Amazon.com Review "Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today--let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren't yet to come.
Product Description
Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.
One of the scariest books I have ever read.December 4, 2008 "Brave New World" is a novel of a particular, possible, future and has been a 'classic' since the 1940s. Today (2008), that 'future' still seems all too possible. I think it is one of the scariest books I have ever read. "1984" was one of the other scariest books.
I recommend reading this book as well as "1984". Then, work against both of these possible futures.
Open your mindDecember 2, 2008 Although this book was written in 1932, the concepts are as real today as anytime in the past. This is a timely classic allowing us to see a could be society but also the idiosyncrociesof todays society.
Prompt and accurateNovember 29, 2008 I was very happy with the speed of delivery and the book's quality (which was on par with what the sender had described). Keep up the good work!
Open the book and open your eyes (please comment)November 16, 2008 4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Brave New World takes place in a utopian London around the year 2540, which started with a good idea, but went way wrong. Humans are produced in large numbers in a high-tech factory without the filth of viviparous reproduction. The babies produced are organized into five castes and are conditioned specifically to do their part in maintaining their society. As the reader progresses farther into the story, they find out what is sacrificed for the stability of the utopian world they occupy, when the reader explores this world through the mind of a man named John, who has not been conditioned to accept this world that suppresses the emotions we value so much today. John comes from a "savage" reservation in New Mexico; where the humans remain that practice our modern day culture. With advances in science allover the world making our lifestyle obsolete, the "savage" lifestyle is repulsive in the eyes of the rest of the brave new world. See how our blind ignorance can lead to catastrophe.
Although an attempt to sum up the novel in only a small amount of words would be in vain, I can offer that this book is a must read for anyone who is capable of thinking beyond ideas provided by way of the text.
This was SUCH a great book. The story Brave New World entertained me more than any other book I have ever read before. It not only was an incredible plot, with amazing creativity, and imagination, but also has shocking conversation that challenge values accepted in our society today, and challenges the minds of all intellectuals willing to relate to the characters, and attempt to draw parallels between Huxley's story, and the story our culture continues to write, as we advance to where Huxley's world began.
To me, a book is worth no more than the thoughts it provokes once I have set it down. By this standard, I am still not done calculating its genius, because I have not yet finished thinking, or talking about themes from the book.
This book is more enjoyable with some soma!November 14, 2008 PROS: A fascinating view of the future. The predictions are sometimes chillingly accurate. For example, soma, the drug of choice in the novel, is present today in the plethora of feel-good drugs (Prozac, Viagra, etc.) "A gram is better than a damn," the futurists instruct. Similarly, the "feelies" are 4D movies (touch included) and are even more engrossing and numbing than today's TV. Just you wait. We're headed there.
CONS: The novel's pacing is a bit slow at times.
CONCLUSION: This century genetic engineering will finally make it mark on the planet. Read this book to get a feel of what could happen. I recommend it!
