欧宝娱乐

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醿濁儦醿撫儩醿� 醿氠償醿濁儨醿愥儬醿� 醿搬儛醿メ儭醿氠儤 (1894-1963) 鈥� 醿涐儸醿斸儬醿愥儦醿�, 醿撫儬醿愥儧醿愥儮醿a儬醿掅儤, 醿め儤醿氠儩醿♂儩醿め儩醿♂儤, 醿炨儛醿儤醿め儤醿♂儮醿� 醿撫儛 醿搬儯醿涐儛醿溼儤醿♂儮醿�, 醿涐償-20 醿♂儛醿a儥醿a儨醿樶儭 醿樶儨醿掅儦醿樶儭醿a儬醿� 醿氠儤醿⑨償醿犪儛醿⑨儯醿犪儤醿� 醿欋儦醿愥儭醿樶儥醿濁儭醿愥儞 醿撫儛 醿椺儛醿曖儤醿♂儤 醿撫儬醿濁儤醿� 醿掅儛醿涐儩醿犪儵醿斸儯醿� 醿樶儨醿⑨償醿氠償醿メ儮醿a儛醿氠儛醿� 醿愥儬醿樶儭 醿愥儲醿樶儛醿犪償醿戓儯醿氠儤.

醿犪儩醿涐儛醿溼儴醿� 鈥炨儥醿a儨醿儯醿氠儤鈥� (1962), 醿犪儩醿涐償醿氠儤醿� 醿涐儸醿斸儬醿氠儤醿� 醿п儠醿斸儦醿栣償 醿儨醿濁儜醿樶儦醿� 醿溼儛醿儛醿犪儧醿濁償醿戓儤醿�, 鈥炨儭醿愥儩醿儛醿犪儤 醿愥儺醿愥儦醿� 醿♂儛醿涐儳醿愥儬醿濁儭鈥� (1932) 醿斸儬醿椺儝醿曖儛醿犪儤 醿愥儨醿⑨儤醿椺償醿栣儛醿�, 醿溼儛醿┽儠醿斸儨醿斸儜醿樶儛 醿撫儛醿♂儛醿曖儦醿a儬醿� 醿涐償醿儨醿樶償醿犪償醿戓儤醿♂儛 醿撫儛 醿愥儲醿涐儩醿♂儛醿曖儦醿a儬醿� 醿め儤醿氠儩醿♂儩醿め儤醿樶儭 醿ㄡ償醿犪儸醿п儧醿樶儭 醿♂儛醿め儯醿儠醿斸儦醿栣償 醿┽儛醿涐儩醿п儛醿氠儤醿戓償醿戓儯醿氠儤 醿樶儞醿斸儛醿氠儯醿犪儤 醿♂儛醿栣儩醿掅儛醿撫儩醿斸儜醿�. 醿愥儠醿⑨儩醿犪儤醿⑨儛醿犪儯醿氠儤 鈥炨儭醿愥儩醿儛醿犪儤 醿愥儺醿愥儦醿� 醿♂儛醿涐儳醿愥儬醿濁儭醿掅儛醿溾€� 醿掅儛醿溼儭醿儠醿愥儠醿斸儜醿樶儣, 醿♂儛醿撫儛醿�, 醿犪儩醿掅儩醿犪儶 醿涐儸醿斸儬醿愥儦醿涐儛 醿愥儲醿溼儤醿ㄡ儨醿�, 鈥炨儛醿撫儛醿涐儤醿愥儨醿� 醿涐償醿儨醿樶償醿犪償醿戓儤醿♂儛 醿撫儛 醿⑨償醿メ儨醿樶儥醿樶儭 醿涐儩醿溼儛醿愨€�, 醿涐儤醿♂儤 醿♂儤醿儩醿儺醿氠償 醿撫儛 醿♂儯醿氠儤醿斸儬醿斸儜醿� 醿欋儤 醿愥儜醿♂儩醿氠儯醿⑨儯醿犪儛醿� 醿掅儛醿a儰醿愥儭醿a儬醿斸儜醿a儦醿樶儛, 醿欋儯醿溼儷醿a儦 醿炨儛醿氠儛醿栣償 醿♂儛醿栣儩醿掅儛醿撫儩醿斸儜醿樶儭 醿欋償醿椺儤醿氠儞醿︶償醿濁儜醿� 醿涐儤醿♂儤 醿椺儤醿椺儩醿斸儯醿氠儤 醿償醿曖儬醿樶儭 醿搬儛醿犪儧醿濁儨醿樶儯醿� 醿掅儛醿溼儠醿樶儣醿愥儬醿斸儜醿愥儭, 醿椺儛醿曖儤醿♂儯醿め儦醿斸儜醿愥儭 醿撫儛 醿戓償醿撫儨醿樶償醿犪償醿戓儛醿� 醿斸儧醿п儛醿犪償醿戓儛. 鈥炨儥醿a儨醿儯醿氠儤鈥� 醿樶儞醿斸償醿戓儤醿� 醿犪儩醿涐儛醿溼儤醿� 醿撫儛 醿涐儤醿� 醿涐儣醿愥儠醿愥儬 醿涐儩醿メ儧醿斸儞 醿炨儤醿犪償醿戓儛醿� 醿掅儠醿斸儠醿氠儤醿溼償醿戓儤醿愥儨

醿涐儸醿斸儬醿氠儤醿� 醿涐儩醿♂儛醿栣儬醿斸儜醿斸儜醿� 醿犪償醿氠儤醿掅儤醿樶儭, 醿め儤醿氠儩醿♂儩醿め儤醿樶儭, 醿掅儛醿溼儛醿椺儦醿斸儜醿樶儭, 醿儛醿溼儞醿愥儶醿曖儤醿�, 醿斸儥醿濁儦醿濁儝醿樶儤醿♂儛 醿撫儛 醿♂儛醿栣儩醿掅儛醿撫儩醿斸儜醿樶儭醿椺儠醿樶儭 醿♂儛醿儤醿犪儜醿濁儬醿濁儮醿� 醿♂儺醿曖儛 醿a儛醿涐儬醿愥儠 醿♂儛醿欋儤醿椺儺醿栣償.

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

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About the author

Aldous Huxley

1,122books13.2kfollowers
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxley family, he graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with a degree in English literature. Early in his career, he published short stories and poetry and edited the literary magazine Oxford Poetry, before going on to publish travel writing, satire, and screenplays. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times, and was elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962.
Huxley was a pacifist. He grew interested in philosophical mysticism, as well as universalism, addressing these subjects in his works such as The Perennial Philosophy (1945), which illustrates commonalities between Western and Eastern mysticism, and The Doors of Perception (1954), which interprets his own psychedelic experience with mescaline. In his most famous novel Brave New World (1932) and his final novel Island (1962), he presented his visions of dystopia and utopia, respectively.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,483 reviews
Profile Image for Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs.
1,267 reviews17.8k followers
April 25, 2025
When I was a kid I was mercilessly mocked by bullies, because of my introspective passivity. When I was confined to a hospital in my early twenties, the doctors wanted to lift the rocks of my dozy subconscious to uncover my own nightcrawlers.

Trouble was, my only nightcrawlers were the bullies - among whose number these physicians were simply the latest professional examples. But they had blurred their confused ethical lines - and I just liked to be left alone to dream.

Dreamers are good for the soul of humankind. But nowadays, no one shows the slightest interest in dreamers' spiritual sides. Writers, doctors and scientists only want to show you how simple it is to find your spiritual happiness WITHIN the ersatz nirvana of our utopian world.

Nice try, guys. That utopia is glaringly dystopian.

Why even bother?

Such, however is Aldous Huxley in this book. Get this - he thinks nirvana is EASY with chemicals and clinical know-how. He's bought the whole bill of goods.
***

Laura Archera Huxley, Aldous' second wife, wrote a stunningly candid biographical study of their life together amid the coolly intellectual ambience of their South California Hollywood home. It's called This Timeless Moment, and it's revelatory.

She describes in it how she interested him in the supernatural and occult.

She was a firm believer, in her new-agey way, in the afterlife. So when Aldous received a shocking diagnosis of terminal throat cancer in the early sixties, they agreed to try an experiment:

Aldous would send a message, any message, after he passed away to let her know the afterlife was a fact.

And sure enough, shortly after he died, Laura received a personal message, to whit: go to the main bookshelf, third row from bottom, and take the second book from the right. Laura followed the instructions, and came to a book entitled Eternity is Real (or that鈥檚 the general idea, as my faulty memory now dictates).

And so what? We believers already knew our "hearts will go on."
***

Now, I said previously that I鈥檓 a dreamer. Like Huxley was becoming, too, under the warming influence of his new wife. A second childhood? Except he retained all his traditional intellectual pursuits: modern science, technology and medicine.

So what happens when you combine your playful dreaming with serious intelligence? Well, you get a mishmash - an intellectual smorgasboard of irrelevant arcane trivia, pop thinking, and new age religion - LIKE THIS BOOK.

You see, we can鈥檛 take this book seriously. The plot never really progresses, the characters possess no reality, and the religion is flakey and half-baked.
***

Back in the semester of 1972/73, I belonged to my university Choral Society, though I couldn鈥檛 sight-read. I needed the credit that went with the contribution of my feeble voice.

Anyway, my fellow singers were either college professors out to unwind a bit, music majors, or intellectual flyweights with golden voices. And I was none of the above. A misfit in the larger academic world, I would take books to our rehearsals.

This was the book I lugged with me that winter.

Quite frankly, I considered it an utter dud. It just didn鈥檛 work at any level. I had read Brave New World in high school, but Huxley seemed to have lowered the bar to ankle level with this one.

And now, fifty years later, I read other people鈥檚 reviews here on GR and find my discontent verified objectively.

It鈥檚 NOT among his best.
***

Did you know Huxley died of mouth cancer the same day C. S. Lewis died of his routine surgery?

Which man, you might wonder, was the wiser of the two?. In other words, which man died within sight of his eternal home in Heaven?

I'll let you guess.

Make believe and disingenuous guys must Face the Fire First!
Profile Image for Mohit Parikh.
Author听2 books190 followers
July 23, 2013
Let me open the review with a bold but defensible statement: This work has no literary merit. This "sci-fi" (Huxley couple were not happy that this work was considered a science fiction) utopian novel is a vehicle to deliver what Huxley believed to be The answer to one of the most critical questions of our existence - we know the present value systems are fucked up but what is the alternative? The Island, Pala, is where Huxley materializes in words his vision, relying and borrowing heavily from Eastern religious philosophies, particularly those of Buddhism and Hinduism.
The systems suggested are ingenious as such (even while they are derivative) and thought provoking, if the book is an initiation to the alternate world-views presented here (and the book did serve as an introduction for much of the western audience at that time). I was extremely skeptical of the book's promise after being disappointed by the overenthusiam of Huxley in The Doors of Perception, but here, Huxley shows he is not just an enthusiast but a true intellectual, that his understanding of the spiritual philosophies is not a mere fascination of its promises and mysteries and the rich metaphysics. Thus, what could have been a ridiculous/didactic/dull work, becomes a serious suggestion for the reader's consideration. Add to that Huxley's insights into the Western man's (or at least the Western-man-of-that-time's - the Hero's) innate dilemmas and insecurities and their root causes. To profess a final answer to any question one must first have a deep understanding of the question itself. This Huxley exhibits with careful sensitivity, as much as an exhibition of careful sensitivity is permitted by the novel's form/genre.
Also, while the book may not be read for fun alone it is a lot of fun. Some of the side characters are caricatured, the dialogues are often witty and the hero has a self-acerbic humor. This helps while the reader is being educated.

Reading this will remind you of Avatar, of Dances with the Wolves, of Razor's Edge. It will also remind you very much of the movie Mindwalk, provided you have seen it (chances are you haven't and I highly recommend it if you haven't). So, if you know what you are going for and are still curious/open-minded, go for it.

The book was a dying man's earnest attempt to show the troubled world what he thought was a glimmer of hope.
I believe in this hope.
Profile Image for Matthew.
1,221 reviews10k followers
January 24, 2019
I bet just about every review of this book starts with a sentence along the lines of 鈥淚 am reading this because I read Brave New World . . .鈥� Well, I am no different! Brave New World is one of my favorite (if not my most favorite) book, so I figured I would give another Huxley book a try.

I am giving this one 3 stars 鈥� not because it is good or because it is bad, but because it just is!

Island is a utopian manifesto thinly veiled behind a story on a fictional island of Pala. I have seen many say it is considered the flip-side novel of the dystopian society presented in Brave New World. I have always enjoyed the story in BNW through many readings. Island, however, is much more textbook 鈥� in fact, each scene has a different utopian ideal discussed with almost bullet point precision.

I felt like the ideas presented were interesting and many still relate today. I can鈥檛 say I agree or disagree with everything presented, but it definitely provides some food for thought. At the time of the release (1960s) many of the ideals discussed sound like they would directly appeal to the counter-culture opposing Vietnam War/Post WWII era thoughts on sex, religion, birth control, consumerism, politics, money, education, war, racism, drugs, health care, death, love, the afterlife, etc. While I was not alive during this time period, I can imagine a well-worn copy of this book in the back pocket of many of the protesters seen in iconic photos and videos from that time.

For me, I am glad I read it to see some more of Huxley鈥檚 work, but I don鈥檛 come away from it feeling like I read a novel. I would recommend it to you if you have an interest in a study on utopia vs dystopia. Also, if you like getting a perspective on some opposing viewpoints to where our world stood in the mid-20th Century, it doesn鈥檛 get much better than this.
Profile Image for Luke.
1,566 reviews1,106 followers
September 17, 2014
I'm on a roll. Or rather I've finally figured out how to find lots of books that I'll love. So many five stars, and it's only February. Anyways.

This book is like a savory meal that is extremely good for you. Or any activity that is rewarding in all the right ways. Hardin's 'Tragedy of the Commons' comes to mind, or more a massive extension on its logic in a world where there's a country that fully accepts it. Will brings enough cynicism into the utopia to put up a good fight, but his acceptance and appreciation was inevitable. His main issue was jealousy; from this stems his desire to bring the place down to the level that he has been forced into acclimatizing to for his entire life. You can't keep that attitude up for long though under these circumstances. At least, I definitely wouldn't be able to.

And Huxley. He took his amazingly keen analysis of human nature and applied to a future of improvement, not the future of the inevitable as he did in 'Brave New World'. There's little chance of it, but oh how I wish this story would come to pass. In some way, some form, somehow. Long after I'm dead, that's for sure.

The world is too bogged down by those who don't appreciate the logic and genius reasoning behind all this. Of course it鈥檚 awfully idealistic and whatnot but still. It's a shame, really. I can't see any reason to dim the brilliance of this book in order to acknowledge its imperfections. It's again like Hardin says. People are so used to rejecting any imperfect reform that comes around in favor of maintaining the status quo, that nothing ever really happens. Perhaps it's a bit much to apply it to book reviews. But hey, I love this book. And I get to apply recent learning. I love being able to do that.
Profile Image for Lyn.
1,973 reviews17.3k followers
September 1, 2020
Mr. Roarke and Tatto stand on a hillside waiting, and as they wait they discuss Aldous Huxley鈥檚 1962 novel Island.

Roarke: You know it was Huxely鈥檚 final book.

Tattoo: Yes, and he returned to many of the themes that he had written about in his long and distinguished career, like population, ecology, religion and the state.

Roarke: Yes, and similar to his seminal work Brave New World, he explores the ideas of a utopia / dystopia but in this sense it is as a cynical journalist is shipwrecked on an otherwise idyllic setting in the South Pacific.

Tattoo: Yes, but even that fantasy island is beset with trouble in the form of encroachments by modern materialistic life as a young ruler is seduced by the dark side.

Roarke: I found many similarities with Ernest Callenbach鈥檚 1975 novel Ecotopia and suspect that he was very much influenced by Huxley.

Tattoo: While this is in the form of a story about the shipwrecked writer, this is really just a vehicle whereby Huxley can discuss and expound upon ideas about a utopian society.

Roarke: Agreed, and while this was an illuminating essay, as a novel, it lacks a clear plot and also many of Huxley鈥檚 ideas are only loosely developed and countered with strawman arguments.

Tattoo: Still a worthwhile read, I always like Huxley鈥檚 writing style. Oh, look! The plane! The plane!

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Profile Image for Jodi.
50 reviews2 followers
September 27, 2012
I'm not even finished with this and already it has had a profound effect on me. I resonate with this book like Cat's Cradle or Stranger in a Strange Land. It will take me two or three more reads鈥攁t least鈥攖o grok it in fullness, but it already feels as if some of the thoughts were for me, some of me. It's been a very long time since I fell so profoundly in love with a book, and it's a delicious, delightful, very spiritual experience.
Profile Image for Jan-Maat.
1,654 reviews2,380 followers
Read
August 29, 2020
Well. Well. Well.

Well that got me round the awkward problem of how to begin this review. Island can hardly qualify as a novel, certainly not as a good one by normative criteria. Most of the book consists of one character, Will Farnaby, shipwrecked on the island paradise of Pala, having conversations with other 'characters' who to all intents and purposes could almost all have been the same person. For about half of the book Farnaby, who, with apologies for the technical details, seems to have busted his knee in the course of arriving on the Island, is having these conversations while laying on a hospital bed while various people come and see him. Obviously Farnaby is the representative troubled person from the real world alias the insane world - as in , or Dystopia, and since Pala represents Utopia, its denizens have to explain its Utopian qualities to him, as is traditional in utopian literature.

There is a plot. Farnaby is not on Pala accidentally. Naturally the purpose of a Utopia is either for the author to explode it - either to show us that it is dystopia or to show it is unsustainable in the face of the 'real' world. In this case the island paradise sits across the water from an expansionist militaristic state and on top of oil reserves - all this is revealed pretty early on. Indeed Farnaby is meant to be part of the conspiracy to end the Island's independence but naturally over the course of numerous conversations with the islanders he is converted, cured of the problems related to his 20th heritage and upbringing...however the clock is ticking. Although the book is strongly didactic I was surprised to find myself moved - not to the edge of my seat, the philosophy of the book teaches us not to be slaves to such transitory passions, but moved all the same.

Anyway we realise that this island has to be Utopia because the women wear very few clothes and everybody has plentiful and satisfying sex as well as psychedelic experiences for which the islanders are prepared through their education system.

'Wait a minute', you might say 'that reminds me of another book'...sex, drugs and clothes with zips - it can only be . And indeed Island is more or less Brave New World pulled inside out. With the Farnaby character roughly equivalent to the Savage in the earlier book.

I think that is the interesting part of it, Aldous Huxley at age of writing Brave New World plus time and experience equals Island, can also be expressed as the hopes and fears of the 1920s and 30s that we see in , Brave New World, and eventually in are not the hopes and fears of the 1950s and 60s which we see expressed in Island, and it struck me that Huxley's holistic vision in this book combining popular culture, ecology, education, a humane economy rather than homo economicus, health and spirituality is still contemporary if not so far mainstream . Or indeed predicting the epidemic of chair related illnesses due to people not being physically active enough, Huxley's Utopia is built around the human and what the human needs to function healthily, while his earlier Dystopia was structured around a steady state economy - there the humans had to be shaped in the womb and thoroughly socially conditioned in order to be fit and appropriate economic actors.

A book is an invitation into an author's life and in this case we can transit from a mental world transfixed by industrialisation and maintaining consumption societies to one frightened of over population, and environmental destruction. Living the Good Life hangs in the background. For Young Huxley this was possible in the context of a universal totalitarian industrial society ruled by Philosopher Kings who could rescue independent souls and send them into exiles where they could be safe from consumer societies. While for Huxley the Elder the Good Life is inter-related with theology. If God is wholly other and good, then humanity must be bad and individuals will be self-torturing and intolerant, angry and exploitative (they will also beat their children, might well own slaves, but will be nice to their pets since like God they too are wholly other). On the other hand if humanity is part of the Divine, then the lion can lay down with the lamb without eating it. For Huxley the Good Life can become the good Society by teaching people tantric sex and providing them with contraceptives, while hypnosis allows for pain free births.

Huxley is strong on the Utopian tradition - so this society is on an island as per or Tommy More's book, or for that matter Plato's Atlantis, and Butler's is referenced several times, the Utopian society is brought about by a philosopher king and his philosophical advisor, unfortunately the nature of monarchy is that it doesn't last and the heir to power in this generation is homosexual and obsessed with the neighbouring military dictator - who allows him to drive his car too fast, the Prince's mother is naturally overbearing , so far so Freudian or perhaps Jungian. Another sign maybe that we are at the dawn of the 1960s, NLP has just been invented, psychology is mainstream and eastern philosophies on the verge of fashionability, Mahayana Buddhism with a splash of Hinduism provides the cultural bedrock that the creators of the utopia work with.

Apparently Old Man Huxley is overshadowed by his younger self and our rampant consumer society keeps his Brave New World evergreen, but Island remains as its counterpoint.
Profile Image for Brendan Monroe.
652 reviews179 followers
September 25, 2020
"Attention!" This is exactly the kind of book the world needs right now, perhaps more relevant today than it was upon its publication in 1962.

Looking out the window, at the smoke-filled skies, the streets full of protesters, the degradation of social and democratic norms, one can't help but feel we're on a precipice of sorts. Every day seems to bring with it more horrors than the last. Who can help but look ahead and grimace at the thought of what is still to come?

Imagine that last year at this time you got a glimpse into the world of today, a view onto the marches and the masks, at the division tearing at us all. It would be horrifying, to say the least. It's perhaps even more horrifying that today, we're almost used to it. We've become exhausted by it all, desensitized. We can't move but are paralyzed and rubbed so raw by the actions taking place all around us that we can only sprawl, exhausted and immobile, at the damage being done.

I saw a gif the other day of a woman stepping out of her house only to see government buildings exploding in front of her in a scene out of the 1996 film "Independence Day." She nonchalantly waves it off and goes back inside.

You'll see a lot of criticism of "Island" based on the fact that many believe it to not be a "novel" at all. But how would they know? What is a novel, anyway? Is Elena Ferrante's "Neapolitan Quartet" novels? Is Karl Ove Knausgaard's largely autobiographical "My Struggle" series novels?

The concept of the novel has been evolving as long as the novel itself has existed. You can find valid arguments that the works of Homer really aren't novels, that Cervantes' "Don Quixote" isn't a novel, and so on.

Is "Island" really a philosophical treatise masquerading as a novel? So what if it is? What is a "novel" if not something needing to be said packaged as something else? I don't think "Island" should be judged harshly on that account. Rather, the general definition of a novel is that of an at least vaguely fictional premise and/or fictional characters. By that standard, "Island" more than fits.

Throw in the fact that "Island" is as captivating as anything you might find on the "Fiction" shelf at your local bookstore, and I'd say that "Island" is a successful "novel," all the more so because it leaves you changed, or at least gives you something to think about.

Here, Aldous Huxley imagines a utopian society and the threat that encroachment from the outside world presents to it. To my mind, Huxley diagnoses what ills modern society perfectly. Largely, materialism and dogmatism, particularly as it concerns religion.

There are so many absolutely brilliant exchanges throughout the book, but one of my favorites comes in the form of children in a field who are controlling scarecrows in an effort to protect the land. The scarecrows have all been created in the likenesses of various deities.

Will Farnaby, our shipwrecked capitalist who's washed ashore on this strange utopian landscape asks his hosts what the purpose of such a display is.

We "wanted to make the children understand that all gods are homemade, and that it鈥檚 we who pull their strings and so give them the power to pull ours.鈥�

In another exchange, corporal punishment is criticized as destroying children's creativity.

鈥淢ajor premise: God is wholly other. Minor premise: man is totally depraved. Conclusion: Do to your children鈥檚 bottoms what was done to yours, what your Heavenly Father has been doing to the collective bottom of humanity ever since the fall: whip, whip, whip!"

In short, "A people鈥檚 theology reflects the state of its children鈥檚 bottoms.鈥�

I could quote this book all day, there is so very much to take away. But perhaps nothing more so than that which is repeated ad infinitum by Pala's mynah birds.

"Attention! Attention! Here and now, boys!"

It may be that, right now, we're on the precipice of something great, or something horrible. It may be that, years from now, we'll have the ability to look back and say that we had already tipped over the edge of that precipice and that today, September 25, 2020, we were already falling fast down the other side.

Regardless of which side of the divide we may be on, looking ahead or looking back is futile.

The only thing we can do is take action and pay attention to the here and now.
Profile Image for Daniel Gon莽alves.
337 reviews16 followers
October 27, 2022
Whatever the precise definition of the 鈥渘ovel鈥� concept might be, it certainly does not hold 鈥淚sland鈥� as its epitome. It is comprehensible.

After the release of the acclaimed dystopia known as 鈥淏rave New World鈥�, Huxley鈥檚 name became forever imprinted into the respectable hall of fame of science fiction writing, which might have hindered his prospects into finding other ways to convey his own opinions. In 鈥淚sland鈥�, the reader is overcome with the feeling that he might have been coerced into masquerading the book鈥檚 message as a 鈥渘ovel鈥�. Despite it, the book reveals tremendous intellectual achievement, and it is efficient in attaining its ultimate goal: to cogently spread an alternative approach to the entire scheme of contemporary life.

In order to accomplish this monstrous task, Huxley utilizes his immense knowledge on the fields of oriental philosophy. He creates the character of Wll Farnaby, a journalist from an England newspaper, and sends him on his way to Pala, an isolated island over the coast of Asia, on a journey is one of discovery and enlightenment. Once in there, he finds the natives friendly and surprisingly hospitable. Their purpose is to edify his perceptions, and change his true nature. Together, the palanese (Huxley himself) attempt to imprint within his mind their own interpretation of reality.

Huxley鈥檚 tale about a utopian society based in oriental philosophy is not a fictional narrative in its traditional sense. It is, instead, a brilliant, creative, and mind warping essay about the current state of occidental civilization.
Profile Image for Will.
199 reviews203 followers
February 4, 2017
Tiresome but worthwhile, Island is more sociological treatise than novel. Huxley wrote a guide to his ideal society: communal, pacifist, profoundly spiritual, a country that focuses on its citzens' well-being and happiness over environmental devastation and false corporate prosperity. Pala, Huxley's fictitious South Asian island nation, is the societal equivalent of an ecosystem, the complex networks of each community rely on mutual dependence, a form of structured anarchism. I was spellbound and nodded my head in agreement as speech after speech flowed implausibly from the mouths of the Palanese, from spirited young girls to spry old men.

Huxley adopts a thoroughly Buddhist lens which he peppers throughout his characters' constant pontifications. He takes a courageous stand against the creation of "Otherness" on which Western society thrives. Over pages of exposition and inquiry, Huxley lays out a worldview that is based on oneness, an absolute refusal to buy into dualism. Good and evil are part of life, and should be cherished. Compassion and bliss, pain and joy are all necessary, for only when one experiences true sorrow can one know bliss. Death is just as necessary as life. The ecosystem only works because of the endless cycle of birth, life, and death. Getting caught up in religious, political, or economic dogmatism only leads to strife and jealousy, endless war, and unfettered consumerism. State communism and capitalism are corrupt and incompatible with true happiness.

Respectful free love is encouraged and taught to young children as a way to sow joy and compassion into their inner minds. The stigmatization that comes with sex in the West is actively destroyed in Pala. And the family is a significantly more loosely defined concept. Each child is part of a Mutual Adoption Club (MAC), where they have several parents, siblings, cousins, and grandaparents, all of whom help out each other. Have a problem with your biological mom? Spend a few nights with your mom down the road, and when everyone has cooled down, come back with a clear head.

The idea of non-biological kinship networks fascinates me. As an only child, I never wanted a sibling, but always wished that my family was closer to our neighbors. Huxley is right when he maligns that the nuclear family in the West is sometimes a small prison. As we all know, escape from the family is just as important as quality time with mom and pop. As the sole kid, it was hard to escape the ever watchful eye and judgment of my doting parents. An MAC, the true expression of the French expression "vivre ensemble," would have been a godsend.

Equally as important for the Palanese is the balance of mind and body, the physical and the spiritual. From a young age, children are expected to perform community duties. Boys and girls are taught to let go of their anger by stamping on the ground and yelling and forgive rather than begrudge. The protagonist, Will, often makes sarcastic comments that the Palanese find distasteful. Bliss, beauty, and wonder are used sincerely, something that would never slide in the West. We thrive on irony and sarcasm to an unbearable extent.

Huxley's descriptions of moksha-medicine, the hallucinogen that Palanese use to tune their spiritual lives, are the polar opposite of his descriptions of drug use in Brave New World. Moksha creates both beauty and pain and leads Will to recognize the infinite multiplicity of every rock, tree, cloud, and person. Soma, the state-distributed drug used in BNW, creates only positive experiences, which is why the drug is so morally and intellectually deadly. Huxley's point in BNW is expanded in Island, where only by using moksha autonomously can one finally understand the oneness of things.

While Island portrays Pala in an overwhelmingly positive light, the specter of invasion by the neighboring authoritarian state of Rendang is inevitable. No one should be surprised by the book's conclusion after reading the first 50 pages, but it still existentially disturbed me. Even in Huxley's most positive moments, inevitable destruction looms. Is it worth trying to create a better, pacifist society knowing the invasion inevitably comes? Huxley cries "Yes!" As the Palanese say again and again, you must pay attention and savor, strive for a better life, even in the face of assured devastation.

Island is completely worth reading for its ideological wealth, even if it's sometimes a slog to get through. Pala seems like a fine place to me. Recommended.
Profile Image for Cecily.
1,283 reviews5,077 followers
July 15, 2008
About a utopian SE Asian island society on the cusp of being corrupted by exploitation of oil. Reads more like a socio-political manifesto than a novel. The plot, such as it is, is just an excuse to contrive situations for characters to explain their life, philosophy, culture etc, rather than the driving force. This also means that none of the characters are very convincing because they are almost incidental caricatures (and many of them are too good to be true).

18 reviews5 followers
September 18, 2014
Aesthetically, not his best work, but wonderful none the less. The book is basically just an essay on politics, science, philosophy, religion, society, man, and ultimately, Utopia, masked as a novel. This is a forewarning to those looking for deep characters or a driving plot. However, the debate set forth by Huxley is more than a little intriguing, and should definitely hold the attention of anyone who has dreamed of a better life for the world and the people in it. One of the biggest arguments presented in the book (one I happen to agree quite strongly with) is that each of the disciplines (in the Arts, Sciences, and Religions) of life fails, in its collective Ego, to understand that it alone is not the solution to life's problems, nor the answer to its most important questions. Life requires a healthy amalgam of all these areas.

This was Huxley's last book (published a year before his death), and it is quite beautiful to see that his parting thoughts were of that tiny shard of hope (and, dare I say, optimism) that Man can indeed achieve happiness.
Profile Image for Jill.
465 reviews249 followers
January 11, 2019
Ten pages from the end, sitting at a bar, the bartender asked me: "Are you one of those people who reads the last sentence of a book before they start it, to see if it'll live up to your expectations?"

Uh, say what? I thought. Is that a common practice? Seriously? "No," I replied, "but I can see it might be kinda interesting."

"Yeah," he said, "but it's a pretty big spoiler alert. It can really ruin it."

Digesting that bit of logic, I finished the book, my wine, and the bartender brought the credit card machine over. "You know," I said, struck with utopian-dystopian visions, fully sincere: "I'm really glad I didn't read the last sentence first for this book. It would have completely ruined it." The bartender nodded knowingly.


Endings, in the same vein of logic as my friendly bartender's, can make or break an entire book. The last sentence, though, usually isn't given quite that much credit -- that is, until you're reading someone like Huxley, who is all about the "show don't tell" of literature. Then, every phrase has weight: the first and last sentences more than anything. I was debating my star rating right up until those last few words: 3? 4? And then, sharply, it all finally clicks. Because I don't want to spoil you, because Huxley is best served fresh and read with snarky, attentive eyes, I won't say anything about the last sentence EXCEPT: everything is a circle, and it all comes back around.

Island is more philosophy than novel. Early on, Huxley hangs a lantern on its Erewhon influence: stumble across a weird and isolated society, hear about its utopian elements one by one, the reader must reflect on how garbage their own society is. Done and done.

It's a counterpoint to Brave New World in quite a few ways: ideology (utopia, not dystopia); plot (little to none); theme (potential, not despair); drug amiability (lots). The Eastern-religion influence is massive, and it's clear this was written post-Doors. While that can be a little infuriating at times (like........I get it. Psychedelics bro. Radical. You're not more aware of the universe because you got high, man.), it's Huxley, so there's thoughtful rationale behind it. While none of what I read seemed particularly new, that's not necessarily the fault of the book: it compiles a lot of interesting social possibilities in a fairly unique manner. It smacks of Huxley rethinking some of his fears regarding the world of Our Ford. Soma and sex? Maybe not so bad, as long as they're not mindless...

That's the crux of this book, really -- mindfulness. Worth a read, times twelve, if only to get to the last sentence and see where he was heading. Just don't read it first. Or do. Maybe it won't matter. We all get there in the end.

(shrooms might help though)
Profile Image for 袦邪泄褟 小褌邪胁懈褌褋泻邪褟.
2,081 reviews200 followers
July 2, 2022
Aldous Huxley wrote his last novel a year before his death and thirty years after the cult "Oh, Brave New World". The twentieth century was a time of literary dystopias, Huxley's most famous book was often published under the same cover with Zamyatin's "We" and Orwell's "1984" - the classic "anti". But in fact, the "Wonderful World" is much more of a utopia. Yes, it is grotesque, based on selection and chemically stimulated contentment instead of democratic principles, but it is a working model of a society in which everyone is happy.

Here, who hears what drums (or the music of the spheres, if you prefer it that way), Huxley is initially set up for a constructive world order with a minimum of pain and suffering. And equal opportunities, social elevators and other gains of democracy in his coordinate system are not so significant and lead to even greater enslavement. That is, when you broke through to the top, got a prestigious position and a solid income with sweat and blood, what will you do?

That's right, to consume intensively, indirectly contributing to the destruction of the environment. Will it make you happy? No, there is more comfort, but it is not synonymous with happiness. A high position entails great responsibility, the need to maintain relations with unpleasant people, noblesse oblige, representation expenses and deficit are already at another level (soup is liquid - pearls are small) Plus the fear of not holding on to the positions won - a solid neurosis.

"No, guys, it's not like that" and "we'll go the other way," Huxley says. First, and much more importantly, to change the assemblage point, attitude, worldview. Professor Preobrazhensky said that the devastation is in the heads, but there are also neuroses, aggression, immoderate thoughtless consumerism. And so, with his final message to the world, the writer makes a utopia based on the principles of New Ageism with a Buddhist worldview taken as a basis.

袙褋械 谐褉邪卸写邪薪械 褋褔邪褋褌谢懈胁褔懈泻懈, 锌芯褞褌 褋械斜械 屑芯褌懈胁褔懈泻懈 懈 胁褋械 斜械蟹 懈褋泻谢褞褔械薪懈褟 芯斜 芯褋褌褉芯胁械 褉芯写薪芯屑
袪邪蟹写邪谢褋褟 蟹胁褍泻 芯写懈薪芯褔薪芯谐芯 胁褘褋褌褉械谢邪. 袟邪褌械屑 谐褉褟薪褍谢懈 芯褔械褉械写懈 懈蟹 邪胁褌芯屑邪褌芯胁.
孝褉褍写 褑械谢褘褏 褋褌芯谢械褌懈泄 褍薪懈褔褌芯卸邪谢褋褟 胁褋械谐芯 蟹邪 芯写薪褍 薪芯褔褜. 袠 胁褋械 褉邪胁薪芯 褎邪泻褌 芯褋褌邪胁邪谢褋褟 褎邪泻褌芯屑 鈥� 斜褘谢邪 锌械褔邪谢褜, 薪芯 谐写械-褌芯 锌褉芯谢械谐邪谢 懈 泻芯薪械褑 胁褋械褏 锌械褔邪谢械泄.

小胁芯泄 锌芯褋谢械写薪懈泄 褉芯屑邪薪 袨谢写芯褋 啸邪泻褋谢懈 薪邪锌懈褋邪谢 蟹邪 谐芯写 写芯 褋屑械褉褌懈 懈 褋锌褍褋褌褟 褌褉懈写褑邪褌褜 谢械褌 锌芯褋谢械 泻褍谢褜褌芯胁芯谐芯 "袨, 写懈胁薪褘泄 薪芯胁褘泄 屑懈褉". 啸啸 胁械泻 斜褘谢 胁褉械屑械薪械屑 谢懈褌械褉邪褌褍褉薪褘褏 邪薪褌懈褍褌芯锌懈泄, 褋邪屑褍褞 懈蟹胁械褋褌薪褍褞 泻薪懈谐褍 啸邪泻褋谢懈 薪械褉械写泻芯 懈蟹写邪胁邪谢懈 锌芯写 芯写薪芯泄 芯斜谢芯卸泻芯泄 褋 蟹邪屑褟褌懈薪褋泻懈屑 "袦褘" 懈 "1984" 袨褉褍褝谢谢邪 - 泻谢邪褋褋懈褔械褋泻懈屑懈 "邪薪褌懈". 袧芯 薪邪 写械谢械, "袛懈胁薪褘泄 屑懈褉" 胁 泻褍写邪 斜芯谢褜褕械泄 褋褌械锌械薪懈 褍褌芯锌懈褟. 袛邪, 谐褉芯褌械褋泻薪邪褟, 芯褋薪芯胁邪薪薪邪褟 薪邪 褋械谢械泻褑懈懈 懈 褏懈屑懈褔械褋泻懈 褋褌懈屑褍谢懈褉芯胁邪薪薪芯屑 写芯胁芯谢褜褋褌胁械 胁屑械褋褌芯 写械屑芯泻褉邪褌懈褔械褋泻懈褏 锌褉懈薪褑懈锌芯胁, 薪芯 褝褌芯 褉邪斜芯褔邪褟 屑芯写械谢褜 芯斜褖械褋褌胁邪, 胁 泻芯褌芯褉芯屑 胁褋械 褋褔邪褋褌谢懈胁褘.

孝褍褌 褍卸 泻褌芯 泻邪泻懈械 斜邪褉邪斜邪薪褘 褋谢褘褕懈褌 (懈谢懈 屑褍蟹褘泻褍 褋褎械褉, 械褋谢懈 胁邪屑 褌邪泻 斜芯谢褜褕械 薪褉邪胁懈褌褋褟), 啸邪泻褋谢懈 懈蟹薪邪褔邪谢褜薪芯 薪邪褋褌褉芯械薪 薪邪 泻芯薪褋褌褉褍泻褌懈胁薪芯械 屑懈褉芯褍褋褌褉芯泄褋褌胁芯 褋 屑懈薪懈屑褍屑芯屑 斜芯谢懈 懈 褋褌褉邪写邪薪懈泄. 袗 褉邪胁薪褘械 胁芯蟹屑芯卸薪芯褋褌懈, 褋芯褑懈邪谢褜薪褘械 谢懈褎褌褘 懈 锌褉芯褔懈械 蟹邪胁芯械胁邪薪懈褟 写械屑芯泻褉邪褌懈懈 胁 械谐芯 褋懈褋褌械屑械 泻芯芯褉写懈薪邪褌 薪械 褋褌芯谢褜 蟹薪邪褔懈屑褘 懈 胁械写褍褌 泻 械褖械 斜芯谢褜褕械屑褍 蟹邪泻邪斜邪谢械薪懈褞. 孝芯 械褋褌褜, 胁芯褌 锌褉芯褉胁邪谢褋褟 褌褘 薪邪胁械褉褏, 写芯斜褘谢 锌芯褌芯屑 懈 泻褉芯胁褜褞 锌褉械褋褌懈卸薪褍褞 写芯谢卸薪芯褋褌褜 懈 褋芯谢懈写薪褘泄 写芯褏芯写, 褔褌芯 斜褍写械褕褜 写械谢邪褌褜?

袩褉邪胁懈谢褜薪芯, 褍褋懈谢械薪薪芯 锌芯褌褉械斜谢褟褌褜, 泻芯褋胁械薪薪芯 褋锌芯褋芯斜褋褌胁褍褟 褉邪蟹褉褍褕械薪懈褞 褝泻芯谢芯谐懈懈. 小写械谢邪械褌 褝褌芯 褌械斜褟 褋褔邪褋褌谢懈胁褘屑? 袧械褌, 泻芯屑褎芯褉褌邪 斜芯谢褜褕械, 薪芯 芯薪 薪械 褋懈薪芯薪懈屑 褋褔邪褋褌褜褟. 袙褘褋芯泻邪褟 写芯谢卸薪芯褋褌褜 胁谢械褔械褌 斜芯谢褜褕褍褞 芯褌胁械褌褋褌胁械薪薪芯褋褌褜, 薪械芯斜褏芯写懈屑芯褋褌褜 锌芯写写械褉卸懈胁邪褌褜 芯褌薪芯褕械薪懈褟 褋 薪械锌褉懈褟褌薪褘屑懈 谢褞写褜屑懈, noblesse oblige, 锌褉械写褋褌邪胁懈褌械谢褜褋泻懈械 褉邪褋褏芯写褘 懈 写械褎懈褑懈褌 褍卸械 薪邪 写褉褍谐芯屑 褍褉芯胁薪械 (褋褍锌 卸懈写芯泻 - 卸械屑褔褍谐 屑械谢芯泻) 袩谢褞褋 褋褌褉邪褏 薪械 褍写械褉卸邪褌褜褋褟 薪邪 蟹邪胁芯械胁邪薪薪褘褏 锌芯蟹懈褑懈褟褏 - 褋锌谢芯褕薪邪褟 薪械胁褉芯蟹.

"袧械褌, 褉械斜褟褌邪, 胁褋械 薪械 褌邪泻" 懈 "屑褘 锌芯泄写械屑 写褉褍谐懈屑 锌褍褌械屑" - 谐芯胁芯褉懈褌 啸邪泻褋谢懈. 袩褉械卸写械, 懈 谐芯褉邪蟹写芯 胁邪卸薪械械, 锌芯屑械薪褟褌褜 褌芯褔泻褍 褋斜芯褉泻懈, 屑懈褉芯芯褖褍褖械薪懈械, 屑懈褉芯胁芯褋锌褉懈褟褌懈械. 袩褉芯褎械褋褋芯褉 袩褉械芯斜褉邪卸械薪褋泻懈泄 谐芯胁芯褉懈谢, 褔褌芯 褉邪蟹褉褍褏邪 胁 谐芯谢芯胁邪褏, 薪芯 褌邪屑 卸械 懈 薪械胁褉芯蟹褘, 邪谐褉械褋褋懈褟, 薪械褍屑械褉械薪薪芯械 斜械蟹写褍屑薪芯械 锌芯褌褉械斜懈褌械谢褜褋褌胁芯. 袠 胁芯褌, 褋胁芯懈屑 褎懈薪邪谢褜薪褘屑 锌芯褋谢邪薪懈械屑 屑懈褉褍 锌懈褋邪褌械谢褜 写械谢邪械褌 褍褌芯锌懈褞, 芯褋薪芯胁邪薪薪褍褞 薪邪 锌褉懈薪褑懈锌邪褏 薪褜褞-褝泄写卸懈蟹屑邪 褋芯 胁蟹褟褌褘屑 蟹邪 芯褋薪芯胁褍 斜褍写写懈褋褌褋泻懈屑 屑懈褉芯胁芯蟹蟹褉械薪懈械屑.

"袨褋褌褉芯胁": 芯 褌芯屑, 泻邪泻 蟹邪屑械褔邪褌械谢褜薪芯 胁褋械 屑芯谐谢芯 斜褘 斜褘褌褜. 械褋谢懈 斜褘 谢褞写懈 薪邪褔邪谢懈 卸懈褌褜. 芯褌薪芯褋懈褌褜褋褟 泻 锌褉懈褉芯写械, 褋褌褉芯懈褌褜 芯褌薪芯褕械薪懈褟 褉邪蟹褍屑薪芯. 袘械褋锌褉懈薪褑懈锌薪褘泄 褑懈薪懈褔薪褘泄 褝谐芯懈褋褌 褋 芯褌褟谐芯褖械薪薪芯泄 褋芯胁械褋褌褜褞 懈 泻褍褔械泄 泻芯屑锌谢械泻褋芯胁, 褉邪蟹胁懈胁褕懈褏褋褟 懈蟹 写械褌褋泻懈褏 锌褋懈褏芯褌褉邪胁屑 锌芯锌邪写邪械褌 薪邪 褉邪泄褋泻懈泄 褌褉芯锌懈褔械褋泻懈泄 芯褋褌褉芯胁. 谐写械 褍褋褌褉芯械薪邪 锌褉邪胁懈谢褜薪邪褟 懈 褋锌褉邪胁械写谢懈胁邪褟 卸懈蟹薪褜. 小屑芯褌褉懈褌, 褉邪蟹谐芯胁邪褉懈胁邪械褌, 蟹薪邪泻芯屑懈褌褋褟 褋 谢褞写褜屑懈, 胁薪懈泻邪械褌 胁 褎褍薪泻褑懈芯薪懈褉芯胁邪薪懈械 褍褔褉械卸写械薪懈泄 懈 锌褉懈薪褑懈锌褘 胁 芯褋薪芯胁械 芯斜褖械褋褌胁械薪薪褘褏 懈薪褋褌懈褌褍褌芯胁.

袩芯 褋褍褌懈 泻薪懈谐邪 薪械 褉芯屑邪薪, 邪 褌邪泻芯泄 褎懈谢芯褋芯褎褋泻懈泄 薪芯薪-褎懈泻褕薪 薪邪 褌械屑褍 "泻邪泻 薪邪屑 芯斜褍褋褌褉芯懈褌褜 屑懈褉". 孝褍褌, 锌褉懈屑械褉薪芯 泻邪泻 胁 懈薪写懈泄褋泻芯屑 褎懈谢褜屑械, 谐写械 锌械褉褋芯薪邪卸懈 褌芯 懈 写械谢芯 锌褉懈薪懈屑邪褞褌褋褟 褌邪薪褑械胁邪褌褜 - 胁褋褟泻懈泄 谐械褉芯泄 谢械泻褌芯褉, 芯褋胁械褖邪褞褖懈泄 泻邪泻褍褞-褌芯 懈蟹 褋褌芯褉芯薪 屑械褋褌薪芯泄 卸懈蟹薪懈. 袙芯褌 褌邪泻 屑褘 褍褔懈屑褋褟 芯褋芯蟹薪邪薪薪芯屑褍 锌褉械斜褘胁邪薪懈褞 胁 "蟹写械褋褜 懈 褋械泄褔邪褋", 褌邪泻 褍褌懈褕邪械屑 斜芯谢褜, 褌邪泻 褋褍斜谢懈屑懈褉褍械屑 邪谐褉械褋褋懈褞 胁 锌芯谢械蟹薪褍褞 写械褟褌械谢褜薪芯褋褌褜, 褌邪泻 褍褔懈屑, 褌邪泻 谢械褔懈屑. 褌邪泻 胁芯褋锌懈褌褘胁邪械屑 写械褌械泄, 褌邪泻 褍褋褌褉芯械薪邪 薪邪褕邪 褋懈褋褌械屑邪 锌褉懈蟹褉械薪懈褟 锌芯卸懈谢褘褏 懈 褋懈褉芯褌, 褌邪泻 褍谢褍褔褕邪械屑 谐械薪芯褎芯薪写,.褌邪泻 褉邪蟹胁谢械泻邪械屑褋褟.

啸邪泻褋谢懈 斜褘谢 邪写械锌褌芯屑 袥小袛, 屑薪芯谐芯 褝泻褋锌械褉懈屑械薪褌懈褉芯胁邪谢 褋 褝褌懈屑 胁械褖械褋褌胁芯屑, 懈薪褗械泻褑懈褟 100 屑泻谐 泻芯褌芯褉芯谐芯 锌芯屑芯谐谢邪 械屑褍 锌芯泻懈薪褍褌褜 屑懈褉 斜械蟹 屑褍褔械薪懈泄 - 锌懈褋邪褌械谢褜 褍屑懈褉邪谢 芯褌 褉邪泻邪 谐芯褉锟斤拷邪, 邪 褋谢褍褔懈谢芯褋褜 褝褌芯, 泻 褋谢芯胁褍, 胁 写械薪褜 褍斜懈泄褋褌胁邪 袣械薪薪械写懈. 孝邪泻 胁芯褌, 芯褋褌褉芯胁懈褌褟薪械 褍锌芯褌褉械斜谢褟褞褌 谢械泻邪褉褋褌胁芯 袦芯泻褕邪 薪邪 芯褋薪芯胁械 褉邪褋褌懈褌械谢褜薪褘褏 褝泻褋褌褉邪泻褌芯胁. 锌芯 胁芯蟹写械泄褋褌胁懈褞 褋褏芯卸械械 褋 锌褉芯懈蟹胁芯写薪褘屑懈 谢懈蟹械褉谐懈薪芯胁芯泄 泻懈褋谢芯褌褘. 袧邪蟹胁邪薪懈械 薪械褋谢褍褔邪泄薪芯, 屑芯泻褕邪 胁 懈薪写褍懈蟹屑械 - 胁褘褏芯写 懈蟹 泻芯谢械褋邪 小邪薪褋邪褉褘, 芯褋胁芯斜芯卸写械薪懈械 芯褌 泻褉褍谐芯胁芯褉芯褌邪 褉芯卸写械薪懈泄 懈 褋屑械褉褌械泄. 袧械 薪褍卸薪芯 薪邪 褝褌芯屑 芯褋薪芯胁邪薪懈懈 写械谢邪褌褜 胁褘胁芯写, 褔褌芯 褌邪屑 胁褋械 褌芯褉褔泻懈 芯斜写芯谢斜邪薪薪褘械. 袦芯泻褕褍 褍锌芯褌褉械斜谢褟褞褌 泻褉邪泄薪械 褉械写泻芯, 胁 褉懈褌褍邪谢褜薪褘褏 褑械谢褟褏 懈 锌芯褋谢械 褋械褉褜械蟹薪芯泄 锌褋懈褏懈褔械褋泻芯泄 锌芯写谐芯褌芯胁泻懈 写谢懈褌械谢褜薪褘屑懈 屑械写懈褌邪褑懈褟屑懈. "袦械写懈褌邪褑懈褟 - 械卸械写薪械胁薪邪褟 锌懈褖邪, 屑芯泻褕邪 - 斜邪薪泻械褌," - 谐芯胁芯褉懈褌 谐械褉芯懈薪褟.

袩褉懈蟹薪邪褞褋褜, 褟 胁蟹褟谢邪褋褜 蟹邪 褝褌褍 泻薪懈谐褍 褌芯谢褜泻芯 懈 懈褋泻谢褞褔懈褌械谢褜薪芯 锌芯褌芯屑褍, 褔褌芯 邪褍写懈芯胁械褉褋懈褞 懈褋锌芯谢薪懈谢 袠谐芯褉褜 袣薪褟蟹械胁, 锌褉芯褋褌芯 褋谢褍褕邪褞 褍 薪械谐芯 胁褋械. 袠 写邪, 褝褌芯 锌褉械胁芯褋褏芯写薪芯械 懈褋锌芯谢薪械薪懈械, 褏芯褌褟 褎芯褉屑邪褌 褔械褉械写褘 锌械褉械褌械泻邪褞褖懈褏 芯写薪邪 胁 写褉褍谐褍褞 谢械泻褑懈泄 懈蟹褉褟写薪芯 褍褌芯屑懈褌械谢械薪. 袧褍 胁芯褌 写芯谢卸薪芯 胁 泻薪懈谐械 褔褌芯-褌芯 锌褉芯懈褋褏芯写懈褌褜, 锌芯屑懈屑芯 锌褉芯褋胁械褌懈褌械谢褜褋褌胁邪 懈 锌褋懈褏芯写械谢懈泻懈. 小芯斜褋褌胁械薪薪芯, 懈 锌褉芯懈蟹芯泄写械褌, 胁 泻芯薪褑械, 褍写懈胁懈褌械谢褜薪芯 褋芯蟹胁褍褔薪芯屑 邪泻褋械薪芯胁褋泻芯屑褍 "袨褋褌褉芯胁褍 袣褉褘屑褍", 薪邪锌懈褋邪薪薪芯屑褍 褔械褉械蟹 褋械屑薪邪写褑邪褌褜 谢械褌.

袠 褝褌邪 泻芯薪褑芯胁泻邪 斜褍泻胁邪谢褜薪芯 芯锌褉芯泻懈写褘胁邪械褌 胁 "蟹写械褋褜 懈 褋械泄褔邪褋". 孝邪泻芯械:
小屑芯褌褉懈,
褝褌芯 褌胁芯泄 褕邪薪褋 褍蟹薪邪褌褜, 泻邪泻 胁褘谐谢褟写懈褌 懈蟹薪褍褌褉懈
褌芯, 薪邪 褔褌芯 褌褘 褌邪泻 写芯谢谐芯 谐谢褟写械谢 褋薪邪褉褍卸懈;
蟹邪锌芯屑懈薪邪泄 卸械 锌芯写褉芯斜薪芯褋褌懈, 胁芯褋泻谢懈褑邪褟 芦Vive la Patrie!禄
Profile Image for Chaz.
55 reviews20 followers
June 10, 2008
It should be stated as a caveat to this review, that I believe that Huxley is one of the most important, intellectual, and enlightened mystics of the 20th century. I originally read this book 8 or nine years ago when my knowledge of spirituality, religion, and literature was sparse. However, it was one of those books that struck me like lightning and forever change the way I frame the world and our society.So a re-read鈥�
Island is an active dialogue between relatively few characters who bring Huxley鈥檚 Perennial Philosophy to a narrative form. Will Farnaby , the protagonist is a deranged, self-loathing, confused journalist who finds himself a survivor of a shipwreck and is welcomed into the utopian land of Pala. Here he witnesses Huxley鈥檚 vision of a society harmonizing with nature, but also embracing science and compassion. Now that I鈥檓 writing this I find it hard to write an adequate summary and so I鈥檒l leave it on a quote that I earmarked. There is really so much wisdom embedded in these pages, that often this novel could be read like any piece of philosophic or religious text.
In one scene the children of Pala are actively moving scarecrows to protect their crops. The scarecrows are representations of gods or enlightened beings such as Buddha, Shiva,鈥� will was confused by this, so he inquired about the purpose of it.
鈥� He wanted to make the children understand that all gods are homemade, and it鈥檚 we who pull their strings and so give them the power to pull ours.鈥�


Profile Image for Caroline.
684 reviews974 followers
June 12, 2015
BRAVE New World is one of my all time favourite books so when I bought this one it seemed like a no-brainer. Island is a really interesting and thought-provoking book. A word of warning to anyone considering reading this though... this isn't your typical story; there is no real complication, it is a series of philosophical ponderings surrounding the main character. I loved it but I know it is not for everyone. I found that the story got me thinking a lot and I often had to pause to consider what I had read. This book took me a long time to get through because I could never sit down and read a hundred pages- I had to have breaks. It's a really great book and whilst it is not as good as Brave New World (in my eyes at least) I would recommend it to any Huxley fans.
Profile Image for Karla Butler.
39 reviews8 followers
May 29, 2012
Aldous Huxley wrote this just before he died and to me this is his swan song. Island is set somewhere in the Pacific and depicts an Englishman's journey of spiritual enlightenment and self discovery. A progressive community takes mind-altering drugs and rejects conventional societal values for their own utopia. Everyone has the freedom to choose their own work, worship their own gods and have sex freely without the taboos of Western civilization. The community are exceptionally kind and open to Will Farnaby and show him that true happiness is found when you embrace life to the full and learn to love yourself and mankind.

Unfortunately, the despotic Colonel Dipa has other plans. The Island is plentiful in natural oil and already, power hungry capitalists are hoping to exploit this nirvana for their own dastardly ends. Aldous Huxley and others of his generation were deeply saddened by the state of the world after the Second World War. Images of brainwashed nazis and the rampant materialism in post-war America are interwoven into this tale as a warning that mankind will ultimately end destroying all that is good and true in the world.

Aldous Huxley must have known that this was going to be his last book as death seems to be a major theme. Will Farnaby learns that death does not have to be depressing or traumatic, it can be a celebration of someone's life as they take a journey into the unknown. I think Huxley must have felt that he too was ready to embark on that last chapter of his life...

Island is a beautifully written book and I would definitely recommend it.
Profile Image for Preeta.
86 reviews18 followers
March 6, 2008
This is a book to read and re-read for the philosophical and spiritual issues that it examines. The utopia of Pala is examined by an outsider, much like ourselves. Will has been brought up through the typical patriarchal pedagogy, which resents and demeans anything different.

He learns to embrace a parallel if not complementary way of living. The Palanese integrate teachings across philosophies (not just religions) of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity and accept the spectrum of individuals (muscle men, peter pans) but find ways to allow peaceful interaction. There is no monopolistic forcing of one's ways on others but continuously appropriate and attentive choices made by an intellectually and humanely informed population, all the way from children to adults.

This book gets at an essential that many of us have not taken the time to absorb - but that is evident in the background should we choose to make the effort to observe it - like the saying the democracy depends on a well informed electorate and Albert Einstein's quote: "peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding."

I choose to believe that the ending is just the future truth being revealed by the moksha-medicine, and that Will wakes up and takes actions that allow the little heaven on earth to still be in existence, resilient to the ever-present outside forces trying to get in and corrupt/conquer. It harks to the daily fight each of us undergoes since we were born. That is the beauty of the ending - you can make up your own!
Profile Image for Spasa Vidljinovi膰.
121 reviews31 followers
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April 13, 2020
Za razliku od Vrlog novog sveta koji je distopijska knjiga, Ostrvo/Otok je utopijska. Kroz njega nam Haksli predstavlja kako bi moglo da izgleda savremeno dru拧tvo u kojem su pomirene religija i nauka u korist njegovih ljudi.

Dosta kritike upu膰eno je ideolo拧kim i naro膷ito religioznim konceptima na kojima su vekovima vaspitavane generacije zapadnjaka. Pri膷a je sme拧tena u izmi拧ljenoj ostrvskoj dr啪avi Pali. Njeno stanovni拧tvo, ve膰inom budisti膷ko, prihvata sintezu religije i nauke radi sre膰nijeg 啪ivota budu膰ih nara拧taja. Jedina pretnja njihovom sistemu je nafta, koje 啪ele da se dokopaju odre膽ene grupacije, a u sklopu toga Haksli aludira i na tada拧nje, a i sada拧nje stanje u svetu u vezi sa tim dragocenim resursom. Odli膷ni su opisi halucinacija nakon uzimanja psihoaktivnih gljiva, koje je i sam Haksli primenjivao na sebi.

U ovom romanu Haksli pi拧e kako ne拧to mo啪e, nema samo kritike, ve膰 i konkretnih ideja kako 膷ovek
mo啪e biti u ravnote啪i sa drugima i samim sobom.
Profile Image for Stela.
1,039 reviews420 followers
March 22, 2018
Strange things, these novels of ideas. You read, you read, so charmed and challenged by the intellectual debate that somewhere along the road you completely forget to pay attention to the plot, to the characters and generally to all that makes the essence of a novel. And only in the end you ask yourself if it is a novel what you鈥檝e just read after all. The explanation is of course quite simple: plot and characters are only embodiments of ideas and such writings, while mimicking the narrative structure, with its setup, conflict and resolution, follow subtly in fact either the Hegelian dialectic of thesis-antithesis-synthesis or the essay questioning parts of what-how-why.

Island, the last Huxley鈥檚 book, is the perfect example of such writing. It was seen as the utopian answer to the dystopian Brave New World, but is it? It seems to me both novels develop, in different ways, the same thesis: that mankind cannot stay beauty. Oh, humans may create it, recognize and even admire it for a while, but in the end they always pervert and destroy it. And beauty is not artistic creation, at least not only. Beauty is superior knowledge and constant seek of harmonious relationships 鈥� be it in or between people, or between people and nature, or between people and gods. In the name of this coveted harmony was built the World State with its strict regulations and its five casts and its fix-numbered population and its soma to appease any metaphysical anxiety, the perfect, brave new world where happiness was induced artificially from birth and knowledge was forbidden as dangerous. This is civilisation way, Huxley warned then, the Gotterdammerung of mass culture.

Thirty years after, he imagines another way to reach harmony: isolation from civilisation, reinterpretation of all the values of the society, from family to economy and politics. After identifying all the wrongs in human civilisation and finding a solution for every one of them, Pala becomes a true terrestrial paradise, whose inhabitants are in permanent touch with nature and themselves helped by (this time) a beneficial drug, moksha medicine, and by a deep and original understanding of Tantra philosophy:

If you鈥檙e a Tantrik, you don鈥檛 renounce the world or deny its value; you don鈥檛 try to escape into a Nirvana apart from life, as the monks of the Southern School do. No, you accept the world and make use of it; you make use of everything you do, of everything that happens to you, of all the things you see and hear and taste and touch, as so many means to your liberation from the prison of yourself.


But of course, such a society cannot compete with the human genius of destruction. Furthermore, it is not allowed to exist (I cannot help thinking this was Huxley鈥檚 foreboding of Tibet's fate). The brave new world is waiting just around the corner for the moment to step in and swallow this world and re-create it in its image. Why?

First, because it simply isn鈥檛 possible for Pala to go on being different from the rest of the world. And second, because it isn鈥檛 right that it should be different.


And third, because the world as a rule has no place for Karuna, that is for compassion. The people of Pala will always be 鈥渢he savages鈥� of the World State as John was, to be isolated, ridiculed and finally destroyed. The conclusion is therefore identical in both novels: humanity cannot to be saved, for even when it is shown a glimpse of happiness it does its utmost to destroy it. And it is only natural to be this way, since the purpose of the society has never, never been to turn its members into 鈥渇ull-blown human beings鈥�:

What are boys and girls for in America? Answer: for mass consumption. (鈥�) Whereas in Russia there鈥檚 a different answer. Boys and girls are for strengthening the national state. (鈥�) And in China it鈥檚 the same, but a good deal more so. What are boys and girls for there? For cannon fodder, industry fodder, agriculture fodder, road-building fodder.



鈥 close the book with a sad smile and I realize that one day I will probably forget all about Will Farnaby, and Robert MacPhail and Murugan and the Rani, but I will never forget the utopic society of Pala, which really believed that Shiva-Nataraja would forever dance for them, while stamping on Muyalaka, to free them of the world鈥檚 malignity.
Profile Image for Jon Anthony.
Author听1 book9 followers
June 14, 2017
As relevant today as it was when it was written. This book digs deep into the battle for indigenous rights and corporate plunder.
Profile Image for LATOYA JOVENA.
175 reviews29 followers
February 21, 2016
I was happily reading this book and then going along feeling like I was on an Island. It was warm and sunny. The natives were friendly for the most part and all spoke English. And then it happened...
Aldous Huxley. There's a message in all of his books and I already knew the message for this one: which society is better? Modern technology or a more primitive and laid back approach? Some combination of the 2?
Reading it came like a slap from the grave. Aldous called our health care "50% terrific and 50% nonexistent." In 1962! I quote "Alpha Plus for patching you up when you start to fall apart; but Delta Minus for keeping you healthy."
He even states that things are this way because doctors get paid more for cures and not prevention! Why hasn't this been fixed if mere authors knew about it in 1962?
Needless to say the best society is taking the best of modern technology but leaving the materialism and adding individual treatment for the greater good. Utopia yes, but utterly unattainable.
Profile Image for A..
426 reviews47 followers
January 11, 2019
Will Farnaby, periodista, luego de sobrevivir a un naufragio consigue arribar, malherido, a la isla de Pala. Pala es una "ut贸pica" isla donde descubre una sociedad plet贸rica de libertad y perfecci贸n (Al menos en t茅rminos de los que Huxley considerar铆a como tal, supongo) Es obvio que la historia, plagada de abrumadores y enredados di谩logos filos贸ficos, no es m谩s que una excusa para que el autor exponga su percepci贸n de la "felicidad" humana en base a cierta confusa espiritualidad junto a extra帽as iluminaciones y su rechazo hacia ideolog铆as como el comunismo, religiones en general y cualquier cosa que se asemeje a totalitarismos o tiran铆as.

Aves parlantes, sexo t谩ntrico y drogas alucin贸genas, todo muy Huxley en sus 煤ltimos a帽os. Una cr铆tica social apabullante que algunos, como no, podr谩n encontrar inspiradora.



Profile Image for Littlebookterror.
2,246 reviews90 followers
August 19, 2021
Let's get the obvious out of the way first. Did i read this for the plot? Absolutely not. The premise is literally "a guy is stranded on an island and while recoving, he gets a full tour of their lives, economy and, philosophies."
Is the writing great? Not really. Brave New World was definitely better.

But then why did I read it? I don't know.
I wanted to see what else Huxley has up his sleeves - and I was surprised. So while I struggled through a lot of this and kept checking my pages to see if I was finished yet. There are a few things this book discusses I want to add my two cents to, so there are now SPOILERS coming.

Profile Image for James Tingle.
158 reviews9 followers
September 8, 2019

I read this Huxley book about a year ago and was just thinking about it recently. It is in some way a novel, but only in a vague approximation of what you'd expect of one. There isn't a whole lot of plot and what slim plot line there is seems mainly to exist as a broad enclosure or framework for Huxley's philosophical ideas. The peaceful island of Pala seems like a utopia and the people who live there have built up a perfect kind of pacifist existence, whereby they live in total isolation from the rest of the world in their own little peace and love bubble. Huxley, through very long dialogues between the characters, espouses his own philosophy of life which seems to be mainly concerned with mindfulness and being in the moment and peaceful living. These conversations are mainly really interesting but can get a bit tedious if you're not in the right mood for them. There is a bit of hallucinatory drug taking thrown in as well for good measure as a further way for the characters to seek enlightenment and quite a bit of touring about the island, finding out about what makes it so special and seemingly better than the outside world...
If you are after a riveting page turner with twists and turns, eroticism, adventure and general rambunctiousness, then this won't be floating your boat, but if you're in the mood for a slow, thoughtful sort of book where the ideas are put above plot and the characters are even secondary as well, then you might like this idealistic, intriguing and meditative last work by Aldous Huxley.
Profile Image for Lena.
1,203 reviews326 followers
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January 25, 2019
B2762DB9-39AF-452D-95BB-59DF9704D4C6.jpg
鈥淟enin used to say that electricity plus socialism equals communism. Our equations are rather different.
Electricity minus heavy industry plus birth control equals democracy and plenty.
Electricity plus heavy industry minus birth control equals misery, totalitarianism and war.鈥�


Aldous Huxley鈥檚 Pala is a beautiful Solarpunk country. I would love to read stories of it鈥檚 people, their lives, their dramas.

But that鈥檚 not this book.

This is a story of beauty about to be raped.
E61239BE-8E75-4291-B112-C7C6F9EC9654.jpg

I鈥檓 not in the mood for that.
DNF 47% No Rating
Profile Image for Ana.
731 reviews108 followers
May 21, 2020
Como hist贸ria, este livro 茅 uma seca: enormes di谩logos que mais n茫o s茫o do que um pretexto para o autor expor as suas ideias daquilo que seria um mundo ideal, protagonizados por personagens com muito pouca densidade.

A Ilha 茅 um romance filos贸fico, que provavelmente teria resultado melhor como um ensaio.

Ainda assim, n茫o deixam de ter interesse alguns dos temas / problemas explorados (educa莽茫o, sobrepopula莽茫o, industrializa莽茫o, mindfulness) e das solu莽玫es encontradas, algumas delas n茫o t茫o ut贸picas como isso.
Profile Image for 狈补迟补拧补.
159 reviews
January 26, 2016
Ajme meni, al me iznenadila ova knjiga ! Tre膰i susret sa Hakslijem i definitivno najja膷i utisak za vreme i nakon 膷itanja..
Nisam se ba拧 interesovala o 膷emu je re膷, o膷ekivala sam manje-vi拧e ne拧to poput Vrlog novog sveta... me膽utim, dobih sasvim suprotno :) imam je na polici jo拧 od sajma 2014, kud je ne uzeh ranije u 拧ake!?

Elem, 膷ovek je pre vi拧e od pola veka govorio o stvarima koje me trenutno veoma zanimaju, pa sam se 膷itaju膰i konstantno odu拧evljavala govore膰i u sebi "da li je mogu膰e, pa upravo o ovom sam razmi拧ljala ju膷e!?"...
Yoga, meditacija, kontemplacija, pozitivan stav, prisutnost i u啪ivanje u trenutku - ( genijalna ptica minah koja poziva na pa啪nju :) ), 啪ivot u skladu sa prirodom...sve 拧to se danas mo啪e na膰i u ve膰ini knjiga sa tematikom popularne psihologije...a opet pisano toliko ranije.. Zna膷i da je su拧tina ista :D

Profile Image for Lee Klein .
881 reviews995 followers
June 14, 2007
All about Soma which is like all about this totally cool combo of prozac and more psychoactively intense "medications" . . . read it in the passenger seat of a VW Golf driving back east from California after high-school graduation during the First Bush's reign of terror. Think I finished it by Cheyenne. Way enjoyable.
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