I consider it genuinely frightening how completely prescient he was about all manner of current situations and events that exist today. Just an example: Newspeak = Political Correctness. His works were simply the product of genius. Post now while we still have enough "acceptable" words in the English language for you to accurately convey your thoughts!

He's at his best in his essays and in the reportage works like Down and Out in Paris and London and Homage to Catalonia. His fiction is somewhat pedestrian.

Both Animal Farm and 1984 have become classics and must reads. The movie 1984 just did not do justice to the book.

1984 was the most frightening book I've ever read- not because it was fantastical,but because it was so believable:how many times throughout human history have people been misled and exploited by the control freaks they have put in positions of power? Don't let the time frame fool you-this book is NOT out of date.

Incredible. . .1984 is simply one of the scariest, smartest books of the 20th century. Animal Farm isn't as good (in my opinion) but it is quite an accomplishment to be called a second-best-book by itself. Orwell shines a critical eye on the horrible and crushing philosophy of the empowered majority. A must-read if you care about history, politics, or a scary sci-fi tale.

i loved 1984. i read it when i was about 16, and it really helped to shape a lot of my political/social views. i will always love orwell for that. however, i found animal farm a bore, and really have no desire to read anything else that this man wrote. a shame, really. he seemed to have such potential...

Animal Farm and some of Orwell's lesser-read essays are good. I found 1984 to be poorly written and a generally boring read.

Animal Farm was a heavy-handed exercise that seemed like it came out of an undergraduate fiction writing seminar. Nice try, but no cigar. 1984, despite its faults, is a pivotal and compelling novel, a grim and uncompromising view of the downwardly spiralling enterprise known as human civilization. So much of this masterpiece was prescient, forward-thinking and right on target. I find it absolutely hysterical that some of the posters on this site discount or dismiss Orwell's insistance that Big Brother is watching, and have to wonder what planet they're living on. Given the fact that we are usually earmarked with a Social Security number for life, and whatever deviations from the rule of law we might have commited are stored somewhere in the database, and that we have cookies on our personal computers that indicate wherever we've gone in cyberspace, and we have traceable credit card numbers, and we are subject to being photographed and/or fingerprinted if we want certain professional licenses or bondable jobs, and have a government now that has little regard for our privacy and alienable civil rights, Big Brother is definitely watching, folks, in several pervading and inescapable ways. Maybe Orwell isn't the greatest novelist of all time, but he certainly is one of the most important social, political and cultural prognasticators/commentators ever to come down the pike. And it is for that reason you have to respect this guy, like it or not.

Personally for me, Orwell was pivotal in shaping my potitical opinions. I've only read Homage to Catalonia, Animal Farm and 1984. I think the most important thing he teaches us is to never take our freedom for granted, as a docile, ignorant and under educated population can all too easily have it stolen from them. Progressive ideas can also be subverted by those immoral enough to take avantage of political instability and turned into an empty dogma used to cowe others into submission. Animal Farm shows how a revolution can be subverted and the inherant flaw in an ideology that says that everyone is equal. 1984 pretty much continues where Animal Farm left off, showing how a dictatorship consolodates it's position to completely opress it's population. In the process viciously poking fun at the idea that Communist revolutions are started by the working classes, who are too undereducated and alienated to really care. Although superficially Orwell might appear dreary, for me Orwell's books are about reminding you that freedom doesn't exist in a flag or an anthem, or maybe even in a state but in people's minds and the second that they stop truly believing that, oppression is only a small step away. So in short if the recognising freedom as being invaluable is dreary, then so if Orwell, but then I'm sure there must be something happier on TV, so then you won't have to worry about this sort of depressing stuff any more will you? Besides, you're all living in the land of the free aren't you? Sweet dreams!

In this post I'd like to correct the common misconception that Orwell was anti-socialist. First of all he was in fact a socialist himself and had a strong disdain of capitalism. I evidence this by stating two quotes: In North America the masses are contented with capitalism, and one cannot tell what turn they will take when capitalism begins to collapse. and a quote from 1984 The capitalists owned everything in the world, and everyone else was their slave. They owned all the land, all the houses, all the factories, and all the money. If anyone disobeyed them they could throw him into prison, or they could take his job and starve him to death. However he did not allow this to blind him to the fact socialist ideas could often be utilised so a small minority could gain power. This is seen in his analogous take on Stalinism in animal farm and in this quote: In the U.S.S.R. there prevails a sort of oligarchical collectivism which could only develop into democratic Socialism against the will of the ruling minority. I think Eric the Federalist derives much of his inspiration from this quote: Socialism cannot properly be said to be established until it is world-wide, but the process must begin somewhere, and I cannot imagine it beginning except through the federation of the western European states. Having cleared up that little misconception I must say I rather liked Orwell's tedious and long-winded writing style and (like irishgit) appreciated his non-fiction essays the most. Primarily his essays which insightfully show how the masses can be manipulated by nationalism, propoganda and a general ignorance to public affairs which he amusingly described as idiotarian. A great writer for exposing the propensity for the privaleged minority to exploit the vast majority by manipulation of wealth and presenting perversions of thought. His musings have made me look closer at everything and examine possible agendas being pursued by individuals, be they right or left, rather then regarding one group good and another evil.

yeah castlebee, see the reason you got depressed after reading 1984 was not likely due to you being so sensitive, no. Precisely you were taken somewhere YOU did not want to go. That says nothing about Orwell, his work. nothing. your comment is really useless actually. WHy did you bother to write it? Because your pink bubble that you live in was threatened? You can choose to tape your eyes shut, and avoid unpleasant thoughts, or you can open them and deal with reality.

1984 was such an awesome book. It would be so scary if "big brother" was actually watching us.

I still don't think people get his insights into our world.A great writter for sure.Who's frieghting vision of the present projected into the future is sturrring.

1984 and Animal farm are both excellant books.

Too bleak for my taste

He foresaw the bleak Bush world we live in today where history is rewritten, doublespeak is the norm and those who don't disappear are afraid to stand up. Still, his genius extends beyond "1984." I also found "Animal Farm" compelling.

Goergey boy proves to us all that not all bad things come from a hard core drug addiction. A moment of clarity can be an soul opening experience.

My favorite author of all-time and possibly the greatest to ever live. I greatly admire him. His works are timeless. 1984 and Animal Farm are still being read in schools with great enthusiasm more than 50 years after their publications. The guy was a political genius. He is the epitomy of satire and I have to say that the messages in his books are the best to come out of any other works of literature this century. No one can tell me that anyone ever captured the horrors of the brainwashing and endless formalities that come along with totalitarianism.

Since inquiring minds want to know - I’ll tell you what’s wrong with the ramblings of a neurotic person – after awhile and I mean a very short while - regardless of how much of a whiz kid someone is supposed to be or how well they may be able to communicate their golden thoughts – it becomes apparent to some of us that these people can still have the ability to be crashing bores. After reading “1984” I remember feeling really depressed. I soon realized – regardless of what I was being told to believe (and oh, dear me all good little droids MUST always listen to those who have appointed themselves the ones to tell us what we must think mustn’t they?) – that I was actually allowing this seemingly disturbed mind to take me somewhere I did not want to go. I said I was “forced” to read this novel because I hated Orwell back then and I continue to dislike his work. In spite of the so called insights, political and cultural statements, and even in the face of it being thought of as one of the most forward thinking authors since H. G. Wells - I still considered it a very low period in my literary education. As I previously explained, slogging through his work was dull, boring, and extremely depressing for me. (He was a DOWNER okay!) So, anyone who wishes can feel free to embrace Orwell and his alleged genius, don some dirty gray togs, have a nice slug of oily gin and look for Big Brother around every corner like a paranoid schitzo – but I’ll be checking out another section of the library for something a bit more uplifting and enjoyable. Life’s too short to sit in a dumpster wondering if the world is going to get any uglier. It always does – I just don’t enjoy speculating about it in my leisure time.

George Orwell is probably the most overated author in history. He surely does not deserve any praise for the horrible works he has written. Granted, he may have tried to get a political point across. However, he ending up doing so in the strangest, and most broing ways. take 1984 for example. It may have been a messed up world, but I didn't need to hear about this guy having sex with something every six pages. It may have started interesting plot wise in the first two parts, but then it went downhill in the third and final part. It became a waste of time reading that section. Then there's Animal Farm which is just ridiculous and boring. A child's doodles would be more interesting than what this turn out to be. This was one experiment that Orwell failed at.

Had two spectacular books. 1984 and animal farm. really an incredible contribution to literarature. Whats more wrote his books almost 50 years ago as a prediction of what would happen.

Orwell as an author creates dense environments, thought provoking plots and characters that the reader is able to identify with. Though much of his writing has political undertones (or overtones!), it is because of Orwell's intelligent visions of different societies and his ability to commune his social and political visions with plausible characters that I enjoy his writing so much. When I read his book I really begin to (while I am reading) live in the world's he creates.

the man has so much to say, ans says it so well. Animal Farm, while so short, and as a storie that could easily be read to children in parts for a good-night story, was a beautiful work of symbolism that inspires more thought tnah many can claim...

One of the most frightening authors I have found.

sort of obvious satire, somewhat entertaining, but not really

Any author who can become an adjective that is understood by even those who have never come in contact with his work is clearly a genius!!! If you love Orwell, I highly recommend "Politics and the English Language". It is a magnificent essay on the power of words and manipulation.

1984 is great

George Orwell is a phenomenal writer with a keen imagination and an impending sense of doom. His books portray real people in real situations. {The Road to Wigan Pier}.