Brave New World - BookWyrm

English language

Published Oct. 18, 2006

ISBN:: 978-0-06-085052-4

(1 review)

Brave New World is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by the story's protagonist. Huxley followed this book with a reassessment in essay form, Brave New World Revisited (1958), and with his final novel, Island (1962), the utopian counterpart. This novel is often compared to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Brave New World at number 5 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2003, Robert McCrum, writing for The Observer, included Brave New World chronologically at number 53 in "the top 100 greatest novels of …

Brave New World is a dystopian novel by English author Aldous Huxley, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Largely set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy, the novel anticipates huge scientific advancements in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation and classical conditioning that are combined to make a dystopian society which is challenged by the story's protagonist. Huxley followed this book with a reassessment in essay form, Brave New World Revisited (1958), and with his final novel, Island (1962), the utopian counterpart. This novel is often compared to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). In 1999, the Modern Library ranked Brave New World at number 5 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 2003, Robert McCrum, writing for The Observer, included Brave New World chronologically at number 53 in "the top 100 greatest novels of all time", and the novel was listed at number 87 on The Big Read survey by the BBC. Brave New World has frequently been banned and challenged since its original publication. It has landed on the American Library Association list of top 100 banned and challenged books of the decade since the association began the list in 1990.

40 editions

Miya reviewed Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

O Brave New World that has such people in it!

5 stars

I really enjoyed reading this book, the style of writing is such a delight. For example when everything starts speeding up, different scenes intertwined with each other, but in a way that you can still keep up with what is happening where.

The philosophical discussion towards the end was especially interesting. I don't think that anyone could ever be happy like that (even if conditioned).

As Mark Deck (TheClick) put it so nicely: Happiness is a progress.

Happiness [isn't] achieved and everlasting. Happiness [...] requires constant investment. It's like the curve of how life is currently tilting [...], do I feel like things are going in the right direction, am I improving myself [...]? [...] when you achieve a goal you will just look towards the next goal after that. There's always a thing after, so it's more about the journey as a whole [...] rather than the specific singular …

I really enjoyed reading this book, the style of writing is such a delight. For example when everything starts speeding up, different scenes intertwined with each other, but in a way that you can still keep up with what is happening where.

The philosophical discussion towards the end was especially interesting. I don't think that anyone could ever be happy like that (even if conditioned).

As Mark Deck (TheClick) put it so nicely: Happiness is a progress.

Happiness [isn't] achieved and everlasting. Happiness [...] requires constant investment. It's like the curve of how life is currently tilting [...], do I feel like things are going in the right direction, am I improving myself [...]? [...] when you achieve a goal you will just look towards the next goal after that. There's always a thing after, so it's more about the journey as a whole [...] rather than the specific singular achievement.

Or as Mark Manson put it:

Happiness comes from solving problems. The keyword here is "solving." If you're avoiding your problems or feel like you don't have any problems, then you're going to make yourself miserable. [...] To be happy we need something to solve. Happiness is therefore a form of action; it's an activity.

The people in Brave New World don't have anything to solve, no ambitions, no passion... how could they ever be happy?