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Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World"


Cygnalschick
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I'm almost done with this book and am wondering what others think of it. Has anyone read his other books? Any you recommend?
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QUOTE (Cygnalschick @ Jan 20 2009, 03:01 PM)
I'm almost done with this book and am wondering what others think of it. Has anyone read his other books? Any you recommend?

The last time I read it I was in High School many years back. I remember thinking how strange most of it was. But it was a good read.

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Loved it.. It's so my kind of thing... But I fully understand that some (and many!) would find it utterly unreadable.. If you are into sci-fi/phantasmagory/dystopia you'll probably love it. If you enjoyed 1984 I would strongly recommend it. Although I have to say I prefer 1984 to it..
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QUOTE (HisCounterpart @ Jan 20 2009, 04:12 PM)
Loved it.. It's so my kind of thing... But I fully understand that some (and many!) would find it utterly unreadable.. If you are into sci-fi/phantasmagory/dystopia you'll probably love it. If you enjoyed 1984 I would strongly recommend it. Although I have to say I prefer 1984 to it..

Agreed.

 

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i found it too scary in the sense of thinking that such a world could exist. I liked the general idea of the book, just not how it went into detail about what they could do to people. i felt that the end was a bit unresolved. overall i recommend it, i just didnt enjoy it as much as 1984 or atlas shrugged.
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I read it way way back in the day when I was in grade 8 for a book report. It scared the crap outta me. And then when they cloned the sheep Dolly years later I started having visions of the entire planet being a clone of someone else. Being used for some diabolical purpose like Universal Soldier or something like that.

 

I think it's a perfect kinda Cautionary Tale for this Dystopian society we have created for ourselves. Rejecting death when it is our time to go and being Gods of our own creation.

 

 

If you like this book then 1984 bye Orwell and basically anything by Aynn Raynd most notably Anthem and Atlas Shrugged, you will probably like.

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QUOTE (theanalogkid1982 @ Jan 20 2009, 09:12 PM)
i found it too scary in the sense of thinking that such a world could exist.

Funny, was scared me was thinking that a world like that does exist.

 

He wasn't far too off from the absurdity of today's consumer culture.

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Doors of Perception (a collection of "essays while trippin' balls") is an interesting read, maybe check it out.

 

If you enjoy Brave New World and 1984, definitely find a copy of "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin (thanks to Madra from this very TRF for recommending me this awhile back).

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QUOTE (Mustard Death @ Feb 25 2009, 12:44 PM)
Doors of Perception (a collection of "essays while trippin' balls") is an interesting read, maybe check it out.

If you enjoy Brave New World and 1984, definitely find a copy of "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin (thanks to Madra from this very TRF for recommending me this awhile back).

I'll have to check those out wink.gif

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QUOTE (Gompers @ Jan 20 2009, 03:51 PM)
QUOTE (Cygnalschick @ Jan 20 2009, 03:01 PM)
I'm almost done with this book and am wondering what others think of it. Has anyone read his other books? Any you recommend?

The last time I read it I was in High School many years back. I remember thinking how strange most of it was. But it was a good read.

This.

 

Given the type of society that I recall the book portraying, I should probably get my hands on a copy and see how close we are to achieving it. I remember that book scaring the crap out of me back in 11th grade when I read it.

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I have read this book and enjoy it. I must be alone in willing to publicly express my wish that the current US Christian society was more like it.. I think the current US society is a lot like the book actually, just being bred a Christian, I can't be honest about it.

 

I also have a copy of the movie starring Leonard Nimoy. The copy I have is a copy of a copy because this movie difficult to obtain in the US. Not sold in any stores around here. If you live in the US, maybe its sold near you? On the surface, US society might claim to be the polar opposite. But, I have found that it is more like it than not.

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QUOTE (goose @ Feb 13 2009, 08:09 PM)
QUOTE (theanalogkid1982 @ Jan 20 2009, 09:12 PM)
i found it too scary in the sense of thinking that such a world could exist.

Funny, was scared me was thinking that a world like that does exist.

 

He wasn't far too off from the absurdity of today's consumer culture.

C o n s u m e r i s t

Brave New World is a "Fordist" utopia based on production and consumption. It would seem, nonetheless, that there is no mandatory work-place drug-testing for soma; if there were, its detection would presumably be encouraged. In our own society, taking drugs may compromise a person's work-role. Procuring illicit drugs may divert the user from an orthodox consumer life-style. This is because the immediate rewards to be gained from even trashy recreational euphoriants are more intense than the buzz derived from acquiring more consumer fripperies. In BNW, however, the production and consumption of manufactured goods is (somehow) harmoniously integrated with a life-style of drugs-and-sex. Its inhabitants are given no time for spiritual contemplation. Solitude is discouraged. The utopians are purposely kept occupied and focused on working for yet more consumption: "No leisure from pleasure".

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Brave New World would probably be one of my top 20 books, but I don't think he wrote anything else which comes near it. He wrote some period novels about dysfunctional characters which are OK but not that memorable - "Crome Yellow" is the best known. Actually "Eyeless in Gaza" is good once you get the hang of the time slips in the narrative.
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