Brave New World Revisited (P.S.)
by Aldous Huxley
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[Audio] Fantastic book, sort of the flip-side of 1984's image of the dystopic future; a world of "painless, amusement-sodden, and stress-free consensus." I love the statement by the Shakespeare-quoting John Savage who, after seeing how easy life is made for the people says, "Your life isn't expensive enough."
Here's a great comparison of 1984 and Brave New World from the Wikipedia entry for BNW: "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared w...more
Here's a great comparison of 1984 and Brave New World from the Wikipedia entry for BNW: "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared w...more
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Read in February, 2008
It's slow going as I have poor concentration at the moment. It revisits his fictionalised account of a future world in his novel Brave New World. I didn't know that til my dad told me. Apparently he read all Huxley's books in the 60s, they were de riguer for the time.
Annoyingly but unsurprisingly, he is an evolutionist.
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Since I wrote the above I finished my reading. Huxley seems to waver between advocating a natural culling process of the dummies among us who slow down th...more
Annoyingly but unsurprisingly, he is an evolutionist.
**********
Since I wrote the above I finished my reading. Huxley seems to waver between advocating a natural culling process of the dummies among us who slow down th...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone
I LOVE the movie adaptation so much the lovely K-Chan is making me a DVD of it since it is only available in VHS... And so far the book is wonderful. I love the way scene changes are handled, basically there are 4 different conversations going on, and Huxley switches back and forth several time per page. You would think it would be confusing but its actually kind of cinematographic and fun, to me any way.
After finishing this book I am left thinking that the author was a surprisingly prophet...more
After finishing this book I am left thinking that the author was a surprisingly prophet...more
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Read in April, 2008
What's wrong with the world today?
Aldous Huxley knew 50 years ago.
A non-fiction companion to his novel Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited was written over 25 years after Huxley's most famous novel and compares his book to the state of the world in 1958 and where the state of the world is headed. If you are a fan of Brave New World, 1984, Noam Chomsky, Carl Jung, Zeitgeist (the movie), or this sort of thing, this is a must read.
The book is made up of a number of essays on topi...more
Aldous Huxley knew 50 years ago.
A non-fiction companion to his novel Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited was written over 25 years after Huxley's most famous novel and compares his book to the state of the world in 1958 and where the state of the world is headed. If you are a fan of Brave New World, 1984, Noam Chomsky, Carl Jung, Zeitgeist (the movie), or this sort of thing, this is a must read.
The book is made up of a number of essays on topi...more
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recommends it for:
People with a Mind
The first time I tried reading this book was when I was in eigth grade or so and within the first chapter my mind shut down. I could not get past words such as voluptuos, abject, exaulting, decanted, etc... I put the book down and it was immeditatly snatched up by my brother who took it to college with him the following summer. It was only a few weeks ago (near the end of my freshman year) that I picked up the book again and got completely engrossed.
To recommend this to highschoolers is a must...more
To recommend this to highschoolers is a must...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Karolyn by:
Stephen Christian through Amyrecommends it for: philosophers
Interesting idea but I feel the story is a shroud for his personal life philosophies. I think he was trying to mimic great writers of his time with forward thinking, but the story leaves you wanting. It takes a good 50 pages before you understand who the main characters might be, and another 50 after that before the novel gets going. I think he should have taken more time to create the story instead of rushing to release his thoughts on the future of society. Has potential, but alas, this isn't ...more
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Read in March, 2008
Only a couple of chapters left. WOW! This is one of the most thought provoking books I have read in a long while. It really has me thinking about the human condition, especially as it relates to the classes people tend to put themselves in. The world really would be a boring and terrible place if we were all the same. It's also interesting to me to see where a lot of pop culture references have come from this book. One of my favorite bands is the Feelies. I never knew.
I thought it brilliant...more
I thought it brilliant...more
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Read in August, 2007
The new cover art for this edition is awesome. The book, like most of the famous political dystopia novels of the last century, is a let down. Novels that deal with the present, and more specifically the aberrant and destructive bits of the present -- like Lolita, Snow, or This Blinding Absence of Light -- are always much better at conveying a despair of the future than these sorts of books. Compared to contemporary realism these dystopia books seem cartoonish and silly.
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Read in January, 2008
This is a science fiction novel that takes place in a futuristic place. The society is described as sort of a utopia and everything is very organized. It is also weird that babies are born in a different way such as in factories. You can say that they were "produced". Overall i thought it was a good book to read because it gave me a different view on how what the future beholds. It tells us a lot about how society can change and it sort of serves as a warning for us.
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Read in October, 2007
Another novel of social blasphemy. Well done from a psychological perspective, not so well done from a science fiction perspective. Huxley's view of "the future" is blatantly stuck in his own time period, but the ideas are not. This could arguably have been intentional as well to draw closer similarities to what he thought were societies downfalls and to place them in a setting to which people could relate.
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone and their mother
This book is amazing. Although it doesn't deal very directly with 'the making of' Brave New World, everything Huxley says is incredibly insightful and relevant. One of those books where I wanted to curl up on his lap and have him tell me how the world is. It took me forever to get through this one due to general busy-ness, so I'm definitely going to have to go back and re-read it once I get the time.
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Read in January, 2008
This science fiction takes place in the future and society is described as a dystopia. There are many advances in technology including new drugs and different ways of producing babies (in the laboratory rather than by natural means). The author focuses on the idea of sexual freedom and promiscuity. It's no surprise that when the novel was first published it became a controversial matter.
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Read in April, 2008
I thought this book was exceedingly better than 1984, which I found too technical. This one explores things in the context of a story and was much less self-conscious about it's construction. I found it engaging on all levels and I wanted to keep reading.
I will say that Huxley's tome doesn't get really good until about the 8th chapter, but if you stick with it, it's great.
I will say that Huxley's tome doesn't get really good until about the 8th chapter, but if you stick with it, it's great.
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Read in January, 2008
Bizarro. One word that perfectly describes Huxley's strange utopian society. Elements of the book apply today, but I had trouble with the major premise of the plot. I wanted a bit more explanation on how the society came to be. It's certainly an entertaining, albeit inredibly strange read. Doesn't feel like literature the way 1984 does.
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Read in January, 2005
unfortunately, huxley made some determinations of over-population which sound a bit exaggerated. aside from that, most of his ideas are sound and interesting. if you can forgive the small irrelevances, you're probably a fan and will enjoy this work.
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Read in January, 2007
Read it in high school, but revisited it earlier this year. I enjoy books that make you think about where we've been and where we're going. Recommended it to a few students of mine, still waiting for their reviews.
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I have read this book three times and it keeps getting better and better. An easy, must-read classic. It's just like today except fictional. Another book for the doomsday-theorists (me?).
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Read in January, 2001
recommends it for:
yes yes
practical comparison of 1984 and brave new world in probability of occurrence as well as insight into the different forms of propaganda used in democracy and communist states.
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Read in October, 2006
recommends it for:
everybody!
The world is a much better place without social class but if you have to have it atleast you should be able to move up in rank unlike in brave new world. I love this book!!!
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in October, 2007
Was a good read and fairly quick which always helps. Very Orwellian in its message but does it in a different way which was much appreciated, though overall I prefer 1984.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.76 (479 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.74 (443 ratings) number of reviews: 38popular shelves
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quote
"The soul of wit may become the very body of untruth. However elegant and memorable, brevity can never, in the nature of things, do justice to all the facts of a complex situations. On such a theme one can be brief only by omission and simplification. Omission and simplification help us to understand - but help is, in many cases, to understand the wrong thing; for our comprehension may be only of the abbreviator's neatly formulated notions, not of the vast, ramifying reality from which these notions have been so arbitrarily abstracted."
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