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1984, George Orwell. I'm enjoying it. It's bleak and scary and messes with your mind. The only think I dislike is that the overall mood is "look at how wrong th
by Vaskivo 12y ago
1984, George Orwell. I'm enjoying it. It's bleak and scary and messes with your mind. The only think I dislike is that the overall mood is "look at how wrong this is". I was expecting a more detached and unemotional description of the setting, where all the "wrongness" would be creeping up in back of the reader's mind.
Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy, Simon Blackburn. Not enjoying it. It is a well written book, and reads easilly, but it's way of explaining the themes is just not good. It's long-winded, goes back and forth between the philosophers and the analogies are not very good. Maybe I'm too used to technical books, but I was expecting something like "Theme X. This is what philosopher A thinks of it. This is what philosopher B thinks of it. This is how these theories clash". Probably gonna drop it.
Programming in Lua, Roberto Ierusalimschy. The first programming language book I bought since college. IMO, Lua is the most well-designed and beautiful language yet (from the one I know). The book is clear, concise, full of examples and it is simply a treat to read.
- slayed0 12y agoRegarding your critique of 1984, try Brave New World if you haven't already. I think it fits your expectations of the dystopian genre much better.
- a_bonobo 12y agoYou may also like Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" [1]. Orwell asserted that Huxley ripped it off for Brave New World, but Huxley said that he had never heard of it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_%28novel%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_%28novel%29
- ylem 12y agoI read this as part of a science fiction class back in college. It was amazing and well thought out!
- Vaskivo 12y agoI've read it in about 10 years ago, in my teens. It's funny because I've always thought that the Orwellian dystopia was a bit far-fetched, and the Huxleyan dystopia was much closer. Reading 1984, I feel like we're nearing both at the same time!
- lbruder 12y agoOrwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us: http://www.nedhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/images/2011/may/huxley_vs_orwell_2.jpg http://www.nedhardy.com/wp-content/uploads/images/2011/may/h...