No matter when Huxley wrote his afterthoughts, each subject is still of importance today, perhaps more than ever. Discussed themes:Ħ) The Arts of Selling (also discussed in Philippe Breton's ) The chapters are to be read in order, as Huxley sometimes referred to a previous chapter when talking about a next theme. In the introduction, Huxley wrote that one should read his commentary - and I quote - "against a background of thoughts about the Hungarian uprising and its repression, about the H-bombs, about the cost of what every nation refers to as 'defence', about those endless columns of uniformed boys, white, black, brown, yellow, marching obdiently towards the common grave." My edition has a foreword, about Huxley's life and works, by David Bradshaw. So many years after BNW, Huxley wrote a non-fiction book on certain themes that were used in his fable.
Hence, a.o., the smartphones, the gazillion apps, the sh*t that's played on the radio and television (numb the minds instead of stimulating them). Keep the masses happy through consumption of goods, instead of punishing them for not following the rules. Not only for so-called security measures, but also for commercial reasons (Big Data), which is what Brave New World was about, to a certain extent. And it seems that both authors were clairvoyant, as we're currently living in an age where both principles are applied.īig Brother (via smartphones, cctv, Windows, etc.) is watching our every move. Like Orwell's classic dystopian book (1984), Huxley's was a real eye-opener. In July it will have been two years since I read Huxley's (see my review here).
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