Review

“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley is a classic for a reason. It welcomes you into the future of a utopian society in which industrial revolution has fully and completely run its course - And what a scary place the world has become. In this world, people are produced for a specific purpose and conditioned to live life according to a predefined pattern. Individuality has thoroughly been crushed as all driving forces for standing out has been crushed, though enough of it remains to never undermine the need for consumption. It is a world of lecherous greed and any emotional suffering is quickly dealt with through the consumption of soma, which will put any individual right back on track.

Considering the time the book is written (1932), it feels eerily prescient in its ability to predict the future in which we now live. Obviously, some parts of the book have not come true, but some of the parts can with little imagination be seen in the society today. One of the most important perspective is how the choice between dulling ones mind and experiencing life unfiltered, has been portrayed and the consequences of it. Through standardisation in order to achieve happiness is created stability, which in turn also hampers the drivers or art and science, which is quenched in an attempt to maintain the all-important stability. But, if you take away these drivers, how can society ever move forward if it always attempts to maintain the status quo?

The main comparison to make to this book will and should always be the dystopian classic of “1984” by George Orwell - These two books are to some degree two sides of the same coin, though one might argue that said coin might have to very similar sides. Alternatively, one might consider “The Penultimate Truth” by Philip K. Dick, though it is by no means as eerily relatable as “Brave New World”.

Score: 8/10

I have saved this book on a to read list for a very long time and finally got around to reading it. Now that I have read it, I regret not getting around to it sooner. It is incisive, and carries its own sense of existential horror. Read it, despair and then fight to preserve your individuality.

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