Product Description

A fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing critical light on the present--considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.

"Mr. Huxley is eloquent in his declaration of an artist's faith in man, and it is his eloquence, bitter in attack, noble in defense, that, when one has closed the book, one remembers."
--Saturday Review of Literature

"A Fantastic racy narrative, full of much excellent satire and literary horseplay."
--Forum

"It is as sparkling, provocative, as brilliant, in the appropriate sense, as impressive ads the day it was published. This is in part because its prophetic voice has remained surprisingly contemporary, both in its particular forecasts and in its general tone of semiserious alarm. But it is much more because the book succeeds as a work of art...This is surely Huxley's best book."
--Martin Green

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9720 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Amazon.com
"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.

From Library Journal
Grade 8 Up-Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a classic science fiction work that continues to be a significant warning to our society today. Tony Britton, the reader, does an excellent job of portraying clinical detachment as the true nature of the human incubators is revealed. The tone lightens during the vacation to the wilderness and the contrast is even more striking. Each character is given a separate personality by Britton's voices. As the story moves from clinical detachment to the human interest of Bernard, the nonconformist, and John, the "Savage," listeners are drawn more deeply into the plot. Finally, the reasoned tones of the Controller explain away all of John's arguments against the civilization, leading to John's death as he cannot reconcile his beliefs to theirs.The abridgement is very well done, and the overall message of the novel is clearly presented. The advanced vocabulary and complex themes lend themselves to class discussion and further research. There is sure to be demand for this classic in schools and public libraries.
Pat Griffith, Schlow Memorial Library, State College, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Aldous Huxley's novel of a genetically engineered, drugged-out utopia set in the not-too-distant future seems more prophetic by the day. British actor Michael York's refined and dramatic reading captures both the tone and the spirit of Huxley's masterpiece. His adept characterizations are instrumental in helping the listener discriminate between the book's innumerable characters, and his handling of the contrapuntal sections in Chapter 3 makes song from what might have been a muddle with a lesser reader. On occasion, York tends to overdramatize, making for unwanted melodrama and unintentional humor; but overall this is an excellent performance of a classic and prescient twentieth-century novel. G.B.C. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Good Book
An excellent book with an excellent plot and perfect examples of external and internal conflicts among the characters and the society in which the characters live in.

A very confusing and incomprehensable book.
The moment you read the first page of this book, you know you are in trouble. There is no clear explaining done about any of the super natural things going on in this utopian society the book tells about. The author seems to just assume that everyone will just imagine the same thoughts that popped into his own head as he was writing this book.
The book seems to have no point either. First you have a weird society in the future. Then a man who was actually born from a former member of that society makes his way there. He doesn't adapt, and after his mother dies, he becomes a hermit and at the very end hangs himself.
I will give credit for the author's imagination, given that the book was written in 1932. He talks about television and helicopters and jet planes as if they were an everyday thing.

not for weak swimmers
The beginning is like swimming up current; the reader has to kind of force his/her way into the story, which is made hard by the boring torrents of Huxley's writing style and I often found myself wishing I'd be lodged under a rock to drown in the river that is this book, to just die there and be free from the thoughts that spill into these pages. But, I make it a point to always finish a book, and surprisingly, at times I found myself captivated in the story. The first few chapters make this book hard to get into, but, on the bright side, it picks up a little and there are some beautifully written descriptions that erase my regret for ever picking up this book. However, if you are impatient or easily bored, you won't make it far. If you want a story that'll captivate you from the first page, don't even bother with this book. Try "The Alchemist."