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booksforlife21's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
aelshaykh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.25
Speaks about numerous ideas on sex/pleasure, art, happiness, religion, Governance and control, Philosophy etc. The English and format rules in the 1930’s are tedious at first but quickly go away. Good complex characters with great dialogue but some characters don’t develop in the way the story originally intends for them.
carmenrlawrence's review
5.0
LOVED IT! Definitely one of my favorite science fiction books of all time!
ianlukemorel's review against another edition
2.0
This book suffers from the classic educated white guy problems.
He makes a handful of genuinely insightful points. Certainly, things such as substance abuse and false advertising are serious problems. Those are things we should be aware of, and trying to solve.
However, I cannot get past his paternalistic tone toward the majority world. He for sure thinks that the white educated (English?) class is the pinnacle of evolution. So many books from this period suffer the same fate. The place it comes out most is in his talk of overpopulation. Overpopulation is almost always "their problem." It always makes me wonder if the term is just a dogwhistle.
2.5/5
He makes a handful of genuinely insightful points. Certainly, things such as substance abuse and false advertising are serious problems. Those are things we should be aware of, and trying to solve.
However, I cannot get past his paternalistic tone toward the majority world. He for sure thinks that the white educated (English?) class is the pinnacle of evolution. So many books from this period suffer the same fate. The place it comes out most is in his talk of overpopulation. Overpopulation is almost always "their problem." It always makes me wonder if the term is just a dogwhistle.
2.5/5
kessler21's review
4.0
16 years after the publication of [b:Brave New World|5129|Brave New World|Aldous Huxley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575509280l/5129._SY75_.jpg|3204877], Huxley revisits his predictions of society as well as comparing the predictions of [b:1984|61439040|1984|George Orwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1657781256l/61439040._SX50_.jpg|153313] by [a:George Orwell|3706|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1588856560p2/3706.jpg].
Huxley discusses Overpopulation, Medication, Propaganda and other facets of ruling the masses. He uses the framework of Hitler's Nazi Germany which happened between his fiction work and this nonfiction work.
Huxley's brain is brilliant and many of his predictions have in fact come true, if maybe with not the same force or speed as he predicted. I would love to see what Huxley thinks of society today. He definitely would be horrified, but I'm sure his thought would be as insightful as they were in the 30s and 50s. I was reading this saying to myself, this information is available, and warnings have been given, but here we are treading down the same dangerous path. Maybe human nature, both greed and apathy, is too strong to overcome.
Huxley discusses Overpopulation, Medication, Propaganda and other facets of ruling the masses. He uses the framework of Hitler's Nazi Germany which happened between his fiction work and this nonfiction work.
Huxley's brain is brilliant and many of his predictions have in fact come true, if maybe with not the same force or speed as he predicted. I would love to see what Huxley thinks of society today. He definitely would be horrified, but I'm sure his thought would be as insightful as they were in the 30s and 50s. I was reading this saying to myself, this information is available, and warnings have been given, but here we are treading down the same dangerous path. Maybe human nature, both greed and apathy, is too strong to overcome.
mydeimos's review against another edition
4.0
Overall I’m very impressed by this book, although I dislike the first two chapters which are overly pessimistic about the future. But Huxley couldn’t knew better back then. The book started by describing the conditions that could prime the world into the dystopia that is Brave New World: overpopulation & centralization of wealth & knowledge. Some of his worries here have been proven unfounded or just objectively untrue, but we move. The middle chapters reviews scientific developments or methods that would enable future dictators to create a Brave New World. Very grim chapters I must say. The last two chapters were a bit more hopeful, with advices on how people must live or be educated to prevent the rise of dictatorship that will lead to Brave New World. Some of the advices are still relevant in current days. Some are not unlike the ideas stated in Utopia for Realists (2014; distribute the properties!)