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| Brave New World | 
| Author: Aldous Huxley
Publisher: Flamingo
Category: Book
Buy New: $32.78
New (1) from $32.78
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 167505
Media: Paperback
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0586044345
EAN: 9780586044346
ASIN: 0586044345
Publication Date: June 9, 1977
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New! Immediate Shipment!
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| Customer Reviews:
A few thoughts with "religious" considerations April 13, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This remarkable book was written around 1931. As far as I know it is the earliest of the modern dystopia novels ("1984", "Fahrenheit 451"). Read carefully . . . .
It is a story, centered in London, of a world where life is lived out in controlled, contented bliss. Genetic engineering contributes to a smoothly functioning caste system. Sexual promiscuity is the norm, even instilled in children. Birth control is the norm. Behavior altering drug use is the norm. Physical attractiveness is at a premium and youth is artificially preserved. Materialistic consumption is prized. Entertainment occupies non-work hours but does NOT include reading. Independent thinking is unacceptable. "God" has been replaced by "Ford", literally (science and industry!, not superstition).
A couple of characters are introduced who behave counter to the culture. They are eventually banished. We get a glimpse into the true thoughts of the World Controller, who keeps a safe containing BOOKS. A central character (The Savage) is introduced, having been imported from the undeveloped American Southwest. Although a primitive, he was self-educated through study of an ancient volume of Shakespeare. He is rather pan-theistc, worshipping an assortment of gods that he has became aware of, including the Judeo-Christian God. (The Savage seems to be doing the best he can with the information he has). His love relationship with a beautiful but totally indoctrinated London girl destroys him (he is chaste - she is a cookie cutter product of the society and he is appalled by her ready sexual availability).
In the end, The Savage cannot function in this society and takes his own life. The reader may assume that the society then absorbs the entertainment available from this event and moves on blissfully.
So . . . who wins, who is happy, who is right? My conclusion: If there is no God, the pleasure seeking dystopians were in fact right on track. The Savage was a superstitious primitive who squandered his life and a multitude of opportunities for sensual and material fun and happiness.
Conversely, if a Creator Deity does exist (whom The Savage clearly sought), then it would appear that The Savage, in death, moved on to a superior state, and indeed had lived out his whole life in a superior fashion of obedience. The dystopians, on the other hand, live out their reward in the present physical life, squandering eternity.
The Bible (referenced in the novel, a copy hidden in the Controller's safe) asserts that The Creator is self-evident through his creation, and all who reject him are without excuse. Correspondingly, there are multiple allusions in the novel to fascination with nature, such as the night sky. Such interest is suppressed by the dystopian society of course. I think that is the endpoint in Huxley's, Brave New World -- Living for this world (serving self), or living for the greater, unseen one (trusting God). A great matter of faith, and the essence of all decision making.
God does not change. But people do. March 10, 2008
We are treated to a glimpse of a possible future world where friendship can still exist. This is a story of a hand full of individuals in a world that emphasizes "Community, Identity, Stability" that find each other and discus subjects that most of the people of that time cold not understand. However we do. Naturally the author Aldous Huxley builds his own scenarios and draws his own conclusions through the characters speeches and description of experimental history.
Bernard Marx who is about to lose his job because he is different (vary different) form those around him, decides to take a vacation to visit the Zuni's. There he meets a misplaced person named John. Together with the help of Bernard's friend Henry they intend to change the world. So they find out the world is incapable of changing.
We get an Ayn Rand type speech from Mustapha Mond one of the world controllers' that helps you realize that in this brave new world the three friends are the anomaly. How can this enigma be solved?
Do not forget to watch the 1998 movie version with Leonard Nimoy as Mustapha Mond.
Brave New World
Great dystopian classic May 20, 2007
This early Twentieth Century classic is my favorite among Huxley's works; It is set in a near future when families and parents are a thing of the past; all human reproduction is done by cloning and 'decanting', and children are taught by 'hypnopaedia', sleep-teaching. They're not only physically molded before birth via various and sundry means - like reducing the air-supply of a foetus to insure a smaller person who will fit among the lower classes -, but their careers are chosen in advance too, and they are given the proper number of hours of in-sleep suggestion for each profession and social status they are to live with. Since families and parenthood are dirty words in Huxley's future world, people are encouraged to have flitting and frequent encounters with the other sex, and kids are taught to do it from a very early age. 'Everyone belongs to everyone', they are conditioned to repeat. To hammer the point of conformity home, everybody is given their daily dose of soma, the perfect drug, created to keep them all happy and socially integrated. Among this sea of conformity, there is one man called Bernard Max who seems to be different, and we are taken with him in a journey of self-discovery. I would encourage all to read this alongside Orwell's "1984" and Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We" to compare the most famous dystopian novels of the Twentieth Century. Overall, a great read, and highly recommended.
An interesting twist on an alternate reality March 4, 2004
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is a great classic written by an amazing author. it brings us almost 700 years into the future to a world where Ford is God and humans beings are manufactured and designated into different mental classes at birth. they range from the athletic and intelligent Alpha Plus to the slow and dim witted Eplison. This book follows the story of Bernard Marx, an out-of-place Alpha Plus who feels that he doesn't fit in the world. After visiting a "savage" reserve he begins to discover his true nature.
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