# Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

24 Hacker News commenters recommended Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as essential, influential reading and a powerful warning about totalitarian control. One reader felt it sometimes dropped the storytelling for its message.

## Why people recommend it

- Influential, essential reading (3 comments): "Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four as the most influential book I've ever read in my life" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48025795)) "I don't disagree that Nineteen Eighty-Four is essential reading however." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46601009)) "Orwell's unmatched contribution to not only literature but also culture" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46907591))
- Prescient warning about totalitarian society (3 comments): "Books like Orwell's are powerful warnings, and it would be most unfortunate if the reader smugly interpreted 1984 as another description of Stalinist barbarism" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46908166)) "Maybe read Orwell for a glimpse of mandatory optimism" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46516385)) "a perfect prediction of what is coming to us now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48563641))
- Powerful, brilliant reading experience (3 comments): "the books themselves are brilliant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48258980)) "Orwell was a true literary master." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46909887)) "it was a powerful experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47472647))
- Mature, clear writing style (2 comments): "So I would say that was his most mature work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49268511)) "clear 1940s-style writing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46907401))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [1984 by George Orwell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/1984.md): 42 recommend
- [The Road by Cormac McCarthy](https://hackerapproved.com/p/road.md): 27 recommend
- [We by Yevgeny Zamyatin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/we.md): 11 recommend
- [The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood](https://hackerapproved.com/p/handmaid-s-tale.md): 6 recommend
- [The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hunger-games.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0571394388?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780571394388) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell", https://hackerapproved.com/p/nineteen-eighty-four/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).