Here's why Geoff chose 1984...
George Orwell's 1984 now feels more relevant than ever, in our hyper-polarized political climate, where established facts and on-record statements are both denied or debated. Regardless of your political leanings, Orwell's novel is a compelling warning of where authoritarianism, surveillance, and war can all lead.
About the book
1984
by George Orwell
Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmarish vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life—the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language—and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell. Required reading for students since it was published, it ranks among the most terrifying novels ever written. - Goodreads
The longevity of a classic
About the reader
Geoff Ruth, Academic Dean
Geoff previously recommended:
- The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
- The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
- The Curfew by Jesse Ball
- The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
- The Disappearing Spoon and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean
- Snowball Earth by Gabrielle Walker
- Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert