As the title suggests, in this book Aldous Huxley revisits some of the problems presented in Brave New World: over-population (and the moral dilemma faced when exacerbating the problem by offering life saving and life prolonging treatment), over-organization (as in increasing centralized power), propaganda (in both politics and marketing), and mind manipulation (whether it be through drugs, subliminal messages, or hypnosis). The purpose of the book is to examine how these forces are threatening the individuality and freedom of mankind.

Despite the age of the book, there are still many relevant and interesting pieces of information and questions to be found, as well as a bit of humor – for example: “The task of the commercial propagandist in a democracy is in some ways easier and in some ways more difficult than that of a political propagandist employed by an established dictator or a dictator in the making. ... The advertiser of dairy products would dearly love to tell his readers and listeners that all their troubles are caused by the machinations of a gang of godless international margarine manufacturers, and that it is their patriotic duty to march out and burn the oppressors' factories. This sort of thing, however, is ruled out, and he must be content with a milder approach.”

In the final chapters of the book, Huxley presents a few strategies for resisting these forces, and asserts that even if they can not be resisted for very long, “it is still our duty to do whatever we can to resist them.”

This book is a quick read, and would probably interest you if you were intrigued by Brave New World or 1984. ( )

An excellent companion to Brave New World. Written in 1958, it has just the right about of distance from the original work, yet close enough for Huxley to basically be the same person as when he wrote the original. There is so much to talk about in this short book I'm not sure where to begin.

Brave New World Revisited is Huxley's post-WWII take on his book, first published in 1932. What is amazing and almost eerie is how much of what Huxley writes about we are seeing today. The concept of "Endless War," the growing dependence on medication to improve mood and productivity, the increase in surveillance, the power of modern propaganda, mass media, etc. Huxley takes themes from 1984 and Brave New World and extrapolates on what things will look like in the next millennium. Our millennium. What's amazing is how nearly all of this book is still relevant today. Shockingly relevant. It seems we are just now reaching a point where the world Huxley and to a lesser extent Orwell envisioned is a realistic threat.

Of course, there are some things that are silly by today's standards. Huxley's theories on subliminal messaging and sleep teaching have never come to fruition. Also, even where he recognizes the danger of drugs emerging during his time, he writes a glowing review of LSD, the drug that dominated his final years. How a brilliant man like Huxley could fail to realize he was prey to his own soma is perplexing. Lastly, Huxley's words on overpopulation are much more relevant now than during his own time, but still have not reached the level of danger he predicted.

There are a few moments of annoyance, where Huxley takes small shots at religion, without ever addressing the issue or justifying his assumptions. But these are very minor. Overall, if you recognize Brave New World as a piece of great literature, or you wish to learn about the origin of many of our modern problems, read this book. I did not do it due justice, trust me. ( )

Huxley's very own 'Civilization & its Discontents' written after WWII and before the technological revolution.

when I read it, I was sure it was my favorite book of all time. including, Heaven and Hell BNWR tells it EXACTLY how it is. ( )

Brave New World Revisited (Harper & Row, 1958, 1965), written by Huxley almost thirty years after Brave New World, was a non-fiction work in which Huxley considered whether the world had moved towards or away from his vision of the future from the 1930s. He believed when he wrote the original novel that it was a reasonable guess as to where the world might go in the future but in Brave New World Revisited he concluded that the world was becoming much more like Brave New World much faster than he thought.

Huxley analysed the causes of this, such as overpopulation as well as all the means by which populations can be controlled. He was particularly interested in the effects of drugs and subliminal suggestion. Brave New World Revisited is different in tone due to Huxley's evolving thought and his conversion to Vedanta between the two books.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_Ne... ( )

This is a collection of essays about the issues of freedom and thought control raised by Huxley's classic, "Brave New World". The latter book was far better, and this book now comes off as dated and alarmist in many ways, almost quaint. But one can well understand the urgency of his message in the dark ages of the Cold War, and the fear that the dictatorship would become the way of the world. ( )