"You should read Animal Farm..." was advise someone gave me a while back, that someone I now forget who they were. As I am someone who enjoys curling up with paper book - never an eBook - I often get such suggestions. However this one continued with, "... it's a short book, but don't let its size fool you." With a work trip earlier this year, I thought no time like the present to finally tap into this recommendation.

Animal Farm was written by George Orwell and published in 1945, four years before his most famous novel, 1984. It is the story of anthropomorphic animals on a farm who rise up against the humans who run the farm and proceed to take it over. Where I was always aware of the general premise of the story and that there was a cartoon movie made from the book, that was about it. My assumption that I thought it was more of a children's story was debunked quickly as I flew back to the US East Coast absorbing this page-turner of a story.

So what could I possibly takeaway from a book that featured talking pigs and horses?

To Russia with Disdain – The plot of Animal Farm, though satirical, is based on Orwell's perception and objection of Joseph Stalin and the Communist Soviet Union of that era. This was something I first learned of in the introduction of the book and not going into it. Where to some this may be considered a spoiler, it actually helped me frame the actions and behaviors of the farm animals as I traveled across the book’s pages.

Checks and balances – When power is centralized, there is the chance that little can be done to resist or change it. The same can be said for animals that act like people. Interestingly I think about this fact as much today when I read the news as I did when I read Animal Farm and was thinking about the time it was written.

Indoor and Outdoor talk – This concept cane from introduction of the book by author Tea Obreht when she was comparing 1940’s Soviet Union to when she grew up in 1980’s Yugoslavia. It literally refers to how people would talk about topics – mostly politics – differently inside their house and with family as compared to what they shared with others in the outside world. This of course harkens back to the oppressive governments in each of those times and places and how people would be turned in by neighbors for their resistance (or merely suspicion) to the government, usually to their ultimate demise.

Animal Farm is a very creative way to tell a story. Remove the fact that you are reading about farm animals, it is sad tale of human interaction. Add back in the animal element, and you have a tale that starts out jovial and encouraging but quickly turns sour.

I enjoyed reading Animal Farm and I recommend it to anyone as it is a classic with deep meaning. I decided to be in the moment when I finished it and left in the airplane's seat-back pocket, hoping serendipity would prevail and someone would notice and do as I did and read this classic, it’s lines and between them.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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