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Summary: brilliantly written
Review: Don't get caught up - like so many have - in trying to over-analyse this book. It's themes are obvious, its message is quite clear. It doesn't need psychoanalysis of its author to understand the message that he brings in the pages of Brave New World. Just understand that being human = frailty, emotions, and irrationality, no matter what we are taught. Nothing can subdue the human-ness of us all, no matter how much we are conditioned and sterilised. That is the lesson of the book.
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Summary: Very Interesting View of The Future
Review: I really liked this book, although there were some parts to it that I didn`t understand. The author creates a future world, where humans are genetically engineered to "be happy". I think the idea behind this book is to point out some of the weaknesses of our society (eg. our reluctance to face our problems - we tend to take some "soma" instead, which is a widely used drug in the book to make people forget their problems)and to make us aware of what could happen in the future to humanity if we aren`t careful. The future described in the novel is very realistic and some of it is already starting to show up - whether we like it or not. When reading the book, you get the feeling (or maybe you don`t) that something is wrong with this future world. Engineering people to work and be happy is wrong, because the happiness they are feeling is not real. I guess it doesn`t make any sense now, but after reading the book it gives you something to think about. A great book!
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Summary: This book is a classic ! READ IT!
Review: I was 15 the first time I read this book, 30-something years later it still remains one of my favourites. Everyone should read this book. If you liked A.B.N.W then I recommend another one of my favourites, Animal Farm. Happy reading.
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Summary: Stunning manifesto on the gradual process of Conditioning
Review: After perusing the reviews of this book, good and bad, I was surprised to see little or no comment on one of its major themes: conditioning. In Huxley's vision the children of tomorrow are assembled (most with missing parts) in factories, then given subliminal treatment for the whole of their formative years. As adults they dutifully regurgitate catch phrases ('everybody belongs to everybody') and take the drug Soma to calm any inclination toward passionate activity. Is this not how we grow and learn? Observing out parents and peers in the early years, aping their fears and desires, then being routinly drilled through 12 to 20 years of schooling the 'rules' of society, from Red Light Green Light to DARE and onward? And when stress and discomfort inflict the masses, isn't alcohol, tobacco, TV and McDonalds there to soothe all the troubles away? A crude version of 'Brave New World', perhaps, but steadily evolving as the few bright minds of the world today work to make our lives a little easier. In the book every person is separated into a caste: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, ect., and are strictly taught to avoid contact outside these defined boundaries. This idea is contemporary: these 'castes' actually do exist, here and now, in terms of intellect and upbringing, and is a reason why pop culture in the U.S. is so varied and so much of it is invaribly crap. As the World Controller states: "...eight-ninths below the water line, one ninth above." Enter into this sterile landscape of happy consistancy John, a 'savage' raised by Indians but never accepted, a tortured soul who reads Shakesphere and embraces isolation to the point that the tempting flesh of another drives him into a frenzy of guilt and rage, all deriving from and focused to his mother figure. As the book relates the experiences of his early years and winds up to its inevitable conclusion for this stranger in a strange land, we see that John is just as unable to escape his conditioning as the hypnopadia-trained clones of this miserably perfect furture. Some claim that Huxley is too obvious in his presentation, but I disagree: buried in the text are critisms of our society, sexual repression in particular, and truths about entertainment that none can deny--that all of it derives from suffering. 60+ years after its publishing, BRAVE NEW WORLD is far more contemporary and insightful than most the bestselling drivel thrown at us today. You may like it or hate it...but you cannot walk away without a change in your thought patterns.
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Summary: A classic sci-fi!
Review: Brave New World is a classic science fiction which forecast a future world with its World State's motto being COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY. People are divided/cloned into classes - Alpha, Beta, .... Epsilon. "Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, becasue they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta Children. And Epsilons are still worse. They are too stupid to be able...." This book was written in 1932. It still has its impact. I was totally shocked to read about a world such as that. But somehow, I also felt that there was a certain logic to it. Read the book and you will see what I meant.
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Summary: One of the best dystopia books I've ever read.
Review: While its portrayal of the future is not as apocalyptic and frightening as that of 1984, it is indeed more worrying, since 1.We're beggining to see certain elements of it in todays world, and 2.Some elements of Huxley's future are dangeroulsy attractive. The society in which people live in the book is, one could say, almost perfect. No one has any kind of hardships or worries. You work your hours, get into a helicopter that you yourself fly, go play some Centrifugal Bubble Puppy or some Obstale Golf, go home with the girl (or boy) of your choice (which of course will be different than the one yesterday, since "everyone belongs to everyone else"), and have sex all night. Then go to work the next morning. But things rarely are what they seem, and as you deepen yourself in the story and listen to the counterpoints that John Savage discusses with the Controller, you come to realise that, while everyone is basically provided for and in a way happy, and the whole of society remains "stable" (and if they're not, they just take a Soma-Holiday); their inner lives are incredibly empty of any kind of true love for anything or anyone, or any individualism, both phisical and intelectual. Its not that they are not allowed to express themselves or to love. They're just conditioned and engineered like that. That plus the incesant cloning of the Epsiloms and Gammas, the (Human) Hatcheries, the intense promiscuity, the strange rituals and religious Zeal for "Ford", the Koskanofski groups etc, add up to make a very insane future. One which I'm afraid, if we don't look out, we are in danger of arriving at very soon. I reccomend you read this book. If you liked 1984, you're gonna love this book. While its wildely different to 1984 in the future it portrays, it is closer to happening.
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Summary: It is inevitable; our world will become like Brave New World
Review: The world is becoming like Huxley's Brave New World. Soma is just like Prosac. There are the rich Alfas and Betas here. There are the Gammas, Deltas, and Epsilon in the world too. An example of an Alfa is Bill Gates; an example of a Beta is a regular Doctor or a CEO; and example of a Gamma is a regular clerk or a teacher; an example of a Delta is a McDonalds employee; lastly, an example of an Epsilon would be an unemployed person or someone from a primitive area. Ok now the book review. I'd say that the only reason this books surpasses 1984 by George Orwell and Animal Farm by, again, George Orwell is that the story is becoming true. The book is about a despot style government ruled by the God like FORD. There is a story to it, but I believe the story is there to help you understand its government. Brave New World Revisited will help you understand the philosophy of Brave New World. This book is very interesting, but very hard to read (at least for me. I'm in the 7th grade, as of now). I recommend this book to anyone who has a anyone who has an open mind for Political books or books that mark a philosophical foreshadowing for the government
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Summary: An extraordinary account of "political science".
Review: Few have read Huxley's Brave New World, and fewer have commented on its deep insight in the nature of science and politics. Although Orwell's 1984 is much like Brave New World in its political implications, Huxley has managed to show how science and the "need to progress" are used as means of controlling society. In this text, there is a deep sense of oppression arising from the strict rules and mentality of society. Genetic engineering is the norm and thus, the distiny of each individual is determined from birth. The difference is that this "destiny" is determined not by an omnipotent God, but by the scientists and the policy - makers who run the world. The novel goes further by depicting the "enlightenment" of one who refuses to accept the rigid stigma of the society. He enters an Indian settlement on the outskirts of the city, and is shocked to see the "barbarism" of the people there.In an attempt to understand the people, Max, the protagonist of the book, becomes confused and depressed and finally commits suicide. The Brave New World has taken its toll on Max but the world continues. Perhaps, this can be seen as a criticism of the "Brave New World" of America, and the disillusionment of its society. This is an essential read for those who really want to know the politics of science and the science of politics.
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Summary: The Garden of Eden
Review: 1984 and Brave New World were never part of my high school curriculum, but they both intrigued me, so I read them back to back. I expected 1984 to be the more intellectually stimulating book as it is the more famous of the two, but it was Brave New Word that really blew me away. This book had me wanting a society like this-where we are bred to be happy with our social class and occupation no matter what level we are at. Just think, no more insecurities or competition! I found this book more effective than 1984 because it was a society I wanted whereas only a moron would want to live in the dreariness of 1984. Huxley made me want this society, which caused me to think even more.
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Summary: Adult content worthy of school reading.
Review: I am a senior in high school this year. I am taking an advanced placement English class and this book was in our curriculum. Like most high school students I skim over books that don't look interesting, but when I was skimming over this book I realized that there is a lot to this book that I needed to take time and find out. The main points of the book that I enjoyed were the social commentary relating to being alone and being an individual. I also liked the very idea that this book was written so long ago, but shows exactly the way that our sociaty is and will turn out because of our own misguided views. I believe that Huxly had a few mental distortions of his reality when he wrote this, but he definatly had a grasp on where the future was headed. This book also contains a lot of subject matter pertaining to sex. Which makes it a more adult oriented book, but on the other hand there is so much reality in this that it should definatly be read by everyone. Although this book has extream adult content and takes a good analytical mind to fully comprehend the hidden meanings in some of his social satire, this is a great book for the high school class room.
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