>I get the GP's point, that 1984 is the polemic pamphlet for anti-authoritarians...

Hmmm, I thought the point was you're wasting time on a book a) you've already read and b) everyone else you know has already read. Regardless of how good the book is, you're unlikely to gain any unique insight.

I read it first when I was in my late teens. I read it again after the war on terror (tm) had started... let's just say it was the difference between reading a book about sex as a virgin and as a man. Books of that caliber, that are that short, are rare enough IMHO, and reading them every decade can't hurt? Anyway, you can't know if you get something new out of it unless you tried it at least once ;)

Meh. Some books are just fun to read.

I always thought it was ironic that 1984 is pretty much standard required reading in US public (government-funded) high schools.

Nothing ironic about it. A populace that doesn't know what a democracy-dismantling government looks like is that much more likely to vote one into power. Of course, reading the book is no guarantee that they won't do it anyway, but a good democracy should at least try.