The dystopian novel has a long and dark history. It began in 1726 with Jonathan Swift’s satire Gulliver’s Travels. It has undergone numerous transformations over the last three centuries. These books share a common trait because they force readers to think about the societies they inhabit. These novels evolve as a response to fictional utopian…
The indexed web contains 14 billion pages. Only a tiny fraction help you improve your brain power. Here are 40 of the best. Education and learning khanacademy.org – Watch thousands of micro-lectures on topics ranging from history and medicine to chemistry and computer science. coursera.org – An educational site that works with universities to get…
There’s a fair chance you quoted 1984 this week without noticing. Someone calls a policy Orwellian. A colleague mutters about Big Brother when another camera goes up in the car park. A minister is accused of doublethink and nobody stops to ask what the word means, because everybody already knows. Orwell’s last novel has done…
Stephen King has called books a uniquely portable magic. It is likely why Americans still buy approximately five million books a day and 125 new ones are published in the US every twenty-four hours. Google estimates that as of August 2010, there were 129,864,880 books in existence. This love affair with the written word has…
During World War II, George Orwell believed that British democracy would not survive the war. He questioned whether it would end via a Fascist coup d’état from above or a Socialist revolution from below. Nineteen Eighty-Four was his reaction to the belief that change was inevitable. A comparison of the wartime essay “The Lion and…
September 30th marks 84 years since the world’s first television broadcast. Television is named after Latin and Greek words meaning far sight. It is arguably one of the most influential technologies ever invented. Since the 1950s it has been the main medium for melding public opinion. An incredible 78 percent of the world’s households now…
Writers are often rebels and iconoclasts. Many of the world’s most famous authors have been critical thinkers unafraid to question staple beliefs. Religion is frequently one of those beliefs. In their works, these writers chipped away at the edifice of religion to such an extent that their books changed cultural and political history. 1. Karl…
Often called the “Dickens of Detroit”, Elmore Leonard wrote an incredible forty-five novels in a career spanning nearly sixty years. In 2010, he also wrote his Ten Rules for Writing, the first of which was “Never open a book with weather.” So what did he open his novels with? To see for yourself, check out…
Fahrenheit 451 published by Ray Bradbury in 1953 is arguably one of the greatest dystopian novels ever written. To see why check out some of the most awe-inspiring Fahrenheit 451 quotes from a novel guaranteed to make you think differently. “Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds….
One of the most iconic and prolific song writers of the 20th century, John Lennon had plenty to say about the state of the world. Here are ten of his insights that will make you think a little differently about life, love and the universe.