# Brand New World - Adolus Huxley



## Hawk (Dec 14, 2009)

What do you guys think about this book?  We're reading it in my mass media class, and I just can't put this book down.  It's supposed to be a 6 week book, and I'm halfway through it on my first week of having it.


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## Olly Buckle (Dec 14, 2009)

Would that be "Brave new world"? If you like it try "Island" afterwards, same author.


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## moderan (Dec 14, 2009)

I recommend those and "the Doors of Perception", by Adolus' neighbor Aldous.


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## caelum (Dec 14, 2009)

Just read Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley and it was awesome, so this is one I'll haf to check out.


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## Hawk (Dec 14, 2009)

Yeah sorry, I wasn't paying attention to what I was typing.  It is _Brave New World_.  

@Caelum, it's an amazing novel.


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## Tom88 (Dec 17, 2009)

I think I've expressed my views on it in an earlier thread.

It was good, but, having read it after 1984 I found it somewhat disappointing. Bernard was unlikeable. The ending was silly. John the Savage's journey was unfortunate.
It was just like a sillier take on the realistic darkness found in 1984.

...but then in the other thread I was told not to compare them, and that BNW is actually a fiendishly clever satire, of amazing foresight.


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## Edgewise (Jan 17, 2010)

.


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## Mike C (Jan 18, 2010)

Tom88 said:


> It was just like a sillier take on the realistic darkness found in 1984.



But was written before 1984. Huxley actually taught Eric Blair (George Orwell) at Eton.



Tom88 said:


> ...but then in the other thread I was told not to compare them, and that BNW is actually a fiendishly clever satire, of amazing foresight.



As is 1984, but they satirise different things. BNW, for example, predicted cloning, the rise of Globalism and a world controlled by corporations. 1984 was a satire of Britain immediately after WW2, a grim, dirty place where the media was tightly controlled by government, was still under tight rationing and was effectively just a satellite of the US.

Both have the same premise; a socialist, totalitarian world. Only the methods of control differ. In 1984 it's fear, in BNW it's pleasure.


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## caellachgregor (Jan 18, 2010)

I find it kind of ironic that you were told not to compare the two, Tom88, because I was required to read both in one of my high school English classes. I doubt my teacher would've liked being told that he shouldn't ask us to compare the two novels, since we did so extensively. 

Personally, I enjoyed both novels, although I found _1984_ a bit more believable if trying to compare it to today's world . . . though the same could be said for pleasure.


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## Mike C (Jan 20, 2010)

caellachgregor said:


> I find it kind of ironic that you were told not to compare the two,



Likewise, as everyone else has been since 1948. Even Huxley compared them; he thought his own book was better.


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## Featherpen (May 7, 2010)

Love Brave New World. I have Island, but haven't read it yet. I think BNW and 1984, together, represent the most frightening dystopias the world could have. BNW is definately easier to relate to being an American, I think, because that is what our brand of dystopia is: corporations, pills, sex, consumerism, and thought-numbing pleasure.


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## caelum (May 7, 2010)

I have _Those Barren Leaves_ which I can't wait to jump into, once I finish this R. D. Wingfield novel I've been chipping away at.


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## Linton Robinson (May 8, 2010)

Actually, I think "Brand New World"  was Alladin and Yazmin.


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## moderan (May 8, 2010)

Featherpen said:


> Love Brave New World. I have Island, but haven't read it yet. I think BNW and 1984, together, represent the most frightening dystopias the world could have. BNW is definately easier to relate to being an American, I think, because that is what our brand of dystopia is: corporations, pills, sex, consumerism, and thought-numbing pleasure.


I disagree. Stand On Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up are far more frightening than either, because they're _actually happening_. Bug Jack Barron and the Space Merchants are also very effective. A Clockwork Orange is also of that breed. All of them have a certain prophetic vision in common.


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## rachelthorn (Jul 17, 2010)

I read Brave New World when I was in 7th grade. I liked it then. Its been a long time since I've read it.


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## Linton Robinson (Jul 17, 2010)

I kind of like "Brand New World", actually.  Substitute consumerism for drugs and off we go.  Would have been perfect for Jose Phillip Farmer


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## webdancer (Jul 24, 2010)

I have tried to listen to the audio book but have had problems keeping my attention.  I think I would be able to follow it better if I actually read the book.


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## Linton Robinson (Jul 24, 2010)

You could just listen to the song


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## T.G. Harrison (Jul 25, 2010)

Dystopian social-sci-fi. *drools*

I love Huxley. And Orwell. And Bradbury, and that guy who wrote Stand on Zanzibar whose name presently eludes me. Huxley in particular showed a future which was _plausible_ - and still is. I can see our society going insane with self-pleasure.

I'm writing something now which takes inspiration from Brave New World. It's kind of... World State meets People's Republic of China. Got the idea after my own country threatened to censor the internet. It's an interesting exploration.


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