The Puppet Masters – Robert Heinlein (1951)
War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells (1898)
1984 – George Orwell (1949)
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (1931)
These are a few (and some of the most important) books I have read that portray a world in the grip of mind, culture, and societal control over which we have little or no way out. A few have been made into movies. Some are stories of physical controls by alien beings, some are stories of controls contrived because of an environmental disaster and some are stories of collectivist controls by the government or “Big Brother”. These ideas of controlling populations are sold as Utopian Societies guaranteed to bring peace, security, and order. The stories are based on our belief that a Utopian Society CAN be achieved. They are oligarchic, dystopian, and brainwashing allegories that echo our fear of loss of personal freedom by losing our freedom to think independently whether that loss is from invaders from outside our solar system or because of a necessity to bow to dictatorial rule in order to survive. They are metaphorical lessons we seem to have forgotten from the last century. They are symbolic illustrations of what can happen if we willingly give in to the comfortable, the easy, and the collective insanity of a few.
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury (1951)
Logan’s Run – William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson (1967)
Animal Farm – George Orwell (1945)
This Perfect Day – Ira Levin (1970)
These books are probably more familiar because a couple of them have also been made into more recent movies. They carry the same warnings of loss of control of our way of life, our societies, and our minds. Burning books to control ideas that might upset the political balance in a society, executing everyone on their 21st birthday to keep population growth stable, the corruption, ignorance, indifference and greed of leaders that want a smooth transition to a “peoples” government controlled by oligarchs, domination through forced uniformity by a “Family” machine.
“Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.”
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870)
A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864)
Around the World In Eighty Days (1873)
From the Earth to the Moon (1865)
– Jules Gabriel Vern, “Father of Science Fiction” (1828-1905)
My 10 lessons from literature are:
1. don’t ignore events from the past as they may repeat themselves, with a new twist
2. even science fiction can become reality
3. don’t settle for the status quo
4. conspiracy theories may have some truth in them
5. looking for perfection may be more exciting than finding it
6. there is always a price to pay for anything you want
7. be prepared to defend against faulty logic and extremism every day
8. never follow a crowd until you see where they are going
9. don’t make hasty decisions without gathering the facts,
and most importantly
10. always think for yourself.
