Book Description
The astonishing novel
Brave New World, originally published in 1932, presents Aldous Huxley's vision of the future -- of a world utterly transformed. Through the most efficient scientific and psychological engineering, people are genetically designed to be passive and therefore consistently useful to the ruling class. This powerful work of speculative fiction sheds a blazing critical light on the present and is considered to be Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.
Following
Brave New World is the nonfiction work
Brave New World Revisited, first published in 1958. It is a fascinating work in which Huxley uses his tremendous knowledge of human relations to compare the modern-day world with the prophetic fantasy envisioned in
Brave New World, including threats to humanity, such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion.
Customer Reviews:
I kind of expected it to be different.......2007-08-01
but this was a pretty good book I read an article in a magazine that peaked my interest and then went to the library and read some more articles, I got this edition because I wanted all the other stuff too, this book I really enjoyed
Great Social Commentary.......2007-06-26
Brave New World is a fascinating read, in which Aldous Huxley satirizes society (society in 1932, but still to a certain extent, society in 20-07) by portraying a world steeped in dystopia and a people repressed, though not repressed in the common sense. In Huxley's novel, people's desires are pandered to by the government; all of their greatest longings are fulfilled in a society that offers unlimited sexual pleasure without the idea of marriage or monogamy and unlimited "soma," a drug used to alleviate stress and send the user into a euphoric state of ecstasy.
People are geared from an early age to accept the state of the world through hypnopædia, a sleep-teaching technique, and a manipulative genetic procedure that allows the government to extract multiple embryos from one to make thousands of the same looking individual. A hierarchy is created by further manipulating individual embryos into producing either scrawny, short humans (Epsilons) or strong intellectuals (Alphas). Huxley's vision (as opposed to Orwell's vision of a society kept in submission through fear and physical force) is one in which the government does not repress the people overtly; rather, it allows them the freedom of abandoning old moral values, such as marriage, commitment, and intellectual curiosity, for more pleasurable values, such as promiscuity and drug addiction.
The book as a piece of literature is not so much plot driven or driven by its characters; rather, it is a book of ideas. So, if you're looking to read something that's going to appeal to you from a literary standpoint, then this probably isn't the best book since Huxley's characters are simply there to accentuate his ideas. Overall, in regards to the validity of this piece, I don't really see many parallels to contemporary society: yet. For example, the genetics discussed in the book are not really plausible at this point and I'm skeptical as to the capabilities of hypnopædia.
Brave New World Revisited is another fascinating work, in which Huxley tackles subjects like over-population (a phenomenon he believes will allow leadership to become more manipulative due to the increasing distance between representatives and constituents) and propaganda. While I don't really subscribe to the ideas expressed in works such as We, Brave New World, and 1984, I'm always awe stricken by the social and political prowess of these books, and I would wholeheartedly recommend Brave New World.
Brave New World Review.......2007-06-09
An interesting and insightful book, of which some of the predictions seem to be coming true. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but would have liked it to have been longer
As relevant today as it was in 1932........2007-06-01
Not reading this book is the biggest regret you will ever have. It amazing to me how something written so long ago as a social commentary and a warning of "potential" evils to come, could have so accurately predicted the development of society 70 years later.
The most interesting sections of the book were the first few chapters and the final few. It was there that we see Huxley's future world fully visualized and rationalized for all to see. The early dialogue on mass produced people, pre-natal conditioning and government control will leave most readers with an eerie feeling of familiarity (Fertilization drugs, Gene therapy). The final chapters will certainly leave most asking serious questions about their religious beliefs.
Huxley's future world is similar in some ways to the ideal society as described by Plato in "The Republic". A society in which "everyone belongs to everyone else", where no child has a father, nor a mother. Plato would be proud.
This book will appeal to people from all walks of life (particularly those with backgrounds in philosophy, psychology and organizational behavior).
If you liked this book, you'll also like "1984", by George Orwell. This edition of the book contains a very interesting letter from Huxley to Orwell on the last few pages. Another gem that makes this edition stand out from the others is the inclusion of "Brave New World Revisited". You'll really get an idea of how far ahead of his time Huxley was as he wrote this in 1958. His warnings about rampant overpopulation and resource exaustion may not have been concerns during his lifetime but are ever relevant topics of concersation today.
You'll also like "I am Legend", by Richard Matheson. Though the Savage isn't the last man alive, the comparison to Matheson's last man standing
is easy to make.
!932.......2007-05-05
It's spooky how relevent this story is to the world today. I read this book in high school and it was like okay...the scary thing is that everything Huxley describes I feel so relates to the world today. I was so impressed by this story that I called up my 82 year old grandmother to discuss this book and see if she had read it and I mentioned to her how inciteful I felt Huxley was and how when I read it at 16 It didn't seem so relevent.
My Grandmother told me that's because life was fantastic when I was growing up.
I'm not sure of that either. But I think it was easier to grow up than it is today.
I'm sooo impressed by this guys incite to the future. What a legend.
Average customer rating:
- Flawed Cautionary Tale
- A few thoughts from a "religious" viewpoint
- Odd tale, but a classic
- Shrug
- A Christian Perspective
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Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
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Amazon.com
"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today--let's hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren't yet to come.
Book Description
A fantasy of the future that sheds a blazing critical light on the present--considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.
"Mr. Huxley is eloquent in his declaration of an artist's faith in man, and it is his eloquence, bitter in attack, noble in defense, that, when one has closed the book, one remembers."
--Saturday Review of Literature
"A Fantastic racy narrative, full of much excellent satire and literary horseplay."
--Forum
"It is as sparkling, provocative, as brilliant, in the appropriate sense, as impressive ads the day it was published. This is in part because its prophetic voice has remained surprisingly contemporary, both in its particular forecasts and in its general tone of semiserious alarm. But it is much more because the book succeeds as a work of art...This is surely Huxley's best book."
--Martin Green
Customer Reviews:
Flawed Cautionary Tale.......2007-10-03
The 'Foreword' explains why this novel was not rewritten to get rid of its faults: it could lose its merits! Aldous Huxley used the class-based society of England and projected it far into the future with modern references. Huxley imagined a sort of "scientific breeding" that seems to mock science. Dumping children to the care of lower class servants had a long history there, it is divorced from maternal care. [Does it work? Reports say this has a bad influence on children's development.] The name of Pavlov is strangely missing from this novel. Huxley says the problem for totalitarian states is to make their subjects love their servitude. Too bad he didn't live to see today's conditioning by advertising and other behavior modifications (like cell phones which let Big Government hear and locate you). Huxley claimed a diminished political and economic freedom leads to sexual freedom, but offered no proof. Orwell's "1984" handled this much better.
Most of the book shows Huxley's skill at an imagined future, a parody of the world of the 1920s (whose faults created the Great Depression). "Tracking" of students has been around for decades (their future is decided in kindergarten). Advertising sells everything from ordinary objects to candidates and political beliefs. Advertising creates "peer pressure", people who believe and think as they are told. Many people are no longer skeptical of corporate advertising; this might be the result of their schooling. Whoever controls the media influences the thinking of most people.
There are many echoes of real history in this clever story. Such as the surprise played on that Director by a long-lost relative (echoes of 19th century novels?). The office politics reflect unchanging human nature. But the ending chapters don't ring true to me. Certainly notoriety affects people's lives. The gawking of the ignorant and uninformed is always a problem for anyone in the news. Even if they are only show business performers! Huxley was correct in having an opiate that tranquilized people but damaged their health. Who will heed this warning? The use of chemical food was another subtle satire; they knew then of those dangers. One thing missing is the Secret Police to force people into desired behavior patterns by constant surveillance. Orwell was more realistic about England and the world of 1948.
A few thoughts from a "religious" viewpoint.......2007-09-04
This remarkable book was written around 1931. As far as I know, it is the earliest of the modern utopia novels ("1984" and "Fahrenheit 451" for example). You may not want to read my review if you haven't yet read the book,or don't want to be exposed to a summary of it:
It is a story, centered in London, of a world where life is lived out in controlled, contented bliss. Genetic engineering contributes to a smoothly functioning caste system. Sexual promiscuity is the norm, even instilled in children. Birth control is the norm. Behavior altering drug use is the norm. Physical attractiveness is at a premium and youth is artificially preserved throughout lifespan. Materialistic consumption is prized. Entertainment occupies non-work hours but does NOT include reading. Independent thinking is unacceptable. "God" has been replaced by "Ford", literally (science and industry!, not superstition).
A couple of characters are introduced, who behave counter to the culture. They eventually are banished. We get a glimpse into the true thoughts of a World Controller, who has a safe containing BOOKS. A central character (The Savage) is introduced, having been imported from the undeveloped American Southwest. Although a primitive, he was self-educated through study of an ancient volume of Shakespeare. He is rather pan-theistic, worshipping an assortment of gods that he has became aware of, including the Christian God. (He seems to be doing the best he can with the information he has). His love relationship with a beautiful but totally indoctrinated London girl destroys him (he is chaste - she is a cookie cutter product of the society and he is appalled by her ready sexual promiscuity).
In the end, The Savage cannot function in this society and takes his own life. The reader may assume that the society absorbs the entertainment available from this event and moves on blissfully.
Who wins, who is happy, who is right? My conclusion: If there is no God, the pleasure seeking utopians were right on track. The Savage was a superstitious primitive who squandered his life and a multitude of opportunities for fun and happiness. Conversely, if a Creator Deity does exist (whom The Savage clearly sought with a whole heart), then it would appear that The Savage moved on to a superior state, and indeed had lived out his whole life in a superior fashion of obedience. The utopians live out their reward in the present state, squandering eternity.
The Bible (mentioned in the novel, a copy hidden in the Controller's safe) asserts that The Creator is self evident through his creation, and all who reject him are without excuse. Correspondingly, there are multiple allusions in the novel to fascination with nature, such as the night sky. Such interest is supressed by the utopian society or course. I think that is the bottom line of Huxley's Brave New World. Living for this world (serving self), or living for the greater, unseen one (serving God). A great matter of faith, and the essence of all decision making.
Odd tale, but a classic.......2007-08-07
One of the first views of dystopian society, in response to Orwell's 1984. An intelligently devised future showing how a utopian society might form in the future from mass produced births, sexual liberation, legalized drug dependence, and social class conditioning.
Shrug.......2007-07-26
While going through my stack of unread books this summer I noticed that I still had a copy of this book from High School, at the moment I am two semesters from graduating from college. So, I figured I should read it as I am an English major and most English majors have read this book.
Why I bothered I do not know.
The plot to this book was poorly executed, the characters were weak and I just didn't really care.
Instead I suggest "1984" by Orwell or "We" by Zamyatin, if you are interested in this topic. Especially "We" as it was written before either or these two books and is my personal favorite, but is tragically ignored.
A Christian Perspective.......2007-07-21
First of all, a disclaimer: though this review is intended to display some of the ways I think Christianity illuminates this book, I certainly do not claim to be speaking for all Christians. These are just my thoughts...
That being said, I think the most important feature of "Brave New World" is that it illustrates what happens to humanity when it, en masse, begins to depart from the classical Christian worldview. By classical Christian worldview I mean that which was best described by St. Augustine in City of God (Penguin Classics). Without going into too much detail, the basic notion Augustine suggests is that salvation (in terms of deliverance from a fallen world) comes only in transcendent reality, and therefore people should stop expecting that a transcendently perfect reality can exist in this world.
I bring up Augustine because he was relied on to a large extent by Eric Voegelin. Voegelin's writing concerning modernity and gnosticism provides a philosophical framework for understanding how the central tenants of "Brave New World" are also the central tenants of our modern world (see especially Modernity Without Restraint: The Political Religions, The New Science of Politics, and Science, Politics, and Gnosticism (Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 5)) The connection between Augustine, Voegelin, and "Brave New World" seem to me to be this: when humanity rejects the lessons of classical Christianity and begins attempting to "fix" this world by way of various projects, disaster inevitable follows. Of course, Huxley is not espousing a Christian critique of the world. Nevertheless, I think "Brave New World" is an important book for Christians because the book illustrates the realities of humanity and the sad results that stem from those realities.
Christianity aside, I think this book presents an adult version of another great book, The Giver, by Lois Lowry. If you read "The Giver" and loved it then I think you will really enjoy "Brave New World". The central tenants of the books are roughly the same. Perhaps the most significant difference is that "Brave New World" is written in a voice that is inherently sarcastic and pessimistic concerning the principle characters whereas "The Giver" does not seem to pass as much judgment on the masses as much as it is concerned with society's leaders.
I've attempted to bring a couple of fresh perspectives to "Brave New World" that I haven't seen in the other 687 reviews out there. This is a great book that is an important read for our times. I would recommend this book especially for high school and college students because it is that generation who will be confronted with the challenges inherent in this book. To obtain a proper perspective a humanity's potentially damaging power is all too important for our future. I give this book four stars instead of five not because there's anything wrong with it, but simply because I reserve five-star ratings for the best. "Brave New World" is not one of the best books out there, but it is certainly a worthy read nonetheless.
Another book that I'd highly recommend that is short and presents the philosophical foundation of "Brave New World" without the accompanying storyline is The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis.
Book Description
Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a "utopian" future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.
Customer Reviews:
Laugh. Cry. Think........2007-08-14
When "Brave New World" was published in 1932, the West had just experienced its first taste of mass production (the assembly line), mass consumption (fueled by rampant use of credit), the first historical wave of female emancipation, the post-Victorian disintegration of some sexual taboos (The Roaring Twenties), promising new scientific research, the Bolshevik Revolution and World War I ("The War to End All Wars"). Deftly extrapolating from these and other economic and social developments, Aldous Huxley conjured a literary masterpiece that foretold: the genetic experimentation of the Nazis, the mapping of the human genome, artificial insemination, the God Is Dead Movement, 24/7 mass media that highlights celebrity and pop culture, creation of the European Union, the arrival of the global economy and its need for increased worker productivity, pure recreational sex (a recent USA poll of men and women listing the top ten reasons for engaging in it makes no mention of procreation), and - most ominously - mass acceptance of legal pharmaceuticals by millions of the Earth's inhabitants as an emotional crutch of first resort.
"Brave New World", however, is much more than a parlor trick of successful prognostication; it is a cleverly constructed warning about the psychological softness that can envelop humankind with the onward march of "progress". It asks "What is Progress?" - a question that only recently, and happily, has come to the fore as a serious topic of discussion and has produced some degree of overlap in scientific and religious world views.
Huxley's "Savage", plucked from an eco-tourist-like setting in the southwestern U.S. and transported to a civilization he has heard so much about, sets up a dynamic tension between a party of one who clings to the notion of Original Sin and literally retreats to a garden to atone for it, and a future Everyman (and woman) for whom artificial reality has been transformed into high art. Huxley adroitly explores how Soviet-style centralized planning, aided and abetted by mass hypnosis, technology and constant creature comforts, makes all but the most morally sturdy incapable of bucking the system - most especially the aptly-named Lenina, who deep down feels a twinge of real love but simply cannot de-program herself and act upon the one genuine morsel of humanity somehow ignited within her.
Perhaps what is most striking of all about "Brave New World" is its constantly alternating humor and pathos. Huxley appears to have tapped the very best of European farce and the English Music Hall tradition for comic relief; some of his scenes approach blackout sketches. But he also employs some genuinely dark episodes to tell us that all this is no laughing matter. However, note: this dichotomy in tone takes some of the sting out of the author's message, resulting in a work that, although entirely satisfying, never reaches the nonstop intensity of "1984".
Says Huxley: Those of us not living in A.F. ("After Ford") 236 still have a chance to help decide what kind of future we want.
A Classic for our Time.......2007-04-09
Brave New World, where do I begin. I'd have to agree with what a friend of mine said about this book. It should not be read in high school. I think that it's point would be missed. At face value, it's a fascinating read. Huxley's world is so upsettingly vivid that it lures the reader in and makes one turn pages continuously. What's even more fascinating is the social commentary beneath the outward appearance of the novel. And I think that would be missed among adolescents.
Brave New World is the story of a world that has come to be after the "nine years war." In this world, individuality is no longer welcomed. Humans are no longer born in the traditional sense of the world. They are grown. Mankind has been reduced down to genetic manipulation and is created on an assembly line. Mankind comes in various ranks. There are the best of the best, golden and chiseled, and there are the worst of the worst, the fetuses who are injected with alcohol while they are growing. Whether the best or the worst, each person serves a very specific function to the new society.
There are so many disturbing aspects of this book. Mother is a word that causes people to blush since there are no mothers anymore. Love is disgusting and unfathomable yet sex is encouraged even as children during "erotic play" time. Contraceptives are carried around on a belt worn by women. Relationships do not exist beyond sex. People are discouraged from ever being alone (after all, one may have time to think). And if one ever gets unhappy, all you do is take a soma, a hallucinogen that makes everything o.k. God does not exist.
God has become nothing but a myth that society mocks and laugh at. God has become replaced with the term "Ford". I must say that Huxley had excellent insight into what the invention of an automobile could lead to. The book is filled with "Oh Ford!", "The year of our Ford", and "his Fordship." I can't help but think of the first commandment and the story from the bible of the golden calf. "You shall not worship false idols." Huxley has given us the extreme of worshipping false idols and shows societies tendency to replace God with material possessions. The soul of a human has been replaced with chemicals, "groupthink", genetic engineering, and false happiness. What we are left with is an empty shell; a robot that looks like a human. Sex exists to make people happy, not to reproduce. If reproduction occurs, there are whole buildings dedicated to abortion. Motherhood is not welcomed in this brave new world. And what a brave world it is to make so many assumptions.
Huxley has created a masterpiece that was relevant from the day it was published and will always remain relevant. It is a telling example of what the loss of spirituality can do and of the necessity of so many emotions that we perceive as negative.
This book was read for the banned books challenge. It's ashame that people ban books such as these. Yes it's disturbing, but it's message is one that should be heard by all. It warns of the dangers of banning books that make one think. It shows the power of the human mind that actually is able to think out of the box. It opens one's eyes to the dangers of being just like everyone else. It's a book that should be required reading, but maybe not in highschool. Save this one for the college years.
I loved the cover to this edition. It drew my eye right away. Greg Kulick did the cover design and illustration. It's the Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition and it is packed with extras in the back. I recommend this one!
All Too Real.......2007-03-27
Sobering. What was merely creepy 25 years ago in high school now has the frightening force of reality behind it--Huxley's prophecy is coming true. Though most everyone is familiar with the basics of the story, there was a wealth of detail that had escaped my first reading. When the pain is taken away, society becomes a giant feedback loop--seeking nothing but sensation.
Huxley's Brave New World portrays a society devoid of pain and purpose--he argues that his creation is the inevitable result of science untempered by morality. He hints that the exigency that led to the Brave New World was war and one cannot think of a more likely scenario. This is science-fiction that has utterly transcended its genre because of the clarity and accuracy of its vision that an uncontrolled science would lead to tampering with life itself. Birth control, the abandonment of "traditional" morality, recreational drugs without side effects, and genetic engineering were all foreseen by this book from 1932.
It is interesting to note that genetic tampering is currently rather benign--we select for good looks, intelligence and hope to create a genome free from annoying defects like proclivity to cancer and other diseases. Yet through his character Mustapha Mond, Huxley argues that you can't make a civilization of alphas thereby affording a justification for the purposeful impairment of the majority of the population. Huxley's alphas have to buy into the system because they are smart enough to know otherwise. If they don't, society banishes them to an island--which, in reality, is a prize bestowed only on the true thinkers. The utter triumph of the society is manifested in the fact that there is no escape. Though well-aware of the sacrifices attendant to the world order, Mustapha Mond accepts his role based upon the idea that the highest goal of mankind is freedom from pain, obligation and choices.
And, presciently, that is the promise of every politician. The world is losing an appreciation for the value of pain, the satisfaction of labor and the value of choices. Huxley saw it coming in 1932 and the conclusion that the world is heading down that path becomes inescapable with only the slightest reference to contemporary events.
P.S. This "P.S." edition provides several excellent documents after the text of the novel such as a letter from Huxley to Orwell and a contemporary analysis of the work. The editors chose for maximum effect those documents that highlight the importance of the work in our culture. I am going to seek out more of these editions.
Book Description
The astonishing novel Brave New World, originally published in 1932, presents Aldous Huxley's vision of the future -- of a world utterly transformed. Through the most efficient scientific and psychological engineering, people are genetically designed to be passive and therefore consistently useful to the ruling class. This powerful work of speculative fiction sheds a blazing critical light on the present and is considered to be Aldous Huxley's most enduring masterpiece.
The nonfiction work Brave New World Revisited, first published in 1958, is a fascinating work in which Huxley uses his tremendous knowledge of human relations to compare the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy envisioned in Brave New World, including the threats to humanity, such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion.
Customer Reviews:
THIS WAS A BIRTHDAY GIFT.......2007-02-07
MY FRIEND STARTED THE B OOK AND OF COURSE LIKED IT. WHO WOULDN'T LIKE ALDOUS HUXLEY.
Brave New World by Huxley.......2007-01-04
Shining Brave New World turns into nightmare gradually... page after page... And it is a reality of our days... When you see crowds during Bull Race in Spain or during any European football game... all taking SOMA (oh, sorry, beer or cheap wine...) and happy after it... millions playing LOTTERY with the only desire to become rich for free... the only desire of entertainment.. computer games even on cellar phones... and free cannabis in Holland... excited people in supermarkets buying a lot of unnecessary goods... cheap Chinese goods everywhere uselessly processing not-renewable raw materials... You understand that nightmare is around... I don't call for primitive live like in Reservations of Brave New World, but recommend to read this book with one's own conclusions...
The edition to savor and keep for the next generation.......2006-11-10
Impressively high quality edition with an excellent intro by Hitchens and complete with both crucial works by Huxley for an excellent price. If only all hardcover books were of this physical and visual quality as well as being so comfortable in the hands.
WOW..........2005-12-24
The future, Brave new world written by Aldous Huxley is the most mind provoking crazy but seems possible book I ever read. People are mass produce; sex is a child's plaything, drugs are considered a vacation, the clones are color coded by how genetically perfect they are, clones are also brain washed using electric shock to fear flowers so they cant escape into nature and to hate books so they don't ever try and have a free thought or opinion. And having sex with only one partner is frowned upon there are neither marriages nor couples just friends and acquaints.
Basically the book is about control of the masses, control of the working class, control of the mind, in a world were free thought has been banished few character like Bernard the main character start to wonder why, they start to think, they start to learn, they start to ask questions about their freedom these people are forced to live in a perfect society of happiness and ignorance and just because these clones don't know what the problem is doesn't mean they don't have one or need one a life of no challenges, a life of no discomfort I life of lies, is what they live in and who wouldn't wish for more.
If you want a book that will not want to put down read brave new world. It should blow your mind away.
Brave New World.......2004-05-29
Nothing about this book really caught or held my attention. The premise of the novel is of course very original and a thought provoking idea, but the novel just didn't live up to the ever-present hype that surrounds it. I gave it three stars for the originality of ideas and detailed descriptions of future distopia, but in the end this novel did nothing for me. "1984" was much more effective and interesting in my opinion.
Book Description
Long a target of policymakers and reformers, the current American healthcare system is, in the words of Richard D. Lamm, "unsustainable, unaffordable, and inequitable, and needs to be substantially amended and revised." In this informed and erudite look at the current state of the American healthcare system, Lamm exposes the problems existing not only in policy and professional circles, but also in public attitudes and expectations. In so doing, Lamm provides a framework for reform, seeking to rebuild the "house of healthcare" that has fallen into disrepair.
Customer Reviews:
Brave enough to read this book? .......2005-05-12
Richard D. Lamm, former three-term governor of Colorado, has written a thought-provoking book, which should be required reading for any American who pays taxes or who will some day get sick. America, some of its citizens often proclaim, has the "best health care system in the world." Not so, Lamm argues: our medical miracles are parceled out to certain segments of society while forty-plus million Americans lack basic health care. Public health statistics consistently show the US lagging behind other developed countries in terms of life expectancy and infant mortality. Lamm uses the data to support his contention in this book that "The time has come to ask--and answer--some hard questions about how American health care dollars are actually being spent and about what we as a society are getting for that expenditure."
Lamm should be commended for speaking forcefully and passionately on this subject. He addresses health-care rationing, allocation of public monies, the need for society to accept the inevitability of death, and the need for government to intercede in medical education (directing schools to train more primary care physicians as opposed to the preponderance of specialists we now have). The book is readable even for people unfamiliar with health care policy and economic theories. Numerous sidebars offer encapsulations of important concepts and statistics. He has a gift for explaining the conflict in easily understandable prose. He also leavens his harsh pronouncements with pithy comments, such as when he refers to former President Clinton's avowed goal of fighting all deadly diseases and writes,"What are we going to die of, rust?" His forthright voice makes one wonder how he ever got elected to public office.
The author concludes with a strategy for addressing our national health care crisis. If enough people read The Brave New World of Health Care, we the people may start to find our way out of what this former governor convincingly paints as an ever-deepening moral and financial morass facing the health of our society and its citizens.
Ethics and Economics - an American Challenge.......2004-07-09
Lamm clearly shows that the US health care system puts priority higher on the ethics of personal medical practice than it does on the overall health of the US population. Our (US) system is provider driven, which results in defensive medicine and over treatments. "Long shot" medical practice costs us: 27 percent of costs are for the sickest 1 percent. US spends about 50 percent more per person than other developed countries spend. Why? Says Lamm: "We fund too much marginal medicine and fail to fund enough basic health care. We spend too much on high technology medicine and not enough on prevention." This amounts to spending the budget to save a few trees while the forest gets weak and sick.
The need exists to set limits on treatments, so that more people are more healthy and costs can be maintained, as European countries have done. This book does not claim to have all of the answers, but does challenge Americans to begin an honest debate of ethics vs costs.
We should listen to his challenge. Buy this book now, before your medical costs get too high for you to afford it.
Endorsement for: THE BRAVE NEW WORLD OF HEALTH CARE.......2004-06-16
What health care nightmare has your name on it? The United States is $7 trillion in debt. Consumer debt exceeds $2 trillion. The average American credit card carries an $8,000.00 balance. As baby boomers eat and age their way into a health care pile up in the next 10 years, our health care industry recoils against horrific odds in providing for millions of Americans. Not withstanding, millions of legal and illegal immigrants have not and did not pay into a system they use today. Millions of uninsured Americans suffer.
Governor Lamm, once again, identifies what is happening across the United States. He offers solutions that, if ignored, all Americans stand to suffer in the long term.
Darwinism in action.......2004-05-13
I give Governor Lamm two stars for trying to devise a solution to one of the most difficult public policy issues of our time. But his solution is horrific.
He advocates a health care rationing plan in which, in effect, those who are sickest will be jettisoned in favor of those who are somewhat sick or not sick at all. It's not just social Darwinism, which deems poverty to be proof that those who are poor are inherently defective, that is, unfit to survive and therefore beyond help. This is Darwnism at its purest: the unhealthy are by definition unworthy of society's limited resources. Call it the life-raft approach. "Let's throw off the raft those we deem less likely to survive in order to improve the chances of those we believe more likely to survive." As Scrooge might put it, those who are in danger of dying "had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
It's not unlike the day when lepers were segregated into colonies. Merely a short step away is killing the unhealthy to prevent them from consuming any more of our limited health care dollars. Unthinkable? Germans didn't think that making Jews wear yellow stars would lead to their deliberate slaughter. Many people don't know that Hitler deemed the disabled as unfit for German society as Jews and slaughtered millions of disabled people as well.
As you might imagine, I fall among the disabled. Through no fault of mine, multiple sclerosis has ravaged my middle-aged body. And it chills me to think that, under Lamm's "divert resources toward the fit" rationing, a healthy young serial murderer would get a liver transplant before I would. Moreover, researchers would have no incentive to find ways to reverse existing damage; when resources are explicitly diverted toward preserving health and preventing illness, doctors would be idiots to work toward treatments that fall far down on the list of health care priorities.
Lamm correctly points out that we implicitly ration health care today. Those with insurance get more care than those without. But at least those without insurance can hope to get it someday. Nothing in the world will make a disabled person fit to compete against the young and healthy for health care.
Lamm has framed the problem well. We do need an explicit method of rationing health care. But we need a lot more debate on the ethics of such a plan before we deem one segment of society irredeemably beyond its pale.
Political science & public policy blend in serious discourse.......2004-05-06
Political science and public policy blend in a serious discourse by former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, who takes a fresh look at the current state of the American health care system in Brave New World Of Health Care. Problems in policy, professional circle, and in public attitudes and expectations alike are deftly surveyed in an engagingly thoughtful discussion of how reforms and changes may be enacted.
Book Description
When the novel Brave New World first appeared in 1932, its shocking analysis of a scientific dictatorship seemed a projection into the remote future. Here, in one of the most important and fascinating books of his career, Aldous Huxley uses his tremendous knowledge of human relations to compare the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy. He scrutinizes threats to humanity, such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion, and explains why we have found it virtually impossible to avoid them. Brave New World Revisited is a trenchant plea that humankind should educate itself for freedom before it is too late.
Download Description
Huxley looks backward and forward in this brilliant extended essay published a quarter of a century after his controversial, dark visionary novel. Analyzing America at mid-century against the tomorrow of the BRAVE NEW WORLD, Huxley finds some answers and
Customer Reviews:
An essential reading for mankind.......2007-08-05
Huxley's work of nonfiction here is superbly presented and very well-thought with an undeniable amount of research to support all of his thoughts and grim prophecies. Albeit not long, its volume in information lends much support to its considerable importance and potency to the intellectual reader. There were times where i was audibly saying "wow" and times when i was so immersed i couldn't contain my excitement. Ironically this very excitement distracted me at times, where i was deep in thought and contemplation of previous passages that i was actually missing out of what i was reading at the moment. Thankfully those instances were few and i was able to comprehend the majority of it. The outlining problems, he explains, come from over-population and over-organization. Each can be summarized as an internal and external dilemma that we as individuals and a society must face. From propaganda to mind-manipulation, he covers all that human society is currently struggling with and will undoubtedly continue to deal with as the situation worsens.
Profound, both in its horrifying connection made and it's enlightening message given, this book is definitely worth looking into for anyone that is even somewhat interested in Huxley's work.
Lucas.
The best book you can read. period........2006-02-24
If you haven't read Brave New World and 1984, I suggest you read both of those first. Then you can truly appreciate this work of staggering insight into the world of today.
This is the book (or collection of essays) written by Huxley in 1958, 27 years after he wrote Brave New World. He begins by reevaluating his previous work and Orwell's 1984. Then he will open your eyes to some of the biggest problems we face today. It has been almost 50 years since this book was written and many of the things Huxley predicted are happening all around us. It floors me that so few people have read this amazing work. So quit reading this review and read the book already!
Excellent.......2005-12-07
A brilliant look back at Huxley's "Brave New World" by the author along with an insightful analysis of foreshadowed conditions up to 1965. This book is even more important reading today. The birth control pill had not even been invented when this book was written, and yet Huxley refers to its importance. Scholars of historical science can see the writing on the wall. We should all be reading it.
Beware the Enemies of INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM!!.......2005-07-30
+++++
This non-fiction book of essays, by author Aldous Huxley (1894 to 1963), examines the predictions he made in his fascinating science fiction novel written over a quarter of a century from the time he wrote this book. Huxley explains:
"When [my science fiction novel] `Brave New World' [1932] was being written, I was convinced that there was plenty of time. The completely organized society, the...caste [or class] system, the abolition of free will by methodical conditioning, the servitude made acceptable by regular doses of chemically induced happiness, the orthodoxies drummed in by...sleep-teaching--these [threats to individual freedom] were coming all right, but not in my time...I feel a good deal less optimistic than I did when I was writing [my science fiction novel]. The prophecies made in [my science fiction novel] are coming true much sooner than I thought they would...Impersonal forces over which we have almost no control seem to be pushing us all in the direction of the Brave New Worldian nightmare...impersonal forces which are now making the world so extremely unsafe for democracy [and] individual freedom."
This is what this book does. It looks in depth at the above threats or forces to or "enemies of" individual freedom and others mentioned in Huxley's science fiction novel and applies them to the modern world. The author examines in depth the following six threats or forces:
(1) overpopulation
(2) over-organization (or bureaucracy)
(3) propaganda (in a democratic society and under a dictatorship)
(4) brainwashing
(5) persuasion (chemical and subconscious or subliminal)
(6) hypnopaedia (sleep-teaching)
His analysis made over a quarter century ago (from the year of this review) is amazingly accurate. I'll give one perfect example:
"Our contemporary Western society, in spite of its material, intellectual, and material progress, is increasingly less conducive to mental health, and tends to undermine the inner security, happiness, reason, and the capacity for love in the individual; it tends to turn him into an automaton who pays for his human failure with increasing mental sickness, and with despair hidden under a frantic drive for work and so-called pleasure...Man [and woman are] not made to be an automaton, and if he [or she] becomes one, the basis for mental health is destroyed...People are related to one another, not as total personalities but as embodiments of economic functions or, when they are not at work, as irresponsible seekers of entertainment."
The above example is the kind of insight you'll find throughout this well-written book. There are a few (very few!) times Huxley seems to be wrong, but the majority of time he is spot-on.
In the last chapter of his book, Huxley attempts amongst other things to answer the following question:
"How can we control the vast impersonal forces that now menace our hard-one freedoms?" He does a good job coming to grips with this difficult question.
Do you have to read Huxley's previous science fiction novel to understand this book? NO. When he refers to his science fiction novel in this book he does not make any assumptions that the reader has read his science fiction novel. However, as a person who has read his previous novel, I can say that this book had more impact on me than if I had not read the previous novel.
Finally, the only problem I had with this non-fiction book is that it has no references and footnotes (or notes). Huxley to be sure uses information and statistics from other sources but no credit is given to them. Huxley, in his main narrative, does sometimes give informal credit to his sources but many times, he does not even do this. All information sources should have been properly referenced.
In conclusion, this is an insightful, prophetic, fascinating book that makes the case that our society may be heading in the wrong direction due to forces attempting to take away our individual freedoms!
(first published 1958; forward by author; 12 chapters; main narrative 185 pages)
+++++
The Sharp Social Analysis behind the Novel .......2005-05-07
In this book, Aldous Huxley examines modern society and shows how elements of his fictional dystopia in "Brave New World" (BNW) became real even faster than he imagined. In a dozen pithy chapters, he examines the "modern" world of 1958, and discusses the rise of huge organizations, the methods of modern propaganda, the role of the mass media, over-conformity, over-specialization, salesmanship & commercial society, brainwashing, and drug-induced happiness - all of which appeared in "Brave New World." Overall, I found this to be a pithy, insightful, and prescient analysis of society. In fact, I thought it was as good or better than "Brave New World" itself.
Here's a sampling of some points he covers:
BNW depicted the non-violent manipulation of people through pleasures rather than violent oppression. In BNW, for example, the "system" creates people who are psychologically conditioned from birth to have the "correct" views on the world; the government sponsored drug use to keep people happy, and social interactions were ritualized and controlled. All this provided social stability.
Huxley also writes that today's world has also become similarly over-organized, and people are manipulated by pleasures. We've created a vast commercial machine for the mass production of goods and entertainment. As cogs in the machine, people can become highly specialized automatons who subsume themselves into their organizations, making it's goals their own, suffocating their independent human spirit. Although highly productive & peaceful, Huxley claims the resulting social harmony is superficial, and doesn't fulfill us as human beings. People interact with each other from a distance, merely as workers or pleasure seekers, never as total personalities.
Huxley's thoughts on propaganda also fill many of the chapters. He shows that the large organizations of the modern world (governments, corporations, the military, political parties, churches, etc.) have all become very savvy in using propaganda to control "their" masses. As Hitler knew, the masses hate reason; so his key is to create simple, repetitive, emotional appeals that spoke to them and appealed to their secret desires. Not coincidently, advertising uses this same formula; find a common desire or widespread unconscious fear or anxiety, then relate it to the product you sell, then build verbal or pictorial bridge from their dream to your product, and repeat the ad over and over.
So, what can we do to improve the world? Huxley offers few solutions, but one key point is that we must be aware of propaganda. To do so, we must learn the proper use of language, and learn how to dissect and critically analyze the messages aimed at us. Also, we should try to reconnect with our neighbors & communities fully as people, without intervening organizations. Finally, we should try to decentralize economic and political power as much as possible, since what is good for the economic or political "machine" isn't necessarily good for us as human beings.
As I mentioned, this book was packed with insights, and a quick, enjoyable read. It's also a superb follow-up to Huxley's famous novel. Recommended.
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Brave New World (Audio Editions)
Aldous Huxley
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ASIN: 1572703024 |
Book Description
Veteran actor Michael York gives voice to Aldous Huxley's famous tale of three citizens of a future world who gradually awaken to its true nature — bleak, homogenized, and drugged-out — and are determined to escape its control. The remarkably timely themes of cloning, individual creativity, and freedom, and the role of science, technology, and drugs in our future are the subject of this great work first published 70 years ago.
Customer Reviews:
A Classic but not much payoff .......2007-01-13
A Classic but not much payoff...
It's worth a listen or a read. It's unfortunately a little dry and not quite as exciting as some of it's peers.
Brave New World CD.......2007-01-06
My son is in High School. This is a required reading book for honors English. He suffers from Dyslexia so he is allowed to listen to the books. Having classics like Brave New World available on CD help him to be able to complete assignments. This CD is read by Michael York. Having the familiar voice of an actor we know makes the listening easier. The story is brought to life.
Brave New Performance.......2003-03-11
This is certainly one of most characterful and dramatic readings in my experience of having heard over 200 audio books. BRAVO to Michael York! I wish more actors of such talent would record more important literature unabridged. Don't miss this phenomenal performance of a great novel!
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The Brave New World of European Labor: European Trade Unions at the Millennium
Lucio Bacaaro ,
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In this important book, Ulrich Beck - one of the leading social thinkers in Europe today - examines how work has become unstable in the modern world and presents a new vision for the future. Beck begins by describing how the traditional work society, with its life-long job paths, is giving way to a much less stable world in which skills can be suddenly devalued, jobs obliterated, welfare cover reduced or eliminated. The West would appear to be heading towards a social structure of ambiguity and multiple activity that has hitherto been more characteristic of the developing world. But what appears to be the end of traditional working practices can also be seen as an opportunity to develop new ideas and models for work in the twenty-first century.Beck's alternative vision is centred on the concept of active citizens democratically organized in local, and increasingly also regional or transnational, networks. Against the threat of social exclusion, everyone can and must have a right to be included in a new definition and distribution of work. This will involve constant movement between formal employment (with a major reduction in working hours) and forms of self-organized artistic, cultural and political 'civil labour', providing equal access to comprehensive social protection. The aim must be to turn insecurity around, so that it becomes a positive and enriching discontinuity of life.Drawing on his earlier work on risk and reflexive modernization, The Brave New World of Work is also closely linked to his studies on globalization and individualization. These processes are part of the same challenge upon which a politics of modernity must now base itself. Not only the future of work, but also the very survival of democracy and the welfare state will depend on the development of a newly committed and 'multi-active' transnational citizenship.This book will be of great interest to second- and third-year students in sociology, politics, geography and the social sciences generally. It will also appeal to a broader audience interested in the issues and debates surrounding the changing nature of work.
Customer Reviews:
Across the Great Divide.......2001-07-07
When he's good, he's great. Some passages in this book, especially those dealing with Beck's idea of a new civil society that must be forged out of the remains of the social welfare contract, are inspiring. When he's not so good, it's because he's repetitive, or because he's speaking so generally about the effects of the global economy that he veers into vague abstraction at the expense of driving his thesis home. Because it's a challenging thesis -- the idea of paid civil work as a way to (re)create a truly democratic society -- and because it's articulation is at least partially supported through data, it's easy to forgive the sometimes too-general perspective.
Read as a companion "The Global Age" by Martin Albrow, which is quoted in The Brave New World of Work, and interestingly, has the same strengths and weaknesses: an interestingly theory (we've moved past the post-modern age into the "global age" wherein the interconnectedness of humanity belies old national boundaries and notions of class), and a sometimes too abstract style.
Bobos in purgatory.......2000-10-13
As Beck observes in his chapter on the US, Americans and Europeans see the world very differently. If, like many Americans, you think that life in US is good and getting better you may have some trouble connecting with Beck's perspective.
Beck takes up John Gray's idea (from False Dawn) that America is in the grip of the religion of free market utopianism. Spreading the faith across the globe has become America's historic mission. But there's trouble in paradise. Productivity in the US is disturbingly low -- a tenth lower than Germany. There's rising income inequality as well. Wages for unskilled workers have fallen and, and despite increases in GDP, eight out of ten workers earn the same or less than they did twenty years ago. Middle class Americans also face a frightening lack of job security and must live without the kind of social safety net taken for granted in most developed nations.
On top of all this Beck says that Robert Putnam is right -- civil society is coming apart at the seams. Beck blames the decline on America's under-performing labor market. To maintain their standard of living the average unproductive American need to work two or more jobs. There's simply no time for voluntary work or democracy anymore.
Of course the US unemployment statistics seem to be far lower than Europe's but this is obviously an illusion. American governments hide their otherwise unemployed workers by building prisons. Quoting Jeremy Rifkin he explains that jail is an American's answer to the social safety net.
So, far from being a source of well-being and riches, the American free market (neo-liberal) path is "a program for the break-up of society." Neoliberalism is leading to the 'Brazilization' of work society. Secure full-time work is no longer the norm, it's being replaced by a patchwork of paid and unpaid activity. Beck concludes the book with some ideas on how Europe might respond positively to the sweeping changes taking place in the world of work.
While there are some interesting ideas here too much of the book is devoted to a fairly uncritical recitation of the conventional wisdom of the popular European intellectual left. Beck pieces together a lot of his story with quotes and ideas taken from other writers like Jeremy Rifkin, Andre Gorz and John Gray.
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Huxley's Brave New World (Cliffs Notes)
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ASIN: 0764585835 |
Book Description
The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also features glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.
The new world in CliffsNotes on Brave New World is not a good place to be. Readers have used the word “dystopia,” meaning “bad place,” to describe Huxley’s fictional world.
But your experience studying this novel won’t be bad at all when you rely on this study guide for help. Meet John the Savage and enter Huxley’s witty and disturbing view of the future. Other features that help you study include
- Character analyses of major players
- A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters
- Critical essays
- A review section that tests your knowledge
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Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.
Customer Reviews:
An insightful commentary on Huxley's "Brave New World".......2004-05-09
If you are teaching Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel "Brave New World" in class, as I am with my Utopian Images: Fact & Fiction course, then the main thing you want to know about this CliffsNotes on that particular book is that the two critical essays that appear in the back of this volume deal with "Society and the Individual in 'Brave New World'" and "'Brave New World Revisited': Further Thoughts on the Future." So as long as you avoid or proscribe these topics in terms of any sort of major writing assignment associated with "Brave New World," you do not have to worry about students abusing this little black and yellow-stripped book.
The tag team of Charles Higgins and Regina Higgins begin with a section devoted to the Life and Background of the Author, that covers Huxley's early years, education, jobs, literary writing, and honors and awards. This sets up "Brave New World" as the work that changed Huxley from a satirist into a social philosopher. The Introduction to the Novel section introduces readers to the historical background of the novel, which gives an indication of the real world circumstances that Huxley was responding ot, as well as a brief summary of the field of utopian fiction, the way the structure of the novel defied the conventions of such fiction, and a brief synopsis of "Brave New World." There is also a list of a dozen characters, getting down to the level of Pope and Mitsmima, as well as one of those Character Maps with which the CliffsNotes folks are so enamored.
The Critical Commentary section goes chapter by chapter, providing a summary along with a section of commentary that denotes paragraphs devoted to (a) themes, (b) style & language, (c) character insight, and (d) literary devices. The look at each chapter ends with a glossary of difficult words and phrases, as well as allusions and historical references, which is extremely helpful. This is followed by a section providing Character Analyses of Bernard Marx, John the Savage, Lenina, Linda, The D.H.C., Mustapha Mond, and Helmholtz Watson. Then there are the two aforementioned Critical Essays, the CliffsNotes Review and the CliffsNotes Resource Center, which provides books, Internet sources, and films and other recordings dealing with Huxley and his novel. There is even an index, with is a nice addition (something they did not have when I was a mere lad).
As always, my view is that the best way of using this CliffsNotes volume is to go directly to the Critical Commentaries section after you read each chapter. Use the summary to reinforce your undersanding of what happened in the chapter along with the commentaries. If you are reading the novel you might look at the glossary for each chapter as you are doing the actual reading (which, of course, you know you should be doing), but that is really the only thing you want to look at ahead of time. The other sections of this book will be much more useful to you once you have read the book.
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