Yeah, I'd heard they were good a few times, had read a good one a while back, and someone on here reminded me of them recently, so went and checked them out. 5 or so in, and they're quite good. There are A TON of them.
The best part for me so far though, was the intro to this particular book. Had me looking at the books I'd read a bit differently. The analysis of the final scene from 1984 was insightful (shows how the language is over the top and "purple" compared to usual writing)
yeah, the last chapter of 1984 seemed like, an edit.
Well, there's an afterward or whatever, that goes on to talk about newspeak in detail, and this expert points out that it's the real end of the book. The end before that, with old man crying into beer is what most remember. And that passage is written in a different style, and even "THE END" is all caps which is unique for that publisher... little insights like that. I'd have to relisten to do it justice
no, i mean the part just before he gets shot in the back of the head! lol that is the end of the story. the rest is appendix.
"and he realised, that he loved big brother" that part.
you would not go back. he already went out to the proles, he would have gone to the wilderness after that. i seem to recall there was a great deal of hints at the idea that the society was entirely contained and controlled to the point where nobody scarcely saw any more than their own neighbourhood.
i probably should read it again tho. i think the last and first time i read it i was 18 years old, in 1994.
my english teacher gave our class the option on a book report assignment. nobody cared. i said 1984. teacher said "no, not that book, specifically because you asked". this was what radicalised me. couldn't get more blatant that i had just read a book about the world this prick came from.
lol not from you
Did I completely forget he gets shot? I thought he was just weeping sadly as a defeated man in the corner. Maybe I need to revisit. But yeah, the author points out how excessive in detail the style shifts right there
i mean, i'm sure everyone in this thread has read the book.
as if you would go back. you'd be off searching for the plains of silence like mad max. not only was there outside of the cities of the system, where there were enclaves of proles, there was wilderness that nobody visited. and it was kinda implied that none of the wars were actually real. that basically everyone was a prisoner in the urban settlements they lived in.
Yudkowsky talked about Orwell's essays and the use of language a fair bit on Less Wrong and Rationality from AI to Zombies.
Not familiar with him, but cool. It's one of those skills i rarely appreciate as a non-sophisticated reader, but which no doubt heavily influences my experience. Nice when someone points to it and I get to see such things more clearly. I wish I were a good writer... seems pretty high up on things humans can do that are amazing
