Brave New World

Last night I finished reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I had read this in AP Psychology in high school, and since then have always named it as one of my favorite books. And now, a good 6 or so years later, I chose to re-read it for the first time. It was still awesome.

It's the story of a dis-utopic future society where all hardships have been taken away as well as all sense of loving one another and being devoted to the ones we love. People are conditioned to be whatever they are supposed to be in society, and conditioned to see community and society as the ultimate good. The world is stable, people are happy, and life is easy. But it paints a picture of how monstrous this society truly is. It helps the reader see the beauty of struggle, pain, relationships, God, art and individuality.

This is definitely my favorite type of book. I love books that have depth like this that make me think about society and where we may be headed. These books about the future are always more of a commentary about our current state than anything else (and for this one being published in 1932 . . . it's quite impressively modern . . . or maybe it's just timeless). "Readers are Leaders" my friend and it saddens me that people don't often read books with depth very often. We settle for the candy rather than the meat and potatoes of literature, which will be the most rewarding in the end. Maybe one day people will get themselves sick off of it all.

But on second thought . . . only if they take the time to dive into and really chew on the substance of a good book. And most people don't like the effort.