Brave New World

By: Aldous Huxley

Narrated by: Michael York

Length: 8 hrs

Publisher's summary

Originally published in 1932, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before.

“One of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century”—Wall Street Journal

Cloning, feel-good drugs, antiaging programs, and total social control through politics, programming, and media—has Aldous Huxley accurately predicted our future? With a storyteller’s genius, he weaves these ethical controversies in a compelling narrative that dawns in the year 632 AF (After Ford, the deity). When Lenina and Bernard visit a savage reservation, we experience how Utopia can destroy humanity.

A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, Brave New World is both a warning to be heeded and thought-provoking yet satisfying entertainment.

©1932 Aldous Huxley; 1998 BBC Audiobooks America (P)2003 BBC Audiobooks America

Critic reviews

"British actor Michael York's refined and dramatic reading captures both the tone and the spirit of Huxley's masterpiece." (AudioFile)

A Classic for a Reason

Michael York's narration is a treat; he clearly loves this book, and gives his all at bringing the various themes to the forefront.

If you're not familiar with this book, it is a classic of "social Science Fiction", and paved the way for George Orwell's alternate takes on extrapolating the trends of his time. Huxley, however, wasn't so much worried about totalitarianism, but rather about our tendency to just keep making things easier for ourselves. His juxtaposition of "the savage" (a stand-in for the readers of 1932) and "civilization" (his dystopian creation) has a few anachronisms, a few of which now interfere with total enjoyment. The amazing thing is just how few there are.

But the biggest one is basic: if civilization is founded on all people being grown in a lab, and "mother" and "father" become dirty words, why are the roles for men and women still so rigidly segregated? Huxley goes out of his way to talk about class differences (to the point of his dystopia making such differences a biological imperative), but he never examined gender roles.

If that's the most glaring omission in his vision, I think we can safely write that off as a period piece (possibly keeping it relatable to his readers). The rest is still a touchstone of literature and the best jeremiad in science fiction.

Great performance

Michael York gives a superb performance! The best I've heard yet on Audible. Of course, the story is what it is - no doubt analyzed better elsewhere.

A must-read consumerism dystopia

A must-read fascinating and eye opening dystopia, taking consumerism to the extreme. Not equally engaging all the way.

Eat your vegetables

Reading Brave New World is like eating a vegetable you really don't like. You don't do it because you enjoy it, but because you're better for it, and if you do it enough then there are some parts you may learn to like a little bit.

This is an enormously important piece of satire both in what it says and the influence it's had. I'm quite glad to have read it although I certainly did not enjoy most of it. Brow-beatingly intellectual with no trace of subtlety. Incredibly condescending and full of itself. Yet there's no denying the many important things it has to say about consumerism, escapism, addiction, authority, eugenics, science, and more.

In short, this is everything you fear to encounter when you hold your breath and start a "classic."

Classic sci-fi. Well narrated.

The narration may have been a little overdramatic, but I enjoyed it.

some of the sci-fi technological aspects do not age well. But as a thought experiment in human society, still very engaging.

A great but depressing classic SciFi.

Some people don't like the reader of this book. I thought that he did a great job.

Great execution

Not sure why the complaints in these reviews but the narrator does an excellent job bringing the story to life.

Prophetic

I went into this book knowing it was a dystopian novel which was an eery reflection of our times. What shocked me was discovering this book was written 90 years ago. The foresight of the author into where society was heading is crazy.

I think Mr. York did an excellent job in retelling this story. It's a dramatic reading and his range of voices is impressive.

On a technical note, the impact of the end was interrupted by the boisterous boilerplate notice from the publisher. It really threw off the tone.

I think the story is great, especially when viewed through the context of someone living in the 1920s and 30s. It's peculiar and fascinating to see how they envision technology developing, where they get it right, and what someone 90 years ago might think to call it.

In regards to the story, I feel like some odd choices were made. Without having done research on Mr. Huxley or the writing of Brave New World, it feels like a series of books hastily made into one. The last few chapters were disappointing. Rather than show us ideas and values, two chapters are almost exclusively a dialogue between two competing worldviews. While the content itself was fascinating, a number of redundant descriptions throughout the book could have been cut in favor of more action to SHOW what was instead TOLD to us.

I think this book is worth reading. Where 1984 shows us a world controlled by fear and surveillance, Brave New World shows how vice and pleasure can be used to placate the masses and remove from society virtuous values.

Still relevant

This book is still very relevant today. You won’t be disappointed and I hope it makes you think of the parallels to todays society. In fact it seems more relevant now that when it was written.

Terrifying Tale

This book is deeply disturbing, and York’s performance on adds to the measure of terror. Great work, and great performance!