- Publisher: AUDIO PARTNERS
- Publish Date: 1997
- Original Publish Date: 1932
- Binding: Compact Disc
- Number of Discs: 7
- ISBN: 9781572703025
- Author: Aldous Huxley
- Read by: Michael York
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is the classic utopian dystopia novel set mostly in London in a completely controlled and stable society sometime in the far future. People are conditioned from before birth to fill a role in the society, from Epsilon semi-morons to Alphas, each has a role to fill. From chemical manipulations of embryos to subconscious conditioning to ‘soma’ a drug that lets you take a holiday from any sort of stress or problems, everyone is ‘happy’. Everyone plays their role as a good consumer of goods and people. Deviations are quickly handled with extra conditioning and manipulations. On the surface, the society of Brave New World seems utopian. There is no hunger. There is no war. Everyone belongs to everyone. People are happy in their positions and there is no need for strife or anger or violence.
We are introduced to Bernard Marx who is not quite happy all the time. His intellect does not make up for the fact that he is physically smaller than most other Alphas. He does not quite feel that he ‘fits’ completely in this society. He enjoys being alone and watching nature. These are not something a good citizen should do. A good citizen should be consuming goods and consuming each other.
Lenina is a hatchery worker (people are engineered and decanted, not born) and is happy in the society, although not quite as promiscuous as is ‘normal’ for a woman in her role. She has had only one sexual partner for a few months, which is unheard of. She decides to go with Bernard when he offers her the chance to see a ‘Savage Reservation’ in New Mexico. This is an area where people, mostly of Native American descent, still live in families, have mothers and fathers, have religion, etc. While there, they come across “Linda”, a woman originally from London who was stranded in the reservation years ago. They also meet her son, John, and decide to bring them both back to London.
With John in London, the novel really begins in earnest to explore the surface level ‘happiness’ of the Brave New World with the depth of feeling and sense of purpose of the ‘savage’. Huxley asks the question of whether it is better to be happy but shallow or to feel deeply but conflicted.
This novel is still amazingly pertinent. Written almost 100 years ago (1931), it still rings true. There are many people who are more concerned with distractions (television, internet, sports, drugs, alcohol, etc.) than they are with knowledge. People are easily manipulated by controlling the media and information they receive, even though, today, that controlling media is often self-selected. Hidden algorithms in social media help direct people’s POV and feed them the messages that keep them in line with those messages. The information does not need to be ‘true’, but only consistent and persistent to become unconsciously embedded in their persons.
I had not read Brave New World for several decades, but I am very glad that I read it again. It made me think about depth of thinking. It made me wonder about what conditioning I am getting that I don’t even realize. It made me think.
It made me think.
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Plastiphobia – aka Plastivore by Matt Truxaw
Matt Truxaw’s newest book is Monster, which released on 1/12/2026. This urban fantasy, horror, thriller will keep you turning the pages.
He is also the author of the hard science fiction thrillers: “Plastiphobia/Plastivore” and “Anthrophobia: A Teacher’s Tale”
You can find them all on Amazon in Paperback, Hardback, Kindle and/or free to read with Kindle Unlimited.
When you read any of them, he would really appreciate a review/rating on Amazon or your favorite book seller/book reader site.
More about Matt:
He was born in Orange County California many years ago and he still lives there. He has been reading books for most of those years and writing up book reviews for the last few years. He gets most of his books out of the library so expect a lot of old science fiction classics book reviews and other science related reviews in addition to newer books he comes across.
If you want to be ‘in-the-loop’ on these and other works, you can follow his author’s page on Amazon or his Facebook page.
For more reviews and articles by Matt here on Amazing Stories (Click here).
