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Brave New World
 
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Brave New World (Paperback)

by Aldous Huxley (Author), Margaret Atwood (Introduction)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Classics (6 Dec 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099518473
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099518471
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 242 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Atwood, Margaret
    #1 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Huxley, Aldous
    #1 in  Books > Fiction > World > Canadian

Product Description

Product Description
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARGARET ATWOOD. Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress...

About the Author
Aldous Huxley was born on 26th July 1894 near Godalming, Surrey. He began writing poetry and short stories in his early twenties, but it was his first novel, Crome Yellow (1921), which established his literary reputation. This was swiftly followed by Antic Hay (1923), Those Barren Leaves (1925) and Point Counter Point (1928) - bright, brilliant satires in which Huxley wittily but ruthlessly passed judgement on the shortcomings of contemporary society. The great novels of ideas, including his most famous work Brave New World (published in 1932 this warned against the dehumanising aspects of scientific and material 'progress') and the pacifist novel Eyeless in Gaza (1936) were accompanied by a series of wise and brilliant essays, collected in volume form under titles such as Music at Night (1931) and Ends and Means (1937). In 1937, at the height of his fame, Huxley left Europe to live in California, working for a time as a screenwriter in Hollywood. As the West braced itself for war, Huxley came increasingly to believe that the key to solving the world's problems lay in changing the individual through mystical enlightenment. The exploration of the inner life through mysticism and hallucinogenic drugs was to dominate his work for the rest of his life. His beliefs found expression in both fiction (Time Must Have a Stop, 1944 and Island, 1962) and non-fiction (The Perennial Philosophy, 1945, Grey Eminence, 1941 and the famous account of his first mescalin experience, The Doors of Perception, 1954. Huxley died in California on 22nd November 1963.

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews
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 (7)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Prophetic?, 13 Oct 2008
By Kyle Patterson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Brave New World and 1984 are considered to be the two great prophetic works of the 20th century. Yet whereas 1984 depicts a stereotypical dystopia, Brave New World depicts a world where everyone is happy, everyone is beautiful, everyone can have whatever they want. As a work of prophecy I think Brave New World is far wittier than people give it credit.
In Brave New World people are created in factories where they are designed and conditions to fit neatly in society. This eliminates families which eliminates any associated problems. People are happy and beautiful, there is no hunger, no disease and no war, and in the rare occassion when something does go wrong they have soma, the perfect drug. Recreational sex is encouraged at all levels of society (Wait until you read the part where young children engage in "erotic play") but at the expense of love. There are no wives or husbands, boyfriends or girlfriends. "Everyone belongs to everyone else."
Since Brave New World was written in the 30s, we have gained the recreational sex and drugs we were promised, genetic engineering has become one step closer, celebrity culture has become a cult, art and literature has been pushed aside by gumph like MTV and reality tv shows, artistic films are shunned in favour of sex and action (Remember the subject matter of the feelies), people ignore their problems with the help of prescribed drugs, people are obsessed with youth and appearance, and, worst of all, I think genuine love is losing ground to fleeting lust.
Orwell wrote of a savage dictatorship at a time when both Hitler and Stalin were setting new standards in brutality. Since then we have generally become more liberated. Are homosexuals still shunned? Are women banned from certain jobs? We have gained one right after another following the War. It is fashionable in the current climate to imply that people are still kept in little boxes, but apart from the occassional case of boot-stamping; the introduction of ID cards in Britain or Guantanamo Bay (And bear in mind there was a time when ALL prisons were like that) Orwell's world is not ours.
Obviuously, Brave New World is a gross exaggeration on the world of today, but it's messages and ideals are frighteningly accurate. When viewed merely as works of literature 1984 is a superior read. Brave New World is an enjoyable book that occassionally trips up when it attempts to be too clever; moreover one must always bear in mind it is satire.
Eh, with that rant to one side, Brave New World is an excellent and thought provoking read, and is more relevant today than in was in 1932.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The future?, 11 April 2009
By hendrix (Newport, South Wales) - See all my reviews
Society really is getting more and more like this.

This is a vision of the future where the population is controlled by subtlety and manipulation, the basic premise being that if people are too doped up to realise that they have been conned by a tiny minority who have everything then that elite can remain in charge for ever.

In Huxley's world the method of control is to program people to indulge only their most transitory and materialistic desires all of which can be fulfilled quite readily and in doing so suppress any idea that there "might be more to life than this" and this leaves the population with happy but trivial lives.

The morality of this is questioned through the introduction of an outsider to the society and his actions form the basis of the plot. To be honest I think the story isn't as involving as the world it is set in but the questions the book raised easily merit this book classic status.

It seems we are getting closer and closer to the kind of happy trivial life that Huxley forced upon his population and if you are inclined to wonder whether or not there is more to life than work and shopping then this book is probably going to be right up your street.
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12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading, 23 Jan 2008
By tricky wheeler "tricky" (sydney, australia) - See all my reviews
One of the twentieth century's most important dystopian novels, possibly even one of it's most important novels at all. A fantastic combination of engaging storyline and a social commentary that continues to be incredibly relevant.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A true classic, right up there with 1984
A must-read for anyone with an interest in the direction in which society and indeed the world as a whole is going. Read more
Published 1 month ago by gturkey

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Similar to 1984
A great book, well worth a read, but cliched as it sounds, the parallels with Orwell's 1984 are hard to ignore. Read more
Published 2 months ago by N. Burke

5.0 out of 5 stars God does not change. But people do.
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,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by bernie

5.0 out of 5 stars What a book!
In a high-tech future where babies are not born but 'decanted' into life after a battery of drugs and tests to ensure each individual is suited to the life determined for them by... Read more
Published 5 months ago by M GROUNDS

4.0 out of 5 stars Brave New World
I think the future Huxley creates in Brave New World is both imaginative and hugely dystopic, but in describing the mindless existence of the new world's inhabitants Huxley... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Benjy David

2.0 out of 5 stars Out of the way...
I find with most 'classic' books, the hype is more than the substance and again Brave New World falls into that category. Read more
Published 11 months ago by R. Lowther

3.0 out of 5 stars A terrible dystopia or a beautiful utopia?
I read this book on the recommendation of a work colleague after reading George Orwell's 1984 and, whilst it is fairly entertaining, it just isn't in the same league as Orwells's... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. Mischief

5.0 out of 5 stars Was and will make me ill...I take a gramme and just am
The ultimate dystopian fantasy, made even more eerie by it's remarkable prescience. The masses are kept enslaved by their own hedonistic impulses and the ubiquitous feel good drug... Read more
Published 14 months ago by L. Wright

3.0 out of 5 stars BNW - More car than book.
I first read this book 15 years ago, having reading a few of Huxleys other works (Doors of Perception/Heaven & Hell, Ape & Essence, Chrome Yellow). Read more
Published 15 months ago by M. Southworth

1.0 out of 5 stars Who Said Brave New World Was Good??
Some say that Brave New World is a classic, but I question this. I admit it is imaginative and provocative book, but in my opinion Huxley has taken his idea too far, and in doing... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Catherine

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