Brave New World Book

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Book By: Aldous Huxley

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Sales Rank: 222; Release Date: 01 September, 1998; Media: Paperback

Customer Book Reviews
Average Rating: Rating: - At what price contentment? Brave New World is an excellent book and, what's more, one that seems to be becoming more relevant all the time in our fast paced world. And unlike many other books with a similar philosophical orientation, Brave New World is quite refreshing, as Huxley's prose is somehow manages to be clear, elegant and insightful without being overly obvious. As regards the actual plot, Brave New World is in essence a portrayal of a utopia (or dystopia, depending how you look at it) in which there is constant prosperity, people are always content, as they are well provided for and have been programmed to like their society in all respects. This programming is undertaken by workers in charge of breeding the future citizens of this idyllic world, which is united under one government, under Ford. As everybody has been programmed to like their class and job, everybody is constantly content and has no wish to do anything other than what is required of them. If they happen to become depressed, of course, there is always the mood altering drug Soma. Through presenting a few individuals who do not exactly fit into this molded world, however, Huxley presents us with a challenging and endlessly interesting question: What can possibly be wrong with a world in which everybody is happy, even if there is no real free will involved in actuality? If we can make ourselves superficially content and never have to suffer a moment of desperation or uncertainty, why not just do that? With the help of William Shakespeare and a young man from a "savage reservation," Huxley explores the alternatives to his invented society's promotion of mindless satisfaction. Should true art and the deep thought and emotion that inspires it be sacrificed to perpetual happiness without thought or deeper feeling? Or is the attempt to find these deeper meanings just silly and self-defeating, as we will all meet the same fate in the end? In this era of quick entertainment, instant gratification and materialism unbounded, there are no better questions to be asking than these, the ones at the heart of Brave New World. Pick up a copy and start to read - in addition to being quite interesting as a science-fiction book or portrayal of a future world, Brave New World is a book that inspires a lot of thinking about our lives today. Rating: - A gram of soma a day... Soma, feelies, scent organs...these are some of the wondrous inventions which litter the landscape of Huxley's ultra-happy dystopia. From the opening scene where we watch babies being farmed instead of born this book creates a world where science and logic have wiped out individual inspiration and such petty things as love, poetry and Shakespeare. This novel is a terrific read for it's ability to create a horrible world, and yet make it seem not so bad. This is the real power of the book. While the world of 1984 is obviously a nightmare, the world of Brave New World does not seem that bad for the most part. It draws you in and makes you wonder what a movie would be like where you can feel what the actors are feeling, or what work would be like if it was always perfectly challenging and stimulating. It creates a world that you know you are not supposed to like, but which is seductive none-the-less. And this sets up the final scene in which three men argue the fate of all our lives. In which art makes a stand against easy happiness, in which love makes a stand against ignorant bliss. The last twenty pages are a tour-de-force of philosophical inquiries which makes you realize that even though you could be happy in Huxley's Brave New World, you would never be yourself. And that is the only true happiness there is. Rating: - The threat of "Brave New World" gone? That would be nice... I see that some reviewers are saying the threat of a world similar to that in this novel is farther away than ever. That would be nice. Increasingly, I'm interpreting sci-fi dystopian/utopian novels not as warnings of a dire future but condemnations of a nasty present. And though this book was written in 1932, as civilization increases its messages only become more pertinent. I just finished reading this book today, and it would probably be wise to wait longer before reviewing it, but what the hell. Huxley's "brave new world" can be read as a brilliant satire of consumer society and civilization itself, in which people avoid feelings, pain, and confusion through drugs, work, and a tunnel vision that is reinforced by societal "conditioning" (though I would argue it's part of human nature as well). I was troubled by the Savage's masochistic tendencies, and confused at times as to what Huxley really thought of the Savage's over the top behavior, in the pursuit of sensation and actual feeling. Because the Savage goes so far over the top by the end, I can only assume that Huxley feels he's gone too far in the opposite direction, pursuing pain and denial simply because they are values opposed to the society he hates. Though the book is a brilliant critique, not just of society but of the way the human mind strives to shut out anything unfamiliar and uncomfortable (this is where the book's true greatness lies, I think), I'd consider deducting a star simply because it's more of an essay told in novel form than a full-fledged story. Many pages are devoted to pure description of the society, albiet cloaked in the dialogue of characters rather than in the narration, and sometimes this overshadows the characterization and story development. But the opening chapter uses an interesting, almost "cinematic" technique of "crosscutting", which can be exasperating to read but is original at least. And the characters are actually quite convincing and recognizable, especially Bernard...it's as if George Costanza from Seinfeld wound up in a future society (see Woody Allen's Sleeper). It's brimming with fantastic ideas, but I don't think it's fantastic storytelling. Nonetheless, that a minor quibble, because it's very readable and extremely insightful. Pick it up right away. 5/6

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