I read this for a banned book reading project two years ago. My teacher recommended it to me and I’ve worshipped her for it ever since. A brillant, brillant work that everyone should read (along with 1984.) The characters and the crafting of the entire (potentially realtistic) world sucked me in. It brings up questions that every human being should consider about their society and existence. The ending gave me chills. It is no wonder that this book is a dystopian classic!

I far prefer Huxley's Brave New World to Orwell's 1984, although I do consider both books to be essential to anyone who enjoys freedom.

Brave New World, by employing satire, seemed much more effective in carrying its message in comparison with 1984's bold-faced statement. I read the two books simeoultaneously and Brave New World always seemed so much more witty and Orwell always seemed more preachy because he was straightforward.

So much to say, but really, just read it!

Not only do I agree with Paladex’s reviews above, but I would go so far as to say that Huxley’s commentary on both the emptiness of a consumerist culture which must stabilize itself through manufactured markets, as well as the way he calls attention to our conditioning is clear, insightful, and crucial reading.

I strongly recommend reading Island after reading BNW to anyone who feels BNW raises some interesting questions about living a meaningful life. Island was the last book Huxley wrote before he died in 1963, thirty or so years after he wrote Brave New World. In Island Huxley gives voice to some ideas as to how we humansa are capable of creating both beauty and meaning in our daily lives at the same time as he includes a nod toward the forces working against such a quest.

And if afterwards, you want to appreciate how far Huxley as come as a thinker, (and if you like his sense of humor, which I adore) try to get ahold of his first novel, Crome Yellow.

The dystopian future of George Orwell’s “1984” gets a lot of attention, but Orwell’s vision of a rigid, totalitarian state was rooted firmly in the WWII / Cold War era. We can, to a certain extent, congratulate ourselves on having avoided that fate.

By contrast, Aldous Huxley’s vision of a world in which the government monitors everybody and everything, manipulates the media, and encourages sexual permissiveness in order to distract people from the emptiness of their lives seems rather uncomfortably familiar.

And don’t forget about “Soma,” Huxley’s spot-on version of the then-yet-to-be-invented antidepressant family of pharmaceuticals!

People may prefer to read “1984,” because it’s different enough from our lives to be an entertaining read. “Brave New World” is worth reading because it’s NOT so different from lives.