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Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

I read this book in part because I've seen a lot of reference to it recently in connection with the UK's increasing climate of surveillance, and in part because it was suggested by a friend that I compare it with Huxley's Brave New World.

Some of the comments about society and economics in this book make me realise why Orwell's works were banned in the USA for being anti-capitalist and the USSR for being anti-communist (the true nature of the works, of course, being anti-authoritarian).

Some of the comments made by Winston - especially the one about his thoughts of raping and murdering Julia - were quite off-putting. I'm not sure if these were a function of the time in which the book was written, of the setting of the story, or a mix of the two.

I feel like "there are four lights" (from star trek) is almost a direct reference to Winston's interrogation - which makes it rather coincidental that his interrogator is called O'Brien.