Rating: 
Summary: A book that makes you think.
Review: I was assigned Brave New World in my AP English class, and I started off with a rather poor impression of the book from my teacher. However, as I read more and more, I realized it is a masterful prediction of what happens when people want to be efficient and happy as opposed to free. While I don't believe Huxley's prediction of a future world is accurate in all aspects, the resemblance to our modern society is becoming all too real. I was reminded somewhat of Fahrenheit 451, but Brave New World is a much better work than Fahrenheit 451. This book made me question my personal ideas of what true happiness is. The reader has to decide, based on the book, whether happiness is a personal standard or if happiness could be attained through careful control by a government. I definitely recommend this book for anyone to read.
Rating: 
Summary: It's getting old
Review: While Huxley's overall theme still speaks to many, the details of this book are quickly becoming outdated. While you don't need to look very far to find dark, real-life examples of his "Brave New World," the story itself seems to be a stretch, kind of like a 1930s sci-fi movie's vision of a future that has already come to pass under much different circumstances. Orwell's "1984" is a much better work on a similar theme.
Rating:
Summary: More subtle than 1984
Review: This novel looks into the future and creates a disturbing vision of social and genetic engineering creating a "utopia." The subtlty of this vision, however, is that people are conditioned to be happy with the empty lives they live. Any unhapiness is remedied by "soma." a drug which takes away all worries. A caste system is engineered and in the lower castes, all individuals are alike, indeed, through genetic engineering, dozens of identical siblings are routinely created. Stripped of all individuality, they are conditioned to be happy as cogs in the wheel. Romance is gone but, open sexuality is rampant and considered the norm. To abstain from promiscuous sex defies convention.Through a character named John, who is known as the savage and who comes from a separate civilization, we compare whether a life of individuality and purpose, but also with pain and unpleasant experiences, is better than the controlled life of hapiness. The "brave new world" is a society in which humankind is enslaved but, is happy with its servitude. Unlike Orwell's chilling "1984" in which the totalitarian state is held together by the frightening concept of Big Brother watching, this society needs little coercive controls. People are conditioned to to be happy with their roles in society. With some exceptions hinted at in the novel, most people are indeed happy through conditioning, open sex and "soma holidays." This novel is thought provoking, and as we see paternalistic (as opposed to coercive) big government assert it's role in our lives, parallels to the "brave new world" are certain to be drawn.
Rating:
Summary: A phenominal accomplishment in literature in great condition
Review: This book is one of the better books I have read in my life. It touches on issues no other books I have read touched. The government in the book gets rid of everything we hold sacred, but with the new technologies of the time, it seems to function. We have to wonder, is this civilization horrible, or are they just developing with time? I would definately recommend getting the hardcover for this book. Trust me, it's worth it. It comes in unbelievable condition, and could probably go through 3 or 4 full reads before it is signifacntly damaged [which I will for sure test out =)] I think this is the better of the three main distopia books (the other two being Farenheit 451 and 1984).
Rating: 
Summary: Red Pill, Blue Pill
Review: I've been reading a book called Brave New World... the girl at the counter asked me if i was reading it for class or pleasure. I'm not in school right now, so obviously pleasure, it was highly recommended by an old friend from HS, but I never read it in class. I don't expect it would be something they would have in the curriculum for public schools in the first place. Drugs, sex, questioning of authority... this is not something every teenager can relate to, no Catcher in the Rye. There is a question it asks that bothered me (because I had to think about it, and among several) was "Which world would I rather live in, the reservation or the brave new "civilized" world, where happiness is set above knowledge and truth. Would I rather be assigned a job classification, issued "Soma" and have to bear no worried or uncomfortable moments, and live in ignorant bliss? Or would I rather live in the real world, with real problems which I had to deal with, but complete freedom to do and be whatever I choose? Kindof like red pill, blue pill huh?
Rating:
Summary: Utopia gone wrong
Review: Brave New World is a novel that everyone should read. The book is very well crafted, and the story is fascinating. The main character of the book is Bernard Marx(allusion to Karl Marx perhaps). Marx finds himself living in a world where crime is virtually nonexistent, everyone is provided for, and people don't seem to have a care in the world. It sounds like a utopia, but at what cost? The "cost" is what this novel addresses. Marx finds himself wondering why he is so unhappy, and discovers it is the system he lives under. The novel asks the question, "Is it worth losing your personal freedom to have stability and harmony in society." Huxley wrote this book to warn of the dangers that socialism can bring. I would strongly suggest that anyone interested in this novel read "Looking Backward," by Edward Bellamy. Brave New World seems almost to be written in response to Bellamy's novel. I have also noticed that people enjoy comparing Brave New World to 1984. The books are similiar in the fact that they are both "negative utopian" novels, but that's about all they have in common. Brave New World is written to show the flaws of a socialist society, while 1984 is more interested in showing the dangers of totalitarianism. Brave New World is a relatively short book, only about 200 pages. It is not a very difficult read either. The book is rich in literary merit, but is also deeply political. It is one of the few novels that can walk the political tightrope, and escape the branding of propaganda. I invite you to discover why the novel has been so successful. I don't think you will be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Uma sutil alfinetada nas convenções sociais
Review: À primeira leitura, Admirável Mundo Novo parece ser apenas uma pessimista e bem articulada visão do futuro - em que cada ser humano é como uma máquina, com uma função social programada e determinada no código genético, a verdadeira garantia de uma sociedade estável. Entretanto, o livro de Aldous Huxley vai muito além. Apresentando uma sociedade em que as condutas e os valores são totalmente distintos daqueles que conhecemos e adotamos, podemos notar como são meras convenções e arbitrariedades. Os conceitos de família e amor são ultrajantes, quase impensáveis, naquele mundo fictício. Ser fiel é considerado imoral. Percebemos ao longo da trama como os valores que tanto defendemos podem ser voláteis e arbitrários, apenas frutos de um determinado contexto histórico ou de uma cultura. Este livro, além de oferecer ao leitor um magnífico e minucioso retrato de um futuro assustador, dá, nas entrelinhas, sutis alfinetadas nas nossas convicções e valores, mostrando como são frágeis. Enfim, uma verdadeira obra-prima!
Rating:
Summary: Are we going this way?
Review: In the future world, social stability is the first priority. People are "produced" with genetic engineerings, and there are no mothers. Different chastes are produced, with different missions and status. In fact, people are enslaved, but thanks to hypnopedia and induction, they are all happy. Everybody uses "soma", a happiness drug. Sexual liberty is complete, with no prejudice or inhibitions, and the superior chastes are really beautiful. There is much variety of entertainment for the free time, but no opportunity for independent thought. Loneliness is forbidden. Bernard Marx is a strange guy who goes to a reservation for indians in New Mexico. There, they find a woman from the "normal" world and her son, both of them had got lost and become savages. The child turns out to be the son of the Director of Incubation and Conditioning, who loses his job for the crime of having a son. Marx takes the savage and his mother to London and then... In 1932, when this book first appeared, it must have sounded like science fiction. Today, it is not. It is simply our society taken to extremes. For good and for bad, we are closer and closer to Huxley's vision. Although my view of the future is not that pessimistic, I think our present society resembles Huxley's in more than one feature: 1) we still can't "produce" people, but genetic engineerings is taking us closer; 2) many people are born in "chastes", where social mobility is practically impossible (if you're born an aborigin in Mozambique, your chances of dying in your suburban hometown are almost zero, and viceversa); 3) many people are enslaved and happy to be so (including people in nice offices); 4)sexual liberty is complete in many places; 5)never in history had there been so many time and choices for entertainment, and it can hardly be argued that they stimulate independent thought; 6)the "indians" of the world are confined in reservations (possibly their own countries) while the borders of the developed world are almost closed for them; 7)and, instead of "soma", we have ecstasy and prozac. This is not an opinion; just a comparison, and a worrying one. I am pro free markets and pro technology, but I am also convinced that these have their problems, and we should acknowledge them and think and act about them. Read this book and you'll think of suburban United States. I promise.
Rating:
Summary: A New Look At Life
Review: I read this book freshman year, a year early (according to school standards) because a guy in my math class was telling me about this world where everyone is brainwashed, sex is encouraged at the age of four years old, your fate is determined at birth, and there is a STRICT class system. As i heard him describe this book, i wanted to read it, and i borrowed it and read it in one night. its that good. it makes u think about how we raise our own children, and how we treat the native americans. although the end is kinda strange, it fits the book. i would like to rewrite it, cause i like books to work out how I want them to work out. I really liked this book. the story is good, even if you don't get all the satire and symbolism. :) which i didn't get the time i read it for fun. in this book, the story and history that the characters have lived through is amazing. i recommend this book to anyone with an open mind. try to find someone around u to read it too, its fun to discuss. :) happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: HHS,Per5
Review: I enjoyed reading Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. This book is an eerie look at things to come. A reason that I personally enjoyed this book is that it is very interesting. The reason for this is the novel is not very far from fiction. In this day in age with the onset of cloning, perhaps all the issues discussed in this book may, eventually, become reality. This book eludes to the dangers of a standardized human that is controlled entirely by government, like "big brother". From reading this book there is one phrase that is shown to be Ironic. This phrase is the motto of the "world state". The motto is one of the first things read; it is " COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY". The irony Is that people don't really have their own identities. What the phrase means is that shun everyone not in your community, play the identity you were assigned at birth (Alpha, Beta etc.) and keep the "cog in the wheel" society stable. I also enjoyed this book due to the way the some of the chapters were set up. I like they way the author split up some of the chapters into parts. These parts show what is happening in a different place at the same time. In conclusion I would recommend this book to anyone that likes science fiction, or any type of science. This book is a classic. Perhaps it will be looked back upon as a manual for a new society.
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