Lord of the Flies - William Golding

Lord of the Flies
By William Golding

Characteristic Track : Master of Puppets by Metallica - this song's choppy guitar riffs really resembled the savagery of the boys.

A group of young boys are stranded on an island after an unfortunate plane crash. Without any adults around, they are left having to fend for themselves. The first thing that they do is attempt to put some form of an organizational structure in place. A leader is elected, and a set of rules is agreed upon.

However, it is not long before everything degenerates into chaos. Certain individuals refuse to play their part for the party, others appear to have conflicting ideas of their own, and still others believe that rules are beneath them. A rebellion thus inevitably ensues. In time, the boys lose all trace of civility, and become akin to savages, resembling wild tribes in certain parts of Africa or even primitive mankind.

In this title, Golding raises several questions about human nature that are if not disturbing, at least thought-provoking. He presents his view that when left to themselves, without any semblance of civilized order whatsoever, human beings will end up fighting for their individual rights, without a modicum of empathy for those around them. This is demonstrated in the tribal ritual the boys teach themselves and engage in, at first while attempting to capture pigs for food, but which thereafter led to the death of one of them. Indeed, even before Golding, Thomas Hobbes, the late 17th century English philosopher, wrote a book titled Leviathan, where he also takes this position. Leviathan, published in 1651, is regarded as one of the books which helped shape western philosophy.

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

A Clockwork Orange
By Anthony Burgess

Characteristic Track: Beethoven's Ninth - Need  I say more?

Hailed by TIME magazine as one of the most horrorshow English-language novels from 1923 to 2005, Burgess skazats us about the protagonist, Alex, and his droogs. Like many other chellovecks of that era, they are extremely fond of ultra-violence, and would think nothing of giving a young like devotchka a tolchock right across the litso, while guffing their gullivers off at the sight of fresh red kroovy staining the poor victim’s clothes.

Confused eh? No worries, O my brothers. Once thou gets the hang of it, thou will enjoy deciphering the like meanings of the words as thou goes along while marveling at how skorrily you are picking up like Nadsat, a language created by Burgess (most of the words used have Russian influences).

Burgess writes in such a way that thou would slowly be drawn into the book, becoming one of Alex’s droogies, guffing and like platching with him. I’ll bet my best deng that thou would be ittying off real skorry to pick up this like real horroshow book, O my brothers!

Now heres like a real horrorshow video for thou to viddy.

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Brave New World
By Aldous Huxley

Characteristic Track: Starlight by Muse - It has a space-y feel to it. Suits the book well.

In this book, Huxley envisions a utopian society set in the future, where everything is as close to perfection as possible. Reproductive technology, biological engineering and sleep-learning are just some of the developments which changed the society. There are no conflicts, no wars, and everybody is conditioned to love everybody else. Promiscuity is regarded as the norm and sexual conservatism is a thing of the past. In short, everybody is leading a hedonistic lifestyle.

Though there is a social hierarchy in place, there is no chance of a power struggle, for everybody has been conditioned to love their jobs and be content with whatever hand they have been dealt. Only those at the top of the hierarchy appear to have any modicum of free will. The rest are effectively robots, existing only because there are rooms to be cleaned, machines to be maintained and babies to be fed, all in the name of creating the next generation of perfect human beings.

But to every grand blueprint, there is always a downside. What price did Huxley’s society pay for their perfect lifestyle? Read on to find out.

This novel raises several disturbing questions about what modern society is moving towards. Indeed, even though this novel was written in 1932, when science was no where near where it is now, we can already see some evidence of society moving towards what Huxley conceptualized. Genetic engineering, cloning of DNA, in-vitro fertilization, stem-cell research; though there is no doubt as to the benefits these landmark scientific advances have brought to society, in the wrong hands, these technologies could be potentially dangerous. Add to that the question of just where to draw the line when toying with nature, or if there is even a line to speak of at all, and we have some really interesting topics for discussion.

All in all, a definite must-read for everyone in the scientific field, interested in science, or looking to get interested in science. Easy to absorb without excessive scientific jargon, this is a book anyone can pick up and enjoy.

Heres a little video on the various cover art available. Enjoy!

Breach of Trust - D.W Buffa

Breach of Trust
By D.W. Buffa

In yet another fast-paced thriller by Buffa, our hero Joseph Antonelli is plunged into yet another intriguingly complicated case, where things are not always what they seem and surprises lurk round every corner.

At the heart of the plot is a white house conspiracy by the president of the United States and his aides to oust the vice president of the United States, so that they might reappoint someone whose views concur with theirs more closely, thus effectively bestowing upon themselves absolute control of the country. Scandals, lies, and media gimmicks abound, in a game where the stakes are so high, neither side can afford to lose. On one side is the president and the full might of the White House, on the other is Joseph Antonelli and the vice president.

Compared to most of Buffa’s other works, this volume contains considerably fewer courtroom scenes. As such, it serves up a treat for those who were previously turned off by the amount of legal jargon in Buffa’s other books. As for those who follow the series for the courtroom action, there is still enough to keep them satisfied. All in all, this is another not-to-be-missed installment from the Joseph Antonelli series.

Note: All of Buffa’s works are stand-alones, and no prior knowledge of the series is necessary to derive full satisfaction from this book.

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Happy reading!