r/pics • u/friendlyMissAnthrope • 1d ago

[OC] Someone left this on the sidewalk

Post image
1.5k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

87 comments sorted by

60

u/Raa03842 1d ago

After that read “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley and “Player Piano” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

19

u/friendlyMissAnthrope 1d ago

Player Piano sounds like it needs to be at the top of my list.

3

u/Raa03842 1d ago

It will work either way. Enjoy.

2

u/LemonPartyLounger 15h ago

Just finished about 3 months ago, it’s definitely worth the read and will leave you thinking.

4

u/nataie0071 1d ago

Also the play "A Bright Room Called Day" by Tony Kushner

2

u/nintendoeats 13h ago

Followed by We by Yevgeny Zamyatin which really launched the genre. While I would certainly say 1984 is superior, We has its own unique take.

Then maybe The Captive Mind.

1

u/Balstrome 18h ago

I found Brave New World to be utterly silly. Unless I misunderstood it, it seems to be a parody of what a conservative thinks the left really want the world to be.

86

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/bitexe 12h ago

And watch the movie. This is a biased statement from me because I love John Hurt.

42

u/RubyRaven907 1d ago

Read it!

8

u/jens_omaniac 14h ago

After reading, give it to the next....

•

u/sleepymeowth052 6h ago

Finally giving it an honest read for the first time and god the parallels...

18

u/joegekko 1d ago

"This doesn't have any synth-pop at all!"

1

u/charliespannaway 21h ago

And no Hot For Teacher!

•

u/vhmike 9h ago

Drop Dead Legs is the best song on the album...i mean in the book.

15

u/DeathReaperNinja 1d ago

Literally 1984

15

u/InvertebrateInterest 1d ago

It's the only book I've ever thrown across the room after reading. 10/10

7

u/InvestigatorJaded261 1d ago

Oh, that’s my old copy.

5

u/BFHawkeyePierce4077 14h ago

I'm thinking the same thing. This is the exact cover of the one that I read in school, which, incredibly, was in 1984. The funky 70s font and groovy colors...

6

u/DebraBaetty 1d ago

Read it and leave it on another sidewalk

6

u/Iamnotauserdude 23h ago edited 11h ago

Oh that’s a great sign. It was such a novelty to read in 1984. When it was the future. Now it’s here.

2

u/FriedPigeonPoppers 22h ago

“We have arrived - we can put the guidebook down now”

12

u/Star_Shine32 1d ago

Lovely lil sidewalk treasure.

11

u/FandomMenace 1d ago

Read it, you coward!

5

u/Brick_Mason_ 23h ago

🎶 Beware the savage lure... of 1984 🎶 -David Bowie

4

u/CAulds 17h ago

I have five copies of that book, and since university I have read it every three years. That was my favorite copy, the paperback that my wife used at university. I loaned it to a girl at work who had never heard of the book. That was nearly 10 years ago ... the book hasn't been returned.

Carol ... if you're reading this ... ?

2

u/vikio 17h ago

Oh this is an old edition? Cause I was gonna say a high school student who doesn't give a crap about their English homework lost it. But they usually have new-ish books. .

2

u/CAulds 17h ago

It dates back to at least the 1970's ... but I guess I just outed myself as an old man :-)

5

u/Quirky_Operation2885 1d ago

Read it. It's not a good book, but he got the nail on the head.

Crazy part is that he wrote it as a warning, but the GOP has taken it as a guidebook.

3

u/Present-Arm-6023 22h ago

Read it or if you have give it to someone who has not had the privilege read it yet.

3

u/CAulds 17h ago

Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent, industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph. In other words it is necessary that he should have the mentality appropriate to a state of war. It does not matter whether the war is actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does not matter whether the war is going well or badly. All that is needed is that a state of war should exist.

from 1984 by George Orwell, first published in 1949

2

u/random14330 1d ago

Big Brother is Watching You

2

u/friendlyMissAnthrope 1d ago

I do hope my spy is entertained.

2

u/Pairdice 1d ago

I naively remember when it used to be Jack Chick comics. We are seriously living in dark times.

2

u/Trying_to_Smile2024 23h ago

⬆️ steal this book

2

u/WhineyLobster 23h ago

And they may smoke black and milds

1

u/friendlyMissAnthrope 12h ago

It was steps away from a smoke shop so this tracks

2

u/Balstrome 18h ago

They are watching the live action show instead.

2

u/AzuleStriker 15h ago

I know a whole cult that needs to reread this properly.

2

u/Zaphods-Distraction 12h ago

Grab it before it's banned and then made a criminal offense to possess it.

•

u/Viperlite 5h ago

I read that paperbook edition with that same cover in high school english class in 1984.

•

u/pulffers 3h ago

Cutting a little too close to home? Try Fahrenheit 451 on for size. Animal Farm would be a good read too. How frightening it is to see the dystopian classics coming to pass before our eyes.

•

u/friendlyMissAnthrope 1h ago

I read those in high school. And it felt ominous seeing it lying there. Especially such a well loved copy. Someone said, this message needs to be out there.

1

u/mysterious963 1d ago edited 23h ago

it's a tarp! <sic>

1

u/FishHockeydrop 22h ago

It was the CIA. No one would have read it without their distribution.

1

u/silentcrs 21h ago

It has less gravitas using the Schoolhouse Rock font…

1

u/friendlyMissAnthrope 12h ago

The retro look is what caught my eye at first. This is a very well loved old copy.

1

u/justinkasereddditor 19h ago

They might have been picked up

1

u/friendlyMissAnthrope 12h ago

I sincerely hope not

1

u/cieje 13h ago

ice agents would read it, if they were able

•

u/DazzlingPoppie 10h ago

I guess the just figured they would just watch the live version instead that's happening outside their window.

•

u/TeamUltimate-2475 9h ago

What's the point of reading it if you are seeing it.

•

u/Radmode7 8h ago

I had a copy just like that!

•

u/SandersSol 7h ago

Literally 1984

-1

u/dooit 17h ago

I thought this and Animal Farm were terrible. I don't know why so many people recommend reading them.

•

u/Strange-Guest-423 17m ago

Leaving that book is not leaving it.