Dave's review
1984 by George Orwell
In George Orwell's 1984, Winston Smith is an open source developer who writes his code offline because his ISP has installed packet sniffers that are regulated by the government under the Patriot Act. It's really for his own protection, though. From, like, terrorists and DVD pirates and stuff. Like every good American, he drinks Coca-Cola and his processed food has desensitized his palate to all but four flavors: (sweet, salty-so-that-you-will-drink-more-coca-cola, sweet, and Cooler Ranch!(tm)). His benevolent overlords have provided him with some war happening somewhere for some reason so that he, and the rest of the population, can be sure that the government is really in his best interests. In fact, the news always has some story about Paris Hilton or yet another white girl who has been abducted by some evil bastard who is biologically wired by 200,000 years of human evolution to fuck 12-year-olds, but is socially conditioned to be obsessed with sex, yet also to feel guilty abo...more
I'm ashamed to admit I have not yet read Brave New World. It just made it's way to #1 on my must read list.
Yeah, it complements 1984's brutal reality with a streak of Romanticism (boiling passions!, and all that...). A curveball of dystopian novels. Let me know if you enjoy it.
What are you talking about! Science fiction doesn't have anything to do with the REAL world. O.oPS. Well put.
