional specification of what to do if you wanted to take over the world.  I'll neither confirm nor deny that I have a dog-eared copy from my high-school days that has checkmarks in the margins every time we design and implement a technology or concept that was impossible to build when the book was first written in 1948.  Suffice it to say that everything is now technologically feasible, and about half of it has now been implemented in at least demonstration-level projects. 

But it's not just about technology; after reading the novel, google for Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language".  Read it while listening to the movie soundtrack -- not the Eurythmics' Sexcrime, but the Eurythmics' Doubleplusgood, also from the movie soundtrack and available from the usual sources.  Just put it on background listening volume and put it on repeat as you grok the essay.  Annie nails the diction.  The track is almost trancelike; you could loop it 24/7 and meditate to it, which is how Newspeak was designed to work. 

Then ponder the testimony of various officials - most recently on whether waterboarding is torture, or whether or not we torture, or whether or not we waterboard.  1984's concepts of blackwhite, doublespeak and duckspeak (as something that can be simultaneously a compliment and perjorative) aren't fiction.  To borrow from Heinlein, Orwell grokked not just language, but human psychology, and specifically the psychopathology of power, in its fullness.

But what do I know?  I'm just an oldthinker, and oldthinkers unbellyfeel AmSoc. See you in Room 101.

I haven't read the book, but I do remember the very famous Super Bowl commercial that was partially inspired by it.

Probably be banned reading any year now...I wouldnt doubt it :(

It was required reading in year 12  (1976).

What's Love Got To Do With It was in the Top 10 in 1984.

February 26th 1984 - US troops withdraw from Beirut. President Ronald Reagan had sent the troops as a peacekeeping force in August 1982.

What's Love Got To Do With It was in the Top 10 in 1984.


What's that got to do with the book 1984? lol

If I past by a library when I am out today, I will see if a copy of 1984 is on the shelf and I will read the first chapter.

What's that got to do with the book 1984? lol


I thought maybe could change subjects for a moment.

What's Love Got To Do With It was in the Top 10 in 1984.


LMAO!!! How random!  ;D

George Orwell is my favorite writer.  I've read everything he ever wrote (except for some of his newspaper columns and journal entries).  I first read "1984" in 1984.  I started it, coincidentally, on April 4th, the same day Winston starts his diary. 


I have not read it, not did I see the movie, but I do love the soundtrack to the film, composed by the Eurythmics.  The song 'Sex Crime (1984)' was a Top 40 hit in both Canada and the UK

I refer to that album as the "1984 Suite."  It hardly qualifies as a soundtrack because so little of that music actually appears in the film.  You'll notice most of the incidental music is from Dominic Muldowney's score, as Michael Radford intended.  Virgin Films hired Eurythmics without telling Radford, but Radford had already hired Muldowney.  Virgin Films dubbed some of the Eurythmics score into the final cut, which enraged Radford so much he withdrew the film from the BAFTA awards where it was up for Best Picture.  Radford also denounced the Eurythmics' involvment in the project in his acceptance speech for the Evening Standard Film of the Year award. 

I always liked what Eurythmics did for the film.  Virgin Films originally wanted David Bowie (think Diamond Dogs) but they couldn't afford him. 

To avoid:

The 1956 film "1984" starring Edmond O'Brien and Jan Sterling. Cheap sci-fi lacking integrity to the story.

The 1999 TV movie of "Animal Farm" starring Pete Postlethwaite, Kelsey Grammer, and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss.  Fable?  More like feeble!

The 1954 cartoon adaptation of "Animal Farm" by Joy Batchelor is still pretty good. 

The 1954 cartoon adaptation of "Animal Farm" by Joy Batchelor is still pretty good. 


I watched the cartoon when I was little before I realised what the book was about. It is a very effective adaption. :)

If I past by a library when I am out today, I will see if a copy of 1984 is on the shelf and I will read the first chapter.
The library had already closed for the day.

The library had already closed for the day.
No excuse I can go on Monday!

What Events happened In 1984

Indian Prime minister Indria Ghandi assassinated


Widespread Famine in Ethiopia after political conflict with charities believing as many as 10 million people are facing starvation


Hundreds die from the effects of toxic gases which leak from the Bhopal Union Carbide Factory


The UK and China agree Hong Kong will revert to China in 1997


A Man shoots 20 dead and wounds 16 in McDonalds Restaurant in San Ysidro California

I want to read it now!

I want to read it now!


The full texts of 1984 and Animal Farm are available for free online, in both HTML and PDF forms.  Google around a bit.  The term "full text" (with the quotes) may help.

The full texts of 1984 and Animal Farm are available for free online, in both HTML and PDF forms.  Google around a bit.  The term "full text" (with the quotes) may help.
I would rather read from the book, not staring at the computer screen, read it while travelling, aslo it would be excessive to print it out.

I would rather read from the book, not staring at the computer screen, read it while travelling, aslo it would be excessive to print it out.


I can relate to that -- the e-book is getting close, but it's not quite there yet. 

Either book should be available in dead-tree format at any large bookstore.  Buy it with dead-tree cash, just to be safe. 

We can assume for the moment that the timestamps on the anti-shoplifting camera feeds aren't cross-referenced with facial recognition systems and inventory management systems in order to break anonymity.  An outer join of "the facial recognition system says the guy in front of register 4 at 11:48 on the anti-theft cams is some dude named Philip Eno" and "the inventory management database says that the cashier at register 4 sold a copy of 1984 at 11:48, and the customer paid in cash" would be trivial to perform.  The second database table (which cashier sold which books at which time) already exists, but the first database table (since he didn't use his credit card, we have to link "blurry blob on a security camera" to a real human's facial image) doesn't exist yet.  With the possible exception of the casino industry, automated facial recognition systems are too expensive for commercial use, and books are such low-margin items that any bookseller trying to break the anonymity of cash book buyers in order to better target them with advertising would lose money.  It's more profitable to ignore the cash customers and concentrate on sending targeted advertising to the 75% of your customer base that uses their credit cards to buy books. 

10-20 years from now, cameras will be good enough (and databases of facial features and real-life identities will be full enough) that facial recognition systems will be cheap enough that everyone's purchases will be tracked for marketing purposes whether you pay with cash or credit, but we're not there yet.

So get thee to the bookstore and buy 1984 while you can still do so anonymously.  Then come here and tell NSA all about it!

I can relate to that -- the e-book is getting close, but it's not quite there yet. 

Either book should be available in dead-tree format at any large bookstore.  Buy it with dead-tree cash, just to be safe. 

We can assume for the moment that the timestamps on the anti-shoplifting camera feeds aren't cross-referenced with facial recognition systems and inventory management systems in order to break anonymity.  An outer join of "the facial recognition system says the guy in front of register 4 at 11:48 on the anti-theft cams is some dude named Philip Eno" and "the inventory management database says that the cashier at register 4 sold a copy of 1984 at 11:48, and the customer paid in cash" would be trivial to perform.  The second database table (which cashier sold which books at which time) already exists, but the first database table (since he didn't use his credit card, we have to link "blurry blob on a security camera" to a real human's facial image) doesn't exist yet.  With the possible exception of the casino industry, automated facial recognition systems are too expensive for commercial use, and books are such low-margin items that any bookseller trying to break the anonymity of cash book buyers in order to better target them with advertising would lose money.  It's more profitable to ignore the cash customers and concentrate on sending targeted advertising to the 75% of your customer base that uses their credit cards to buy books. 

10-20 years from now, cameras will be good enough (and databases of facial features and real-life identities will be full enough) that facial recognition systems will be cheap enough that everyone's purchases will be tracked for marketing purposes whether you pay with cash or credit, but we're not there yet.

So get thee to the bookstore and buy 1984 while you can still do so anonymously.  Then come here and tell NSA all about it!
A charity shop will do me fine, it is just any copy (in book form) I wish to read.