1984

So, I just finished reading 1984. I know I'm the last person (let alone nerd) on the planet to read this book, but holy GOD was it good. I was absolutely blown away by how good and relevant it was. I'm sort of glad I didn't read it in high school, because I would have absolutely not understood half of it's importance. And then I would have "already read" that for the rest of my life and never given it another go in the present context. It was really amazing, there's the really obvious stuff about governmental control & monitoring and how to break a person down (this is where "there are four lights!" comes from?? or is it even older?). And then the more subtle stuff - how to create an enemy to distract your people (sound familiar? Emmanuel Goldstein seems such an misnomer for the hacker now), how to shape the truth by presenting and insisting your own (sound familiar??), the whole idea of doublethink and the managing of language, it was just awesome. Anyone who hasn't read it in 5 or 10 years or ever, absolutely should (not that this is news to you or anyone). I can't wait to move on to A Brave New World and We!