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I know people love 1984 but I found it exceedingly boring when I tried to read it. But it does have some very interesting ideas. My issue with 1984 may have bee

I know people love 1984 but I found it exceedingly boring when I tried to read it. But it does have some very interesting ideas. My issue with 1984 may have been prior exposure to it's best ideas elsewhere. Orwell is a great writer, highly recommend both "Homage to Catalonia" and "Animal Farm". Complex topics written in an accessible style.

dusted 5y ago
Yea, I'm not sure how well it'd have fared with me if I'd read it in my 20's, but at 13, it was mostly new stuff to me (this was also before The Internet was really so much a thing, so my exposure to ideas was somewhat limited).. I did also enjoy the dystopian style described, I still remember it described the hallway as "smelling like cabbage" and I pondered the significance of this and found that cabbage was "poor people food" and other such details that enriched my experience, but yeah.. I'd be surprised if some single book could introduce wholly novel and interesting ideas into an informed adult in 2022. LaVeys bible would be a healthy read for a lot of people I think, but it's kind of difficult to convince people to read that one..
strzibny 5y ago
I think Animal Farm is better.
rramadass 5y ago
1984 is not boring; it takes commitment to read and think about the idea of "Power" it paints. Once you "get it" it can be Worldview altering. It may talk about "The Party" but that is just a stand-in for any Group; for example, think of any "Religion" and its hold on its followers. Here is O'Brien's monologue on "Power"; read it and see how widely it is applicable - https://artist-tyrant.tumblr.com/post/69668613937/obriens-monologue-1984 https://artist-tyrant.tumblr.com/post/69668613937/obriens-mo...
- ImaCake 5y ago
  >1984 is not boring Maybe not for you. But it was for me. I am not sure how claiming that it is not boring for all people could be true (implied by your comment). Much easier to defend the counterfactual that all topics are boring to at least one person. It's not like I was not interested in the ideas in the book. Merely I had seen them explored elsewhere before I bothered to try and read 1984.

dusted 5y ago

Yea, I'm not sure how well it'd have fared with me if I'd read it in my 20's, but at 13, it was mostly new stuff to me (this was also before The Internet was really so much a thing, so my exposure to ideas was somewhat limited).. I did also enjoy the dystopian style described, I still remember it described the hallway as "smelling like cabbage" and I pondered the significance of this and found that cabbage was "poor people food" and other such details that enriched my experience, but yeah.. I'd be surprised if some single book could introduce wholly novel and interesting ideas into an informed adult in 2022. LaVeys bible would be a healthy read for a lot of people I think, but it's kind of difficult to convince people to read that one..

strzibny 5y ago

I think Animal Farm is better.

rramadass 5y ago

1984 is not boring; it takes commitment to read and think about the idea of "Power" it paints. Once you "get it" it can be Worldview altering. It may talk about "The Party" but that is just a stand-in for any Group; for example, think of any "Religion" and its hold on its followers. Here is O'Brien's monologue on "Power"; read it and see how widely it is applicable - https://artist-tyrant.tumblr.com/post/69668613937/obriens-monologue-1984 https://artist-tyrant.tumblr.com/post/69668613937/obriens-mo...

ImaCake 5y ago
>1984 is not boring Maybe not for you. But it was for me. I am not sure how claiming that it is not boring for all people could be true (implied by your comment). Much easier to defend the counterfactual that all topics are boring to at least one person. It's not like I was not interested in the ideas in the book. Merely I had seen them explored elsewhere before I bothered to try and read 1984.