Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Brave New World
Book Review: Brilliant and terrifying
Summary: 4 Stars
I can't help but compare Brave New World to Nineteen Eighty Four as I read it immediately prior, and by comparison, BNW is a superior book. I realize that they were written in different historical contexts (BNW after WWI and 1984 during Stalin's reign), but I still find BNW's dystopian vision much more compelling.
The fundamental difference between the two is that Huxley envisions a world in which people are controlled by their desires whereas Orwell sees people being controlled by fear. Historically, control by fear has not lasted - such control leads people to feel oppressed in an escapable way and thus leads to revolution. The velvet fist of control by desire, however, seems to be happening even now. When people are pacified in ways they find enjoyable, few will be aware they are being oppressed, and even fewer would consider revolution.
Book Review: Captivating
Summary: 4 Stars
To fully appreciate this book, one has to take into consideration the fact that it was written more than 70 years ago. The author creates a society where there is no individualism, where everyone belongs to everyone, where there is no mother and father. Perhaps you may compare it in some aspects to Plato's Republic. In short, the author shows that sometimes the price of stability is humanity, and he shows you what a society that has paid this price looks like.Book Review: Classic
Summary: 4 Stars
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Timeless classic. Thought provoking. Great read regardless of age(13-123). Written in 1932, still relevant
Book Review: Classic Sci-Fi
Summary: 4 Stars
I very much enjoy earlier science fiction -- E.E. Doc Smith, for instance -- and "Brave New World" (1932) was not an exception. It's an interesting book raising some searching questions about our own society through the vision of a utopian/dystopian future. Whether you see it as a utopia or dystopia depends on what you value in life, the risks you are prepared to take and how you feel society can be bettered. Personally, I saw the main society portrayed as mostly suppressive. All over a very good read and recommended.Book Review: Close to our present
Summary: 4 Stars
Like 1984, this book(written in the thirties no less) comes scarily close to our current society. Drugs and sex are nothing new now, but then these ideas must have sounded crazy. What sounded crazy to me was that no one could be alone. If I do not have at least one night to myself a week, I get super cranky. No wonder John exiled himself at the end. All of those zombies taking drugs and chanting slogans would have driven me crazy. Then there was the constant conditioning. Obviously this is something we face daily with laws, rules, policies, mores, peer pressure and of course, marketing. Most familiar was the conditioning done so that people would gravitate towards activities that require the most equipment. In the end, it's always about big business directing us. Even President Bush's answer to a nation in mourning was to tell us to go out and shop. Why give the babies electroshocks when they look at flowers? Because nature is free. We want them to be consumers instead. *rolls eyes*
One thing that really bugged me though...why did they need birth control? If they were controlling everything else about these people, why did they just sterilize them? Another consumer thing, maybe?