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Aldous Huxley: An English Intellectual
The son of biologist T. H. Huxley, Aldous Huxley had a privileged background and was educated at Eton and Oxford despite an eye infection that left him nearly blind. Having learned braille his eyesight then improved enough for him to start writing, and by the 1920s he had become a fashionable figure, producing witty and daring novels like CROME YELLOW (1921), ANTIC HAY (1923) and POINT COUNTER POINT (1928). But it is as the author of his celebrated portrayal of a nightmare future society, BRAVE NEW WORLD (1932), that Huxley is remembered today. A truly visionary book, it was a watershed in Huxley's world-view as his later work became more and more optimistic - coinciding with his move to California and experimentation with mysticism and psychedelic drugs later in life. Nicholas Murray's brilliant new book has the greatest virtue of literary it makes you want to go out and read its subject's work all over again. A fascinating reassessment of one of the most interesting writers of the twentieth century.
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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About the author
Nicholas Murray
19 books8 followersNicholas Murray is an English biographer, poet and journalist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichola...
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichola...
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 17, 2024
Nicholas Murray's biography of Aldous Huxley is rather plodding at times, covering the author-intellectual's life chronologically, intoning on book after book, at times almost thought after thought. However, he does offer insight based on letters written by & to Huxley that were unavailable at the time of two previous biographies. Beyond that, Murray is openly critical of some of the Huxley's acts & omissions, while praising a great deal of his life & times.
Aldous Huxley was born in 1894, a child with esteemed family connections, a descendant of biologist T.H. Huxley ("Darwin's Bulldog") & Matthew Arnold and the brother of scientist Julian Huxley.
However, after being struck blind while a boy at Eton, Huxley's sight was forever compromised. Beyond that, the loss of his beloved mother & a treasured younger brother while Aldous was still quite young, greatly impacted the rest of his life.
A voracious reader, he was forced to use a magnifying glass during his time at Oxford. It was as if, much like James Joyce, his diminished sight caused Huxley to accentuate the importance of words & language.
Curiously, while Aldous Huxley was forced to leave Eton due to the onset of blindness, which eventually abated to some degree, he later returned to teach at Eton where he was mocked by some of his students for his visual impairment.
One of the students at Eton who offered support for Huxley, his teacher, was a fellow by the name of Eric Blair, later known as George Orwell. Huxley's novel, Brave New World appeared in 1932 & influenced Orwell, whose own dystopian novel, 1984 appeared in 1949.
Huxley was known as a brilliant iconoclast and could be intellectually arrogant & coldly superior at times, while still holding humanitarian sympathies & a fundamentally progressive outlook. He was part of the Bloomsbury group of artists & intellectuals that included economist John Maynard Keynes, writers Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, E.M. Forster & artist Vanessa Bell, a rather lofty bunch.
It was said that the Huxleys "did not suffer fools gladly", though Aldous, perhaps because of his visual impairment, seemed more open to those who might be called "underdogs". He was described as "gentle, caring & tender" by some who knew him well. Virginia Woolf said of Aldous Huxley: "He uses every instant to best advantage & has somehow solved the problem of remaining just, gentle & with a very sympathetic mind".
He also painted throughout much of his life and also embraced environmentalism well before there was a movement, concerned about ever-increasing population & calling for greater respect for planet earth. And, he had a lifelong concern to realize a bond between science & the humanities.
His publisher at Chatto said that Huxley "gives the impression that he lives remote from the world, wrapped in a distant hauteur but that is not the case as he converses easily & is full of gleeful high spirits. He uses long words because he thinks in long words & not because he is aware they are long words." Meanwhile, violinist Yehudi Menuhin described Huxley's voice as like that of a Stradivarius.
Politically, Huxley was a "decentralist", believing in self-governing, small communities, i.e. a libertarian, while hating state socialism & state fascism.
Later in life, he became a vegetarian, learned to meditate and experimented with drugs, including peyote, mescaline & LSD, in search of what might lie beyond the words he had used to express himself through so many novels, essays & even a failed dramatic effort. In fact, Huxley coined the word "psychedelic".
He wrote screenplays for a time in Hollywood, working with Walt Disney and it was said that he had gone from Meister Eckhart to Mickey Mouse, from mysticism to fantasy. Huxley worked on a screenplay for Alice in Wonderland. Quite amazingly, while a girl, his mother had posed for Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, Alice's creator.
Huxley's friends in California were a diverse blend, including astronomer Edwin Hubble, composer Igor Stravinsky & his wife, novelist Anita Loos, writer Christopher Isherwood, actress Paulette Goddard + Hollywood icons like Garbo, Chaplin & Harpo Marx.
When Huxley's 1st wife Maria died after a long, happy marriage & their California home, with manuscripts, letters & lifelong possessions was incinerated in a wildfire, he persevered, continuing in search of a therapy for his diminished sight and for answers to life's many questions.
Fighting a long bout with cancer, Huxley's death went virtually unnoticed, occurring as it did on November 22nd, 1963, within hours of the assassination of President Kennedy.
For a great many in his native U.K., the U.S. where he spent the last 30 years of his life & around the world, Aldous Huxley was the intellectual's intellectual. And while known by some only as the author of Brave New World, Huxley wrote 11 well-regarded novels, 6 short story collections, 20 essay anthologies & contributed 4 books of poetry, 2 travel books & 2 biographies.
When young, I read a great many books by Aldous Huxley, including Ape & Essence, Eyeless in Gaza & After Many a Summer Dies the Swan. While I have only just begun rereading some of them, starting withCrome Yellow, I continue to think of the author as a lifelong learner. While in what Garrison Keillor called the "near-elderly phase of life", one could do much worse than to revisit Huxley's body of work.
Within my review are images of Huxley biographer, Nicholas Murray, followed by 3 images of Aldous Huxley, the last with a quote from the author.
Aldous Huxley was born in 1894, a child with esteemed family connections, a descendant of biologist T.H. Huxley ("Darwin's Bulldog") & Matthew Arnold and the brother of scientist Julian Huxley.
However, after being struck blind while a boy at Eton, Huxley's sight was forever compromised. Beyond that, the loss of his beloved mother & a treasured younger brother while Aldous was still quite young, greatly impacted the rest of his life.
A voracious reader, he was forced to use a magnifying glass during his time at Oxford. It was as if, much like James Joyce, his diminished sight caused Huxley to accentuate the importance of words & language.
Curiously, while Aldous Huxley was forced to leave Eton due to the onset of blindness, which eventually abated to some degree, he later returned to teach at Eton where he was mocked by some of his students for his visual impairment.
One of the students at Eton who offered support for Huxley, his teacher, was a fellow by the name of Eric Blair, later known as George Orwell. Huxley's novel, Brave New World appeared in 1932 & influenced Orwell, whose own dystopian novel, 1984 appeared in 1949.
Huxley was known as a brilliant iconoclast and could be intellectually arrogant & coldly superior at times, while still holding humanitarian sympathies & a fundamentally progressive outlook. He was part of the Bloomsbury group of artists & intellectuals that included economist John Maynard Keynes, writers Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, E.M. Forster & artist Vanessa Bell, a rather lofty bunch.
It was said that the Huxleys "did not suffer fools gladly", though Aldous, perhaps because of his visual impairment, seemed more open to those who might be called "underdogs". He was described as "gentle, caring & tender" by some who knew him well. Virginia Woolf said of Aldous Huxley: "He uses every instant to best advantage & has somehow solved the problem of remaining just, gentle & with a very sympathetic mind".
Unbuttoning himself to someone close to him, Huxley reveals a tenderness & a deep moral sense that run counter to the image of him prevalent in the 1920s as a ruthless, amoral writer concerned only to shock.Huxley's guiding principle seemed to be conveyed by the words Aún Aprendo, or "I am still learning". When not writing or lecturing at colleges & universities, he read mystics like St. John of the Cross and studied Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam & Indian scripture.
He also painted throughout much of his life and also embraced environmentalism well before there was a movement, concerned about ever-increasing population & calling for greater respect for planet earth. And, he had a lifelong concern to realize a bond between science & the humanities.
His publisher at Chatto said that Huxley "gives the impression that he lives remote from the world, wrapped in a distant hauteur but that is not the case as he converses easily & is full of gleeful high spirits. He uses long words because he thinks in long words & not because he is aware they are long words." Meanwhile, violinist Yehudi Menuhin described Huxley's voice as like that of a Stradivarius.
Politically, Huxley was a "decentralist", believing in self-governing, small communities, i.e. a libertarian, while hating state socialism & state fascism.
Later in life, he became a vegetarian, learned to meditate and experimented with drugs, including peyote, mescaline & LSD, in search of what might lie beyond the words he had used to express himself through so many novels, essays & even a failed dramatic effort. In fact, Huxley coined the word "psychedelic".
He wrote screenplays for a time in Hollywood, working with Walt Disney and it was said that he had gone from Meister Eckhart to Mickey Mouse, from mysticism to fantasy. Huxley worked on a screenplay for Alice in Wonderland. Quite amazingly, while a girl, his mother had posed for Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, Alice's creator.
Huxley's friends in California were a diverse blend, including astronomer Edwin Hubble, composer Igor Stravinsky & his wife, novelist Anita Loos, writer Christopher Isherwood, actress Paulette Goddard + Hollywood icons like Garbo, Chaplin & Harpo Marx.
When Huxley's 1st wife Maria died after a long, happy marriage & their California home, with manuscripts, letters & lifelong possessions was incinerated in a wildfire, he persevered, continuing in search of a therapy for his diminished sight and for answers to life's many questions.
Fighting a long bout with cancer, Huxley's death went virtually unnoticed, occurring as it did on November 22nd, 1963, within hours of the assassination of President Kennedy.
For a great many in his native U.K., the U.S. where he spent the last 30 years of his life & around the world, Aldous Huxley was the intellectual's intellectual. And while known by some only as the author of Brave New World, Huxley wrote 11 well-regarded novels, 6 short story collections, 20 essay anthologies & contributed 4 books of poetry, 2 travel books & 2 biographies.
When young, I read a great many books by Aldous Huxley, including Ape & Essence, Eyeless in Gaza & After Many a Summer Dies the Swan. While I have only just begun rereading some of them, starting withCrome Yellow, I continue to think of the author as a lifelong learner. While in what Garrison Keillor called the "near-elderly phase of life", one could do much worse than to revisit Huxley's body of work.
Within my review are images of Huxley biographer, Nicholas Murray, followed by 3 images of Aldous Huxley, the last with a quote from the author.
September 23, 2025
I read the American edition (2003), published by St. Martins Press — titled Aldous Huxley: A Biography
It's become hackneyed to refer to someone as "iconic," but Aldous Huxley is an emblem of Western man’s twentieth-century search for positive life and social values, and search for existential meaning. He was a British-born poet, editor, novelist, essayist, Hollywood screenwriter, lecturer, and conversationalist. He matured in the Edwardian era and the just-following part of the century. Murray’s is the third (and best) biography of Huxley I’ve read — an absorbing 500 pager. In his book Murray chronicles the key events and pursuits, as well as both Huxley's intimate and professional relationships, that budded then flowered as his remarkable life, and enabled its impact.
Philip Thody’s brief biography (1973, in Scribners’ “Leaders of Modern Thought” series) spotlighted Huxley the intellectual explorer and bellwether. Sybille Bedford, a close personal friend of both Huxley and his first wife, Maria, published a much fuller and warmer account in her 1973 Huxley bio.
Murray had the advantage of reading the earlier efforts. His consummate research included interviews with Huxley’s second wife, Laura Archera Huxley, with Huxley’s son Matthew, as well as with Sybille Bedford herself, in addition to the combing of a staggering number of archives and libraries. The result is a portrait with greater depth of focus.
Aldous Huxley's dendritic life and storied career threaded the eras of the two World Wars and, past these, into the early 1960s. The phases of his adult years are legendary and compelling — from dabbling poet, to sardonic satirist, to active humanist and philanthropist, and eventually to transpersonal inward explorer and co-originator of the human-potentials movement. Murray details the evolution of this intellectual spire of the English-speaking world. At the same time, he beguiles the general reader to appreciate Huxley’s life as that of a kind and appealing person.
Apart from his travels in the world, Huxley resided in England, then Italy, and later the western U.S. His personal friendships stretched to characters as diverse as Lady Ottoline Morrell, Jiddhu Krishnamurti, and Harpo Marx. Other friendships included those with notables like D. H. Lawrence, T. S. Eliot, Gerald Heard, Clive Bell, George Lansbury, Anita Loos, Christopher Isherwood, and renowned astronomer Edwin Hubble. These relationships, as much as the story behind Huxley’s prolific and varied literary output, provide the captivating substance of the book.
It's become hackneyed to refer to someone as "iconic," but Aldous Huxley is an emblem of Western man’s twentieth-century search for positive life and social values, and search for existential meaning. He was a British-born poet, editor, novelist, essayist, Hollywood screenwriter, lecturer, and conversationalist. He matured in the Edwardian era and the just-following part of the century. Murray’s is the third (and best) biography of Huxley I’ve read — an absorbing 500 pager. In his book Murray chronicles the key events and pursuits, as well as both Huxley's intimate and professional relationships, that budded then flowered as his remarkable life, and enabled its impact.
Philip Thody’s brief biography (1973, in Scribners’ “Leaders of Modern Thought” series) spotlighted Huxley the intellectual explorer and bellwether. Sybille Bedford, a close personal friend of both Huxley and his first wife, Maria, published a much fuller and warmer account in her 1973 Huxley bio.
Murray had the advantage of reading the earlier efforts. His consummate research included interviews with Huxley’s second wife, Laura Archera Huxley, with Huxley’s son Matthew, as well as with Sybille Bedford herself, in addition to the combing of a staggering number of archives and libraries. The result is a portrait with greater depth of focus.
Aldous Huxley's dendritic life and storied career threaded the eras of the two World Wars and, past these, into the early 1960s. The phases of his adult years are legendary and compelling — from dabbling poet, to sardonic satirist, to active humanist and philanthropist, and eventually to transpersonal inward explorer and co-originator of the human-potentials movement. Murray details the evolution of this intellectual spire of the English-speaking world. At the same time, he beguiles the general reader to appreciate Huxley’s life as that of a kind and appealing person.
Apart from his travels in the world, Huxley resided in England, then Italy, and later the western U.S. His personal friendships stretched to characters as diverse as Lady Ottoline Morrell, Jiddhu Krishnamurti, and Harpo Marx. Other friendships included those with notables like D. H. Lawrence, T. S. Eliot, Gerald Heard, Clive Bell, George Lansbury, Anita Loos, Christopher Isherwood, and renowned astronomer Edwin Hubble. These relationships, as much as the story behind Huxley’s prolific and varied literary output, provide the captivating substance of the book.
November 2, 2020
This biography of Aldous Huxley isn't the most elegantly written or deeply insightful about the nature of his literary work, but it does pretty much what I want a biography to do. It provides a clear telling of the events of the author's life, pairs them with his written output at the time, and makes reasonable judgements about what the subject is thinking and feeling based on available evidence and conjecture within acceptable limits.
Huxley had a voluminous output of the written word, lived through enormous changes in the world, and himself morphed from writer of high class satires to sci-fi parables to transcendent religious meditations. It's a lot to cram into one life, and a lot of fit between the covers of one book. Murray does an admirable job of weaving personal, public, and literary strings together, in the end giving us a portrait of someone that is recognizable, even if Huxley is a difficult person to feel that you really know.
I appreciated the focus as well on Huxley's visual impairment, which obviously impacted him deeply, but is easy to to forget about when you're reading his work.
The tone is pretty neutral throughout the book, and often uses Huxley's own words to criticize some aspects of his writing, which is a clever way for Murray to include them without coming out with them himself. Huxley also does not receive a pass on his credulousness toward certain fringe-y beliefs around topics like ESP, etc. However, it's clear that Murray also appreciates Huxley's work. This biography is neither overly critical nor is it a hagiography.
I haven't read the other Huxley biographies out there, and clearly Cybille Bedford's is still considered important as well, but this one is shorter and less personally invested, and I think for the large bulk of people interested in a book like this, it will more than serve the purpose.
Huxley had a voluminous output of the written word, lived through enormous changes in the world, and himself morphed from writer of high class satires to sci-fi parables to transcendent religious meditations. It's a lot to cram into one life, and a lot of fit between the covers of one book. Murray does an admirable job of weaving personal, public, and literary strings together, in the end giving us a portrait of someone that is recognizable, even if Huxley is a difficult person to feel that you really know.
I appreciated the focus as well on Huxley's visual impairment, which obviously impacted him deeply, but is easy to to forget about when you're reading his work.
The tone is pretty neutral throughout the book, and often uses Huxley's own words to criticize some aspects of his writing, which is a clever way for Murray to include them without coming out with them himself. Huxley also does not receive a pass on his credulousness toward certain fringe-y beliefs around topics like ESP, etc. However, it's clear that Murray also appreciates Huxley's work. This biography is neither overly critical nor is it a hagiography.
I haven't read the other Huxley biographies out there, and clearly Cybille Bedford's is still considered important as well, but this one is shorter and less personally invested, and I think for the large bulk of people interested in a book like this, it will more than serve the purpose.
March 5, 2015
Aldous Huxley:A Biography by Nicholas Murray was an enjoyable read and a good introduction to Huxley's life.
There are moments where the biography is a strained. For example, when the author attempts to incorporate Maria's, Huxley's first wife, bisexuality into Aldous' life. This is never done smoothly and it reads almost as if Mr. Murray felt they needed to do this but did not really know how to go about it.
For the most part, however, Murray's biography of Huxley is a good introduction to the author's life, but not a deeply intellectual attempt. In many instances the biography is more gossipy than articulate and thoughtful. The readings of Huxley's books is also light-weight and not deeply perceptive. This would not matter to most readers unless they were academics with a deep interest in the writings of this 20th Century iconoclastic mystic. Most will be able to skate over this failure with no problem.
In writing a life of Aldous Huxley biographers also face the challenge that most of his papers and library were destroyed in a fire late in his life. Therefore, much of his most intimate thoughts, as well as those of his wife, Maria, have been lost to biographers and they must reconstruct those from a distance--which is never a simple matter.
Recommended as an introduction to the life of Aldous Huxley for general readers.
Rating: a generous 4 out of 5 stars.
There are moments where the biography is a strained. For example, when the author attempts to incorporate Maria's, Huxley's first wife, bisexuality into Aldous' life. This is never done smoothly and it reads almost as if Mr. Murray felt they needed to do this but did not really know how to go about it.
For the most part, however, Murray's biography of Huxley is a good introduction to the author's life, but not a deeply intellectual attempt. In many instances the biography is more gossipy than articulate and thoughtful. The readings of Huxley's books is also light-weight and not deeply perceptive. This would not matter to most readers unless they were academics with a deep interest in the writings of this 20th Century iconoclastic mystic. Most will be able to skate over this failure with no problem.
In writing a life of Aldous Huxley biographers also face the challenge that most of his papers and library were destroyed in a fire late in his life. Therefore, much of his most intimate thoughts, as well as those of his wife, Maria, have been lost to biographers and they must reconstruct those from a distance--which is never a simple matter.
Recommended as an introduction to the life of Aldous Huxley for general readers.
Rating: a generous 4 out of 5 stars.
May 12, 2008
I don't read biographies much. This book however, was quite good. Very smart. There was nothing deeply personal and internally moving about its recall of Huxley’s life, just the quick moving chronological clime of a great author and his spiritual remedies. I did not weep at the telling of Huxley’s death in this account, instead I put the book down having marveled at his life.
May 26, 2024
I read this steadily in a few extended sittings over a day and night. It flowed well. As others have commented, Murray stints on criticisms of the works, but he frames their genesis according to their documentation of the intellectual and increasingly spiritual stages of Huxley, as he evolved from sassy satirist to engaged seeker. Murray captures both the Bloomsbury and mid-century Southern Californian "alternative" scenes. He takes pains to use the archives of academic collections which the previous biographer Sybille Bedford lacked access to, and while he produces a briefer book, it's suited for those of us curious about Huxley. Murray is good at correcting persistent stereotypes and errant superficial understandings of Brave New World, as well as dismissals of his early, cynical fictions.
I found this answered what I needed. I only found one error, which a non-native of Los Angeles might make. Chatsworth is in not the San Gabriel, but San Fernando, Valley. Murray uses his wife's letters effectively to convey their love of the high desert on the north side of these mountains in Southern California, and he's fully cognizant that any scholarship on Huxley will sadly suffer from a fire a few years before Huxley's death on November 22nd 1963 which destroyed most of his correspondence.
I found this answered what I needed. I only found one error, which a non-native of Los Angeles might make. Chatsworth is in not the San Gabriel, but San Fernando, Valley. Murray uses his wife's letters effectively to convey their love of the high desert on the north side of these mountains in Southern California, and he's fully cognizant that any scholarship on Huxley will sadly suffer from a fire a few years before Huxley's death on November 22nd 1963 which destroyed most of his correspondence.
December 20, 2023
Excellent biography about one of the most extraordinary individuals to ever exist.
July 16, 2014
Great biography, and one that does an amazing job weaving Huxley's ideas and his unique and often misunderstood character.
If one judges Huxley based on his novels alone, they will probably come away with the conception of a pessimistic, detached intellectual who cynically marvels at the stupidity of other human beings. There is a grain of truth here, particularly in his early writings, but it is far from the full story.
Those who knew Huxley often described him as "serene" and almost other-worldly due to his strange appearance (he was extremely tall and long, "grasshopper"-like). One friend described him as
"the gentlest human being I have ever seen, and the most delightfully giggly." A far-cry from the portrayal of Huxley as arrogant and condescending.
Murray describes him as "a constantly inquiring mind, an intellectual presence with no parallel in the current literary scene, a 'multiple amphibian' living in all the elements of art and science and perception that his omnivorous mind could gather into itself.
Though he grew up in a rather wealthy and prestigious family (he was the grandson of "Darwin's Bulldog" Thomas Huxley), his childhood was rough. In around the same period of time, Huxley's mother died of cancer, he went practically blind (and he would deal with severe eye issues for the rest of his life, inhibiting his ability to read for long periods), and his brother, Trev, committed suicide. These experiences took their toll, and they would constantly resurface in his writings.
What was most interesting about Huxley's life, in my opinion, was his transition from being a concisely scientific, reclusive intellectual to a socially active mystic and optimist. Of course, he never abandoned his deep love of science, but his sudden obsession with Eastern religion (and his later forays into psychedelic drug use) is fascinating, and it would eventually lead to him publishing the surprising books "The Perennial Philosophy" and "The Doors of Perception".
Overall, Huxley was a fascinating character with an insatiable mind. Below are some pieces of a transcription of some of Huxley's amazing final words, spoken almost inaudibly from his deathbed:
"Our business is to wake up...We must not live thoughtlessly, taking our illusion for the complete reality, but at the same time we must not live too thoughtfully in the sense of trying to escape from a dream state.
We must continually be on our watch for ways in which we may enlarge our consciousness. Too much wisdom is as bad as too little wisdom, and there must be no magic tricks.
We must learn to come to reality without the enchanter's wand and his book of the words. One must find a way of being in this world while not being of it. A way of living in time without being completely swallowed up in it."
If one judges Huxley based on his novels alone, they will probably come away with the conception of a pessimistic, detached intellectual who cynically marvels at the stupidity of other human beings. There is a grain of truth here, particularly in his early writings, but it is far from the full story.
Those who knew Huxley often described him as "serene" and almost other-worldly due to his strange appearance (he was extremely tall and long, "grasshopper"-like). One friend described him as
"the gentlest human being I have ever seen, and the most delightfully giggly." A far-cry from the portrayal of Huxley as arrogant and condescending.
Murray describes him as "a constantly inquiring mind, an intellectual presence with no parallel in the current literary scene, a 'multiple amphibian' living in all the elements of art and science and perception that his omnivorous mind could gather into itself.
Though he grew up in a rather wealthy and prestigious family (he was the grandson of "Darwin's Bulldog" Thomas Huxley), his childhood was rough. In around the same period of time, Huxley's mother died of cancer, he went practically blind (and he would deal with severe eye issues for the rest of his life, inhibiting his ability to read for long periods), and his brother, Trev, committed suicide. These experiences took their toll, and they would constantly resurface in his writings.
What was most interesting about Huxley's life, in my opinion, was his transition from being a concisely scientific, reclusive intellectual to a socially active mystic and optimist. Of course, he never abandoned his deep love of science, but his sudden obsession with Eastern religion (and his later forays into psychedelic drug use) is fascinating, and it would eventually lead to him publishing the surprising books "The Perennial Philosophy" and "The Doors of Perception".
Overall, Huxley was a fascinating character with an insatiable mind. Below are some pieces of a transcription of some of Huxley's amazing final words, spoken almost inaudibly from his deathbed:
"Our business is to wake up...We must not live thoughtlessly, taking our illusion for the complete reality, but at the same time we must not live too thoughtfully in the sense of trying to escape from a dream state.
We must continually be on our watch for ways in which we may enlarge our consciousness. Too much wisdom is as bad as too little wisdom, and there must be no magic tricks.
We must learn to come to reality without the enchanter's wand and his book of the words. One must find a way of being in this world while not being of it. A way of living in time without being completely swallowed up in it."
March 30, 2016
Superb.
December 22, 2022
Well researched and fully documented, this is an essential resource for anyone investigating Huxley's life. At a few points, it appears to offer some valid correctives to Sybille Bedford's better-known biography. As a book, however, it's dry as dust, with short, almost cursory-seeming chapters, a prose style so simple as to be boring, and an overall impression of Cliff Notes. The author has contributed significantly to the study of Huxley's classic 20th-century life, but is unlikely to excite anyone into wanting to know more.
September 15, 2020
A fascinating portrait of a man who believed in a sort of mystical connection between all things but who was too intellectual and wordly to ever really let go and live his deepest beliefs.
January 14, 2026
Huxley was a fascinating man whose works speak louder than the tale of his life.
March 10, 2017
A group I belong to was reading Huxley in Hollywood, but I could not find a copy of that book and decided to read this one instead. I read the few short chapters covering the Huxley's time in the USA and found them concise and informative, so I wondered how an author could stretch them into an entire book (lots of name-dropping and descriptions of parties, according to another group member).
I returned to the book a few weeks later and read more of it, but had not finished before It was due back at the library. This is a good biography and I would recommend it to anyone interested in reading about this reserved, highly intelligent man and the journeys of the mind he took in his lifetime. I would also recommend reading some of his books.
I returned to the book a few weeks later and read more of it, but had not finished before It was due back at the library. This is a good biography and I would recommend it to anyone interested in reading about this reserved, highly intelligent man and the journeys of the mind he took in his lifetime. I would also recommend reading some of his books.
October 12, 2019
There are several ways to write a biograph, and Murray had chosen a very detailed approach. In his careful research of previous work on Huxley, of additional unpuplished material and interviews he has come up with almost a diary of Huxley's life, following this eccentric author's and thinker's Huxley's path from his youth in England to the bright lights of Hollywood. In between the life events Murray also manages to comment in detail the main works of Huxley, where Huxley tried to calrify both to himself and to his audience what is essential in being human.
While I do appreciate Murray's devotion to record and quote (at length) the letters and other texts from the time they were written, I must confess that this approach made the book very tedious to read. The sentences were long and cumbersome, and it was not easy to follow whose opinions and impressions were presented at any time. Therefore, although it was intresting to get to know one of the great minds of the 20th centry, I feel that was made unnecessary difficult by the author of his biography. Even though I acknowledge that the style fo the book probably reflected well the worldview and thinking process of Huxley himself.
While I do appreciate Murray's devotion to record and quote (at length) the letters and other texts from the time they were written, I must confess that this approach made the book very tedious to read. The sentences were long and cumbersome, and it was not easy to follow whose opinions and impressions were presented at any time. Therefore, although it was intresting to get to know one of the great minds of the 20th centry, I feel that was made unnecessary difficult by the author of his biography. Even though I acknowledge that the style fo the book probably reflected well the worldview and thinking process of Huxley himself.
February 1, 2011
Massive book, which I didn't quite finish. Interesting fellow I didn't know much about. I remember his novels scattered around my parents' house when I was growing up--"Eyeless in Gaza", "Antic Hay"--and of course I read "Brave New World" in high school. These icons of my childhood are a bit freaky--see John Cheever. Huxley was chock-full of ideas of all kinds, scientific, social, psychological, medical.... the man simply never stopped thinking. I found the thinking parts exasperatingly boring (maybe just my bias) but the rest of the life was not much more than a litany of travels, from England to Europe (his wife was Belgian)to various places in the US, till he finally more-or-less settled in California. He was always looking for a cheap place to settle in & write his novels, but he also thought that he wasn't a very good writer. And the man was increasingly blind--"Eyeless in Gaza" indeed!
Some day I may take this book out of the library again & finish it, but for now the book is due & I've had enough.
Some day I may take this book out of the library again & finish it, but for now the book is due & I've had enough.
April 11, 2014
I think Murray's biography is an excellent introduction to Huxley's intellectual life. The chronology is meticulous. For those well-read in Huxley's main interests, you'll forgive the pun that this biography offers superb insight into the mechanics of Huxley's genius life.
I'm hopeful that Sybille Bedford's (what is considered the definitive) biography of Huxley will shed light on Huxley's internal, emotional workings.
I'm hopeful that Sybille Bedford's (what is considered the definitive) biography of Huxley will shed light on Huxley's internal, emotional workings.
October 5, 2016
A really great biography of a fascinating author. I only bought it because I'm working on a project relating to his last novel, Island, but I really enjoyed reading the book. I'm curious to read Bedford's biography, which I believe is far more extensive than this.
Want to read
November 28, 2007I bought it but haven't cracked it yet, I'm waiting for a good time to completely focus on this one.
July 24, 2011
contained some interesting information, providing insight into where his literary ideas may have originated.
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