1984 - George Orwell

This has to be the most depressing book yet. For there is something worse than physical pain, heart breaking revelations, torture and death.

It is total mind control i.e. when an individual ceases to possess the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, truth and lies, reality and fiction, by way of doublethink – “the power of holding 2 contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them … This process has to be conscious, or it would not be carried out with sufficient precision. But it also has to be unconscious, or it would bring with it a feeling of falsity and hence of guilt.”

For example, if someone were to tell you that the British never conquered Malaysia, you would know that this was a lie because the facts prove otherwise. But your mind is completely subjugated that although you (subconsciously) believe it is a lie, you (consciously) truly and genuinely come to believe that the British never conquered Malaysia. It never happened. And that is the truth. You will forget that you ever believed otherwise by operation of doublethink.

Imagine becoming a complete slave, incapable of critical thought or individualism. No opinions of your own. No freedom to think what you want to think. In essence, no you.

That, to me, is worse than death. And here and now, I thank God that I am alive and free.