Rating: 
Summary: Orwell did it better.
Review: Brave New World is a book with several problems, problems which make the book unenjoyable to read. Many of the problems lie in the writing and construction of the "novel." Indeed, we have already hit upon the first of the problems. For Brave New World is clearly an essay, disguised by the thinnest veil as a novel. The story opens with a ten page discussion of what this new world is like, but because it is ostensibly being said by a teacher to students, it comes across as - as it indeed is - a lecture. This technique is employed by Huxley several times throughout the novel, and one is lead to question the control he had over his writing, or the time he spent thinking about how to construct such a story. Although Huxley does begin the novel with interesting literary techniques - the lecture is interspersed throughout with two different plot lines, which do create an interesting plot - he abandons them after the first chapter, and uses the characters only as a medium to show the reader what such a utopian world could be like. The consequences of this decision are obvious: the characters are static and lifeless, merely moving props to explain a world, and the reader does not - indeed, cannot - make any connection with them. And then, somehow, Huxley manages to switch protagonists halfway through the story, from a civilized man at odds with society, to a savage who comes into it and looks at it with a different prospective. Huxley's reason for doing so is obvious - he uses the savage to discuss the horrors of this utopian society - but the effect upon the book as a novel is devastating. The change in characters breaks any sense of unity, coherence, or integrity the book as a novel had up to that point. Even were one to address Brave New World as an essay about the consequences of our current obsession with science and power however, one would be disappointed. Huxley's predictions seem improbable and poorly thought out. For history tells us that a totalitarian government such as the one established in this novel would not be benevolent, endeavoring to make everyone happy, but tyrannical and oppressive. But within Huxely's own framework, it seems clear that he gave the implications of his society little thought - for why, in a utopian society brought about through mind control and genetic engineering and designed to make everyone happy, would you maintain an economy? Not only would it become unnecessary, but the capitalist system clearly breeds hardship and unhappiness for those without a certain amount of income. Perhaps Brave New World suffers primarily from the fact that it was published in 1932. It is dated. My advice, in short, is: read Animal Farm or 1984 instead, Orwell did it better.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting... and frightening
Review: A fantastic voyage into what increasingly appears to be the near-future reveals the finer, or not so fine, qualities of human ingenuity. While production and conformity are praised, individuality and emotion are punished and pushed away. In the end, one person in a caste is like all other people in that caste. There is no love, no mother, no God. Instead, all praise goes to Ford and the only measure of like or dislike is the dislike higher castes have for those beneath them. All totalled, Brave New World is like most dystopian novels with the exception that, unlike most, it is hauntingly close to reality (as is also the case with another great dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury).
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable. Worth your time.
Review: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World takes place in a futuristic one-world socialist society. People exist as a resource for the state. Created in test-tubes and conditioned from birth, there are no families, and all liberty has been abolished. People work and carry out their lives in ignorance, never forming any meaningful relationships. Children take part ... and adults are encouraged to cohabit with many parters. "Everyone belongs to everyone else". Huxley makes the story very lively and interesting. Some parts are almost silly. I find Brave New World thought provoking, but not quite prophetic. There are many parallels to the world today, and where it may be headed. Perhaps this book will cause people to reevaluate what it is to be human, and how large a role they want the government to play in their lives.
Rating:
Summary: Shocking !!!
Review: I Decided to read this book because I had heard so much about it. Especially, since Dolly the sheep came into being. Now, I wonder how many of the people that referenced this book in the cloning debate actually read it or at least read it recently. The book was great ! The point of the book was against the social conditioning that we see all around us and the orthodoxy of the dominate "intellectuals". Clones are used to show us that by allowing ourselves to be conditioned rather than thinking about ourselves and our society we lack any sort of individuality or freedom. I found the appeal to morality and God to be especially refreshing. The idea that the view of God as not being required being a folly of youth is something not heard often enough. Using this book as a reference against scientific research (cloning or any other) is particularly ironic given the following passage : "But once you began admitting explanations in terms of purpose - well, you didn't know what the result might be. It was the sort of idea that might easily decondition the more unsettled minds among the higher castes-make they loose their faith in happiness as the Sovereign Good and take to believing, instead, that the goal was somewhere outside the present human sphere; that the purpose of life was not the maintenance of well-being, but some enlargement of knowledge. Which was, the Controller reflected, quite possibly true. But not, in the present circumstance, admissible. He picked up his pen again, and under the words "Not to be Published" drew a second line, thicker and blacker than the first; then sighed, "What fun it would be, " he thought, "if one didn't have to think about happiness!" Personally, I think the message of the book warns against political correctness or blind faith in any orthodoxy (religious or otherwise) not cloning. What is bleak and frightening in this book is not that the faces of the characters look alike but that their minds work the same. Mental homogeneity is as frightening a prospect if it comes from TV, movies or other sources of propaganda as if it comes from a test tube.
Rating: 
Summary: classic dystopia
Review: Many have found Huxley's Brave New World to be an accurate and intelligent social commentary. Thus far I have met no one with an opinion similar to mine. I think Huxley's message is garbage. We are supposed to appreciate the finer things in life? what are they? the things that have appreciated in the past? Ironically when I read this, I discovered a perfect world. No disease, no poverty, everyone is happy, if "superficially" so. Even those that are dissatisfied get their own little islands, to engage in their romantic ideals. The majority of people have never truly appreciated the finer things in life. The average person is not a wine taster, the average person, doesn't watch theater, the average person would rather read Grisham than Tolstoy. The message is completely moot. It's never been truly applicable. The appreciators have always been a minority. Even though the message is trite, and pointless, I did find the novel itself quite entertaining, and well written. More importantly I feel that people should read this critically to develop their own ideas. Whether agreeing or disagreeing. Remember also that no society is without its conditioning.
Rating:
Summary: A gram of soma a day...
Review: 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:
Summary: Genuis!
Review: Simply superb! Huxley's Brave New World is so well written in every single way that even the forward was interesting. I have not come across a book this good for a long time. The plot is innovative, the story is captivating, the characters multi-layered and well presented, and the writing - ah, flawless! Brave New World invented a seemingly improbable world of perfection, where science had taken out all the elements of misery, where everybody is happy or so they seemed. Yet, Huxley's Brave New World is but a satire of the current world we live in. Then, through the touchstone experiences of a Savage, Huxley cleverly pointed out lackings of the current human condition. That is the genuis! The story is so engaging that you could not put the book down. The ideas presented are thought provoking and intellectually stimulating. At the same time, the writing itself was so fluent and beautiful that the reading experience is simply heavenly. I recommend this book to everyone!!!
Rating:
Summary: Good Book, but a little dated
Review: I was not blown away like many other reviewers with this one. This tale of a frighenly perfect future world has its moments, and there are many of them, but overall I don't ran it with the best of the Future Shock type books. It was hard to find a character to like, as they were all so sterile from theyr future conditioning. Perhaps that was one of the points, if so, fine. But it makes for a dull read. The whole explanation of how things got like they are was done very well, with the teacher giving his lessons, and the lockerroom conversations going on all at once. I wish something similar to that technique could have happened more often. Overall, its a good book worth reading, it just doesn't pack the wight of a 1984 or Lord of the Flies.
Rating:
Summary: A great book and a classic
Review: I have read this book several times and I like it better each time I read it. In the tradition of 1984 and Farenheit 451, it bring about the horrors of what could happen in the future if we allow it to happen. Mankind's seeming inability not to mess around with Mother Nature is always getting us into trouble. It is particularly unsettling that the advent of cloning is now upon us, ways of us genetically altering DNA and affecting the way cells are grown in the lab. I hope every scientist who works in these cloning labs has read this book, because it would scare the pants of them, or it should. It is interesting to note that this book was written in the 1930's, way before anyone had heard of genetically altering cells or cloning. Obviously, Mr. Huxley, the author, was a true visionary who saw the possibilities of what could happen long before most other people did. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: My favorite book
Review: Amazingly creative story that brings up huge questions about the meaning of life, happiness, and God. Bernard Marx lives in the "perfect" new world and visits New Mexico and ends up bringing back a savage. The savage poses many of the questions that the reader must ultimately wrestle with. The story is based off of Aldous Huxley's theory that drugs are the solution for mankind; give healthy, normal people drugs and they will derive the true meaning of life. In short, drugs can help people have a great experience anytime they wish. The drug in Brave New World is called "soma," which in ancient East Hindu myths was the drug used to keep the gods content. It is interesting to note that Huxley was a firm believer in the concept presented in Brave New World -- he made his wife promise to give him LSD when he was dying so that he could reach a truth in his own head. Ironically, it is Huxley's view of life that tells me that there must be a higher purpose, and this point is truly driven home through the Savage in the story. The Savage sees the fleeting and meaningless moments in the "brave new world," and this really makes the reader think about what truly matters in life.
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