Perrin Pring

About half way through 1984, I started to compare it to Asimov and Bradbury's works, as I could see a lot of similarities. Orwell writes like a sci-fi writer of his age. That being said though, Orwell is not nearly as dry as Asimov, nor is he as unenthusiastic in his character developments as Bradbury. At the same time, it took a lot of will power to power through this book. The book still is dry by modern standards, and there is a lot of minutia about the politics of Oceania (which is important to the story, but I've never been keen on politics.)

Taking place in the distant future of 1984 (the book was written in the 1940's), 1984, in case you've been under a rock, is a dystopian warning about the censorship that can evolve in society if we aren't careful citizens. While I could get into the exact plot, I'm just going to mention one point I found very interesting in 1984. 

While Orwell introduces a variety of new terms, the one that really resonated with me was 'doublethink'. This is the ability for two contradicting ideas to exist in a person's mind at the same time. Doublethink isn't just a fictional creation. As Erich Fromm (the writer of the 1984 Afterward) points out, doublethink occurs in our everyday lives. Take the commandment 'Thou shall not kill', then look at the crusades - wars started in the name of Christianity and murders committed in the of Christianity. 

After reading Fromm's Afterward, I found myself much more able to apply Orwell's lessons to my own life. I started thinking of all the incidents of doublethink in my own life and country. While I won't get into those here, it is worth noting that while 1984 may be fiction, it certainly is built upon a foundation of truth. 

I recommend this book.