TIME TO PICK YOUR SCI-FI NOVEL!

ASSIGNMENT 4.00 Novel Selection

· First, look at the titles of the books you may select from. (Scroll down.) After each title is a short synopsis of the book that gives you a peek at the contents.

· Read through all the choices, then select one . You need to obtain a copy of this book by going to the library, your school library, a local bookstore, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, e-books online, etc.  Ask your friends and parents who may have a copy that you can borrow. 

· It is very important that you get your book as soon as possible, so that you can begin reading it. To delay will only cause problems as you work through this module. You will be completing a series of activities (largely discussions!) as you read your book, so you will need to preview the module to see what these assignments are.

Don't judge a book by its cover or the number of pages. Read the synopsis and pick the one that captures your imagination. When you have chosen your book, go to the next page.


ANTHEM
- Ayn Rand

Anthem has long been hailed as one of Ayn Rand's classic novels. In Anthem, Rand examines a frightening future in which individuals have no name, no independence, and no values. Equality 7-2521 lives in the dark ages of the future where all decisions are made by committee, all people live in collectives, and all traces of individualism have been wiped out.  LibriVox audio recording linked here, and attached below.

 

 

 


1984 - George Orwell

Novel by George Orwell, published in 1949 as a warning about the menaces of totalitarianism. The novel is set in an imaginary future world that is dominated by three perpetually warring totalitarian police states. Orwell's warning of the dangers of totalitarianism made a deep impression on his contemporaries and upon subsequent readers. The book's title and many of its coinages, such as NEWSPEAK, became bywords for modern political abuses.  A link to an audiobook verion is attached here. And attached below.

 

 


BRAVE NEW WORLD - Aldous Huxley

Novel by Aldous Huxley, published in 1932. The book presents a nightmarish vision of a future society. The novel depicts a scientifically balanced, efficiently controlled state that allows for no personal emotions or individual responses; art and beauty are considered disruptive, and mother and father are forbidden terms (everyone belongs to everyone). This novel offers one plausible picture of the future of humankind. First published in 1932, this Huxley favorite describes a world 700 years from now in which children are genetically engineered, sexual freedom is the universal rule and "happiness" is ensured both by subliminal mind programming and a well-circulated feel-good drug. For anyone who thinks seriously about the human race (where we are and where we're going) this book will spark a lot of good thoughts.


Fahrenheit 451 -Ray Bradbury

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad.