Thinking of buying these 2 books.

Fight Club and 1984.

What's your opinion on them? I watched the movies on both of them and I was very impressed. Needless to say, when I discovered they were actually based on books I wanted to buy them.

1984 is a must read for anyone pretty much. Great book.

^
Follow that advice.

Yeah, Fight Club can wait, since she's more recent than 1984.
Better still, try out Huxley's 'A Brave New World'

I remember doing a book report on that one ages ago. Brave New World is recommended if you like 1984 and that type of dystopian fiction. His government model is.. scary, to say the least.

Brave New World is much better, Orwell is a great writer and I've read everything he has written, but Huxley sits atop the dystopian genre in my opinion. I think hist last book Island is even better than Brave New World. Though more people, like Pasan, read Brave New World because it is required reading in many high schools.

1984 is much more accessible though, Huxley's writing style can be difficult because it is more of a stream of thoughts incorporating so much more information. They also go into depth on more areas of life than 1984 (religion/spirituality, relationships, human nature). I thought the overall message of Brave New World and Island were much more interesting than 1984's. These two books of Huxley's really take a deep look at the human condition as well as science and technology and modern society's impact on our humanity.

Thanks a lot for the input guys. I was thinking of buying both books actually, not to choose from them.

Also there's a double book of George Orwell - 1984 and Animal Farm. Is the latter also good?

Fight Club is okayish, but nothing compared to 1984 or Animal Farm.

1984 is a great book. Go for it.

I read 1984 over last summer and I loved it. Definitely pick it up. I also recommend Brave New World.

I've yet to read Animal Farm so I can't pass judgement on it, but I'll probably pick it up soon.

I saw the movie Fight Club and thought it was the biggest load of crap I had ever seen.

Is the book any good?

I remember doing a book report on 1984, didn't read the book just read the cover and wrote about what I knew of "Big Brother" and "Orwellian" from popular culture and got a good grade I guess I should read it, since it wouldn't permeate our culture as it does if it wasn't good.

It's a bit debatable how dystopian A Brave New World really is, considering the lives of the vast majority of people are substantially better than IRL.
While personally I value individual freedom and ambition (or lack there of in my case) quite a bit and thus indeed think it a dystopia, there are more than enough political schools and other paradigms who stress general happiness and so on above certain liberties

Originally Posted by Manco

It's a bit debatable how dystopian A Brave New World really is, considering the lives of the vast majority of people are substantially better than IRL.
While personally I value individual freedom and ambition (or lack there of in my case) quite a bit and thus indeed think it a dystopia, there are more than enough political schools and other paradigms who stress general happiness and so on above certain liberties

, did you miss the ending?

It's all dystopian, not even Island is utopian. The books wouldn't work if it were utopian, I think people would regard the notion as simply too unbelievable. It isn't relatable to place a story in a setting in which a utopian paradise was possible.

That being said it isn't as blatant as 1984 sure. I doubt anyone would read that book and say "you know... that might not be half bad" or "I could see why people would go for that". The oppressive world in Brave New World is more sustainable long term, and that is why it is more frightening.

Debatable? Any sane person would hang himself inside that society.

1984 changes lives.

You're missing my point. Yes, 1984 is dystopian to our main characters, and probably to anyone in current society who has liberal (in the European sense) leanings which is basically everyone these days.
But for the vast majority of the people in the book itself, it is pretty much a utopia. And depending on how you define happiness or how much you put society before the individual, even many people today would perhaps like it.
One could for example see it as an extremely corporatist society, a political current not that unpopular until a few decades ago.

Originally Posted by Manco

You're missing my point. Yes, 1984 is dystopian to our main characters, and probably to anyone in current society who has liberal (in the European sense) leanings which is basically everyone these days.
But for the vast majority of the people in the book itself, it is pretty much a utopia. And depending on how you define happiness or how much you put society before the individual, even many people today would perhaps like it.
One could for example see it as an extremely corporatist society, a political current not that unpopular until a few decades ago.

First of all your first post was about Brave New World so maybe I am missing your point.

1984's world and Brave New World's are vastly different.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

If you are talking about 1984 people are controlled via propaganda, killed by the hundreds of thousands in terrible wars, and dissidents are rounded up and killed. Even people who are "ideal citizens" live in a perpetually bleak society that would be comparable to Britain/Germany during WW2. So no "most people" aren't better off.

If you are talking about Brave New World the masses are controlled via drugs, billions have been forced into a subclass of humans which are not allowed the slightest amount of free thought or autonomy and are more or less bred as drones which are kept subservient through being regularly force fed a powerful heroin like drug called Soma.

Even the people who are well off in BNW live extremely bland lives, and are entirely indifferent to their lives and everything that makes them human (the point of the book). The arts are non-existent, media is used in conjunction with Soma (which is used here recreationally with social pressure) to basically brainwash and overload the senses and crush creative thought.

It isn't good for anyone, and it has nothing to do with liberalism but humanism. Everyone is human, everyone has always been human. It has nothing to do with modern values or any of that BS you just spewed, both worlds are an assault on the essential nature of what it means to be human. Love, compassion, thought, creativity, individuality, etc. An outright assault on human emotion, something that is hardly relegated to merely "an extremely corporatist society, a political current not that unpopular until a few decades ago." It is an extreme evolution of that perhaps, in some ways (if you look at it in a very limited scope since that is hardly the only driving force in either world), but to put it simply yes it's bad and if you didn't get that from these books then I'm sorry but you missed a lot.

Euh yeah, brainfart. I was talking about A Brave New World.

And you're still missing my point. First, I literally said I personally agree with your view, so no, I didn't miss a lot.
Second, you're still ignoring that ultimately, the population by large IS happy. You might not care for the means they used to achieve that happiness, it doesn't change they are.
My argument isn't that this is a good society, or one worth striving for, I'm merely saying that for quite a few people this would not be dystopian. Just like how even Nazi Germany wasn't dystopian to everyone. You need to accept that not everyone values freedom, creativity, emotional maturity,...

Originally Posted by Manco

Euh yeah, brainfart. I was talking about A Brave New World.

And you're still missing my point. First, I literally said I personally agree with your view, so no, I didn't miss a lot.
Second, you're still ignoring that ultimately, the population by large IS happy. You might not care for the means they used to achieve that happiness, it doesn't change they are.
My argument isn't that this is a good society, or one worth striving for, I'm merely saying that for quite a few people this would not be dystopian. Just like how even Nazi Germany wasn't dystopian to everyone. You need to accept that not everyone values freedom, creativity, emotional maturity,...

GAHH!!!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

That is the point of the book. No one is actually happy in the new world and John is appalled by their attempts to replace real emotions like happiness with superficiality. Everyone is so deprived of emotion, that when they finally witness John's "savage" outbursts they all go crazy in an attempt to feel something remotely similar. In fact their whole existence really you can see them trying to simulate feelings whether it is at the picture shows, vacations, soma, promiscuity, etc. They are in fact though neither happy nor content with the world, as was demonstrated multiple times in the events that lead up to the climax of the story, but the elites and society itself actively attempt to repress peoples' humanity at every turn. They even talk about how happiness and anger are both equally threatening concepts that need to be eradicated for the "experiment" to actually work.

Everyone values human emotion and their humanity to an extent (more than they would be allowed in BNW). We are talking people here and not mythical Vulcans. Freedom, creativity, and emotional maturity are broad concepts. You are oversimplifying it by saying not every person values "creativity" as in not everyone's an artist, but everyone uses some creativity in their lives, feels happy or sad, and has attachments to something. That is what makes this a "Brave New World", they have systematically attempted to strip everyone of these things (their humanity) because they are too dangerous to society.

You can't compare it to Nazi Germany, or even the world in 1984 because it is total in every aspect of life. No families, no relationships, no hobbies, it is completely extreme and wouldn't be bearable to someone in modern society just because they think they are not into "freedom, creativity or emotional maturity".