Moby-Dick for a story about real heterosexuals
Define what a "real book" is in this context... Do online books count? Books on this site? Does non fiction count? (only certain kinds of non fiction or anything?)
I'll probably come back to add more to this list later
Since we're necroing threads today, I might as well throw in my two cents here:
It should definitely be mandatory, it's becoming more and more likely to happen nowadays, even if only slightly. And 2034 is only 8 years away, so...
yeah.
all hail big brother chat GPT?
Ready Player One is legit garbage and 1984 has gotta be the most overrated "classic" of all time
You have bottom of the barrel tastes
Basically, the problem with Orwell is that linguistic relativity isn't real - language doesn't act in the way he thinks it does. If some word becomes impossible to say, that concept doesn't vanish from the air. Take the word "faggot", now largely considered impolite in most company. Someone who wants to deride a man for being effeminate could replace it with a limp wrist gesture, a finger in the hole-gesture, a combination of "Does he..." and a jerk off motion, etc. The underlying concept being discussed does not change, but the expression does.
Newspeak is predicated on, essentially, the "strong" version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: that is, the idea that if you lack a word for a concept, you can't intellectually apprehend it. I don't think that actually games out, and he based his book on a fundamental cart-horse displacement.
I think the best parts of the books are when he gets into the culture of the Party, and I also liked how much of a deranged pervert Winston was.
I agree with you on the fact that Newspeak is inherently riddled with problems, as there is no true way to completely erase a concept of something simply by using a different language. However, a lot of other parts are, sadly, something I can see happening. Take the Ministry of Truth, for example. We are already seeing instances of governments trying, and even succeeding at times, to delete history they don't like.
I will fight you over Ready Player One, though. (The novel version, at least. The movie version is a disgrace and I would gladly join you on the front lines against it.)
I just noticed this. That link's blocked for me but I'll see if I can find it in the library.
They're even making a movie of Project Hail Mary! I loved listening to the audiobook (sadly never managed to get a physical copy), and I'm eagerly awaiting the movie. I also recommend The Martian, which was also written by Andy Weir, and is one of the most "realistic" Sci-Fi books (to the extent that any Sci-Fi can be realistic) that I've read so far.
I think we have some of the Mars series, but I've never gotten around to reading them. I'll add them to the list!