Entertaining read yet so thought provoking. When you consider this was written pre world war III, it is even more amazing to consider the predictions of the future as real possibilities, which is exciting and terrifying. On the surface, the brave new world sounds great with happiness, peace and efficiency, however characters like Bernard and helmhotz show us how much this limits our freedoms and what a truly terrifying dictatorship that world would be. Reading Huxleys thoughts in Brave New World revisited several decades later provides another interesting view and better realization of how quickly some of the events he predicted came about. It would be amazing to see his reaction to things in the world today and how they relate to his thoughts then, such as widely available birth control, invitro fertilization, the Internet and social media ( )

Really great, & terrifying, lives up to the hype. ( )

Despite the age of author's observations, they are as relevant today as they were then. There are things in the book that are of historical interest and currently not a threat or clearly outdated but the warnings of propaganda and manipulation are a greater threat than ever ( )

Despite the age of author's observations, they are as relevant today as they were then. There are things in the book that are of historical interest and currently not a threat or clearly outdated but the warnings of propaganda and manipulation are a greater threat than ever ( )

Novel: I first read the novel in high school and liked it then. On a second reading as a 40something, it has a certain piquancy. Of course our society is sex-obsessed, drug-obsessed, entertainment-obsessed, and supremely shallow. We are on the verge of designer babies, a la Huxley. We are slowly moving to such a society in a Fabian slowness. A lot of the book is odd, of course, 1930s technology and obsessions morphed into the future. We can't imagine a future now without computers and DNA and other such advances, and to not see them here lends an art-deco steampunkishness to the technology and story. But, the story still sparkles. The plight of the "Savage" still is ours. A good book that should always be read as part of the trilogy of Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and Brave New World.

Foreword by Christopher Hitchens: I always liked the Hitch. The foreword is interesting, though he poo-poos the Revisited section a bit too off-handedly.

Brave New World Revisited: A standalone work later added to printings of the novel. Non-fiction, Huxley tries to "justify" and explain his novel, especially how it is superior to 1984, a work which came out after his but caught fire as well. Huxley explains the workings of his dystopian state and its connection to the real world. Some interesting insights from circa 1950, but, wholly unnecessary to enjoying the novel. Not as inconsequential as Hitchens think, it makes one worry about our current society and our current behemoth/leviathan of a government. ( )