Brave New World Revisited

by Aldous Huxley

Paperback, 1958

Status

Available

Call number

823.912

Genres

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

Perennial Classic / Harper & Row (1958), Paperback, 120 pages

Description

When the novel Brave New World first appeared in 1932, its shocking analysis of a scientific dictatorship seemed a projection into the remote future. Here, in one of the most important and fascinating books of his career, Aldous Huxley uses his tremendous knowledge of human relations to compare the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy. He scrutinizes threats to humanity, such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion, and explains why we have found it virtually impossible to avoid them. Brave New World Revisited is a trenchant plea that humankind should educate itself for freedom before it is too late.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Radaghast

An excellent companion to Brave New World. Written in 1958, it has just the right about of distance from the original work, yet close enough for Huxley to basically be the same person as when he wrote the original. There is so much to talk about in this short book I'm not sure where to begin.

Brave

New World Revisited is Huxley's post-WWII take on his book, first published in 1932. What is amazing and almost eerie is how much of what Huxley writes about we are seeing today. The concept of "Endless War," the growing dependence on medication to improve mood and productivity, the increase in surveillance, the power of modern propaganda, mass media, etc. Huxley takes themes from 1984 and Brave New World and extrapolates on what things will look like in the next millennium. Our millennium. What's amazing is how nearly all of this book is still relevant today. Shockingly relevant. It seems we are just now reaching a point where the world Huxley and to a lesser extent Orwell envisioned is a realistic threat.

Of course, there are some things that are silly by today's standards. Huxley's theories on subliminal messaging and sleep teaching have never come to fruition. Also, even where he recognizes the danger of drugs emerging during his time, he writes a glowing review of LSD, the drug that dominated his final years. How a brilliant man like Huxley could fail to realize he was prey to his own soma is perplexing. Lastly, Huxley's words on overpopulation are much more relevant now than during his own time, but still have not reached the level of danger he predicted.

There are a few moments of annoyance, where Huxley takes small shots at religion, without ever addressing the issue or justifying his assumptions. But these are very minor. Overall, if you recognize Brave New World as a piece of great literature, or you wish to learn about the origin of many of our modern problems, read this book. I did not do it due justice, trust me.

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LibraryThing member Nick1967

I know some people don't care for this book much, but for me I just loved it to death. I will admit while reading this book I found it to be creepy and at times frightening. I will admit for the story that was written the book seems too short. I sort of wished it would have went on a little more

and we could have explored more about the society created by this author. I also loved how some of the ideas of the "future" were more likely than others. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

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LibraryThing member TakeItOrLeaveIt

my favorite book of all time. including, Heaven and Hell BNWR tells it EXACTLY how it is.

LibraryThing member KatharineDB

another book on the evils of the future- was pretty good and if you consider he wrote it in 1933 it is excellent . would recomend it to those interested in this genre and would like to read his other works.

LibraryThing member edwinbcn

Dated -- obviously--, boring and written in an uninteresting way.

LibraryThing member KarenRinn

Huxley's addition to Brave New World is a diatribe on overpopulation and states the solution is selective breeding and aborting based on genetic materials. Surprising since this was written 15 years or so after WWII and Hitler's great experiment. Huxley attempted to support his argument by stating

this is the only way to save the planet. Unfortunately, his rhetoric could only be seen as positive by those who are naive and uneducated, the very people he suggested should not be alive.

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LibraryThing member bibleblaster

While written long ago, much of this sounds amazingly contemporary. "Propaganda in favor of action dictated by the impulses that are below self-interest offers false, garbled or incomplete evidence, avoids logical argument and seeks to influence its victims by the mere repetition of catchwords, by

the furious denunciation of foreign or domestic scapegoats, and by cunningly associating the lowest passions with the highest ideals..." Hmmm, yeah, anyone catch the most recent Republican candidate debate?

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LibraryThing member madepercy

Huxley writes about the world in 1957, 25 years after his most famous novel, Brave New World. This is more or less an academic work where Huxley considers numerous scholars of the period (in particular, psychologists and behaviourists) and comments on propaganda, marketing, social engineering of

the day (noting John Dewey and B.F. Skinner a few times). I took the time to write down all the names and works that appear in the book, as much of Huxley's commentary is lost to earlier memories. Nevertheless, his companion book to his major work of fiction is no less prophetic. I couldn't help but wonder first, how Brave New World could have such predictive power in 1932, and then, that he could do the same again in 1957. I suppose this particular work is somewhat lost because it is not a work of fiction. But it has opened my eyes to how the issues of the present are rooted in the past.

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LibraryThing member MarkKeeffe

I didn't enjoy this much but I suppose I wasn't meant to. I assume it was Aldous Huxley's attempt to warn us about the consequences of using technology to hide from the truth about what we are and our nature.

LibraryThing member DinadansFriend

I am not impressed by the book, but as the author's intent was a revision of an earlier triumph, I'm not surprised. Some of the criticism leveled at Huxley's first pass at prediction were legitimate, but only in hindsight. the book is primarily valuable as point from which to compare the extent to

which the critics' strictures were borne out by further experience. it is readable, but unlikely to be read nowadays by anyone uninterested in the original novel as an artifact.

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LibraryThing member drmom62

Despite the age of author's observations, they are as relevant today as they were then. There are things in the book that are of historical interest and currently not a threat or clearly outdated but the warnings of propaganda and manipulation are a greater threat than ever

LibraryThing member drmom62

LibraryThing member Zare

Due to the events from last and this year I got hooked on books on sociology and in general mass control. Reason is very simple - when one gets rather disappointed in the people one tries to find out what and when went wrong.

And unfortunately I have to say course of this planet's society was set

way way back. Unfortunately.....

What makes this book bleak and truly dystopian is that author writes almost of events not almost 60 years back but like he is listening and following current news. As he says himself he was surprised that future he foreseen with his novel started to realize in only couple of decades.

Let's see....
Crisis and way it can be misused for obtaining power? Check.
Media effect and polarizing effect of it on the masses? Check.
Danger of succumbing to emotions instead of reason (aka activism)? Check.
Rise of bureaucrats - gray man with power - and technocrats grabbing ever more power into their hands? Check.
Inability to use technology outside of what the author calls Big Technology and Big Government? Oh yes, check.
Bureaucratic tendency not to let power slip from their hands once it is obtained (aka mini-despots)? Check.
Rise of scientific zealots that aim to make people uniform (divergence cannot be allowed) and expect them to behave as automatons? Gas-lighting, contradicting statements that mess up people? Use of fear and general wearing down and exhausting of populace using constant crisis as a control factor? Check, check .... and check.
Indifference of general populace to keep their freedoms and ensure elites are not absolute rulers but executives given limited power for limited time - what you might call prevalence of immediate satisfaction of ones needs instead of going for long term solutions? Check.
Forcing migrations and "herding" people (aforementioned masses) and in general dehumanization of society - again through that uniformity and seeking optimal instead of human society? Check.
Dangers of personality-cults and the way propaganda works to push public opinion into desired direction? Check.
Dangers of distractions and off-tracking in order to busy people with things that do not have any value or long term effect when it comes to changing the society for the better? Oh, man, big check.
Dumbing down of general populace (zombies constantly staring into bloody phones 24/7) and failure of education that becomes more of an activist playground than actual learning tool (again, distractions)? Oh, yes, check.

I was surprised that even at time when author was writing the book theories that basically annulled the human being's biological individuality and considered it as a result of only strict forms of social influence were accepted by good deal of social scientists. Considering this, it is no wonder we are where we are.

I was truly intrigued by Institute for Propaganda Analysis and its demise after only 4 years. If there was ever an indicator that the world people live in is not what they believe it is. I mean who would dismantle organization that aims to make people think - not activist way of thinking so popular today (all of the radical movements (from left to right) this organization considered completely undemocratic because radicalism breeds authoritarianism and suffocates freedom of speech) but actual thinking?

You are right - not people who have best for humanity in their heart.

This is a highly recommended book for everyone to read. Might be overly romanticized view of the world but as long people try to keep their individuality, freedom of speech and in general freedom there is still hope. And becoming aware of things taking place around us is always the first step in the right direction.

Highly recommended.

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