This book sent shivers up and down my spine. Although it was written decades ago, Brave New World is still relevant to today's society. A world where human beings are 'decanted' and then go on to live plasure-driven, drug-induced lives is not totally unfathomable. Particularly creepy ideas were the sleep-teaching and mass-conditioning at the Hatchery. The Bokanovsky groups (identical twins numbering in the dozens that man entire factories) were also unsettling. Come to think of it, almost everything Huxley invents in this book is creepy.

My favorite part was the Alpha-Beta-Gamma-Delta-Epsilon social hiearchy. The continuous use of the word 'beastly' added a touch of humor. I did feel sorry for Bernard at times... in the beginning, that is.

I was shocked to read Brave New World and see so many similarities in the same World I am living today. Published in the mid 20th Century, the visionary author Aldous Huxley pours into his creation a desperate cry to society on where our World is headed. Everyone always says, "Things were much better when I was young," and this book may make you feel that.

Simple to read and understand, this is a MUST READ book.

From what i saw of the other reviews this novel is heavily compared to 1984... well i must say i absolutely HATED 1984 so for those people who hated 1984 also, this review of this book is for you! Brave New World is a lot like 1984 both are about controlled societies and both have characters that insist on going against the rules. 1984 was a horrible book, but Brave New World wasn't soo bad. It was an intersting read. The first 8 chapters kind of stink, but once you get past them it's not too bad .. yea i know that's a lot to get past!.. the book isn't tooooo bad but it's still far from great! I know there is some great message that your supposed to get out of this book, but i didn't really get it! It was an ok book .. better than 1984 but still don't read it if you don't absolutely have to like i did!

Two of my favorite books are 1984 and Animal Farm, both by George Orwell. I try to read both at least once every couple of years. An Amazon customer review for 1984 recommended Brave New World as a book that might appeal to fans of George Orwell, so I bought a copy and read it. It was somewhat of a disappointment.

The Afterword in my copy of Brave New World mentions that one contemporary critic in 1932 when the book was first published considered it Huxley's idea of a "thin little joke" stretched into a novel. After reading the book myself I'm inclined to agree with that. Where 1984 is filled with intrigue and rings a profound warning about the oppressive nature of totalitarianism, (and how very appropriate that was in 1948), Brave New World is simply a thin little fantasy about a future society where human reproduction is clinically reproduced, and human individuality, religion and families have been banned for the sake of peace, happiness, free love and free recreational drugs. An interesting idea perhaps in the hands of a better writer, but Huxley doesn't do much with it. His characters are neither interesting nor humorous and the narrative is much too thin, saved only by a few segments of crisp dialog in the second half of the book.

The conflict is between the primitive John Savage and modern London society, to where Savage is taken from a New Mexico Indian reservation that is still steeped in ancient tradition. "The Savage" as he is called behaves very oddly, rejecting the philosophy of the Brave New World. The idea here, I surmise, is that life is a struggle and it is that very struggle that makes it worth living. This is the underlying message in Huxley's book, and one cannot argue that there is a lot of truth in it. But where Orwell was warning about the clear and present danger of Communism, I'm not sure to whom Huxley was addressing his warning, nor what it was they were supposed to be warned about, especially in the year 1932.

1984 will long remain a classic in the canon of political literature but Brave New World is not in the same league. It's a curiosity piece, nothing more.

It seems that many people like to compare this with Orwell's 1984. True, they are both looks into the future and see problems that lie ahead, but I think the Huxley is more on the mark considering the way things are progressing.

The basic point of the book is to examine the loss of individuality and personal expression in order to attain utopia. Huxley seems to want such a utopia, but clearly recognized that it would require the loss of personality.

This book seems applicable still today. Some brief examples of how we are marching slowly towards Huxley's BNW: We in the information age have become more ignorant than ever. Critical thought is slipping away from us. The pharmaceutical industry is booming and the masses want the drugs to do even more, whether it be to calm a 6 year old boy so he'll sit in class or it be to make someone feel better. We accept drug use more and more with few, if any, questions. Soma might seem like a leap from where we are today, but we should heed the warning signs Huxley presents. And the abundant sex in the book isn't really that different from what Hollywood advertises every day. We are closer to a full free sex perspective like in Huxley's book than most people are willing to admit. In many ways, our society is very individualistic, but as we become more divided idealistically and politically, we can expect to see more of Huxley's utopian uniformity at the expense of individual thought and opinion.

Overall, it is a good read. In some places, it may be slow in regards to action, but it is constantly thought evoking. Character development is good. You really associate with certain characters and share in their struggles.

Let this book challenge your presumptions about our society. It will be a valuable exercise. Then go forth in life and every time someone disagrees with your perspective, smile and enjoy the non-utopia you've been so blessed to live within.