A towering classic of dystopian satire, BRAVE NEW WORLD is a brilliant and terrifying vision of a soulless society—and of one man who discovers the human costs of mindless conformity.

Hundreds of years in the future, the World Controllers have created an ideal civilization. Its members, shaped by genetic engineering and behavioral conditioning, are productive and content in roles they have been assigned at conception. Government-sanctioned drugs and recreational sex ensure that everyone is a happy, unquestioning consumer; messy emotions have been anesthetized and private attachments are considered obscene. Only Bernard Marx is discontented, developing an unnatural desire for solitude and a distaste for compulsory promiscuity. When he brings back a young man from one of the few remaining Savage Reservations, where the old unenlightened ways still continue, he unleashes a dramatic clash of cultures that will force him to consider whether freedom, dignity, and individuality are worth suffering for.

Aldous Huxley’s ingenious fantasy of a future of mechanical efficiency and engineered harmony has been enormously influential for generations, and is as provocative, powerful, and riveting as when it was first published in 1932.

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)

Brave New World author Aldous Huxley on enlightenment and the 'ultimate reality'

In this anthology of twenty-six essays and other writings, Huxley discusses the nature of God, enlightenment, being,good and evil, religion, eternity, and the divine. Huxley consistently examined the spiritual basis of both the individual and human society, always seeking to reach an authentic and clearly defined experience of the divine. Featuring an introduction by renowned religious scholar Huston Smith, this celebration of 'ultimate reality' proves relevant and prophetic in addressing the spiritual hunger so many feel today.

'Limbo' è la prima raccolta di racconti di Aldous Huxley. Pubblicata nel 1920 contiene sette racconti visionari e satirici, che introducono alcuni temi che staranno alla base di tutta la produzione successiva e dell'intera opera di Huxley. Le vicende e i protagonisti delle storie, con le loro personalità tra l'esplicito e l'inafferrabile, sono inoltre ricchi di parallelismi e punti in comune con la vita del loro autore: in 'Morte di Lully' una donna è colpita da un cancro al seno, la malattia che uccise la giovanissima madre dell'autore alla quale era legatissimo; e un suicidio come quello del fratello ricorre in 'Eupompus diede splendore all'arte attraverso i numeri'. Fra tutti però 'La tragicomica storia di Richard Greenow' prende le forme di una sinistra autobiografia: dall'ambientazione fino ai fatti narrati vi sono molti punti di contatto tra il protagonista e l'autore: come un novello dottor Jekill l'alter ego del protagonista (e dello stesso Huxley) dovrà affrontare il suo personalissimo Mr. Hide, nella messa in scena della lotta tra due diversi e inconciliabili modi di concepire la letteratura e l'impegno civile.

Contemporary intellectuals still struggle over the relationship of ends to means, especially in political discourse. Pacifism is still an important topic today, as terrorism and dictatorial states abound. Many will find solace in Ends and Means, while others will find the book only a case study of the relationship of ethics to politics.

Aldous Huxley examines common issues in a unique fashion. How can the regression in charity through which we are living, and for which each one of us is in some measure responsible, be halted and reversed? How can existing society be transformed into the ideal society described by the prophets? How can the average sensual man and the exceptional (and more dangerous) ambitious man be transformed into a non-attached being, one who can create a society significantly better than our own?

Huxley discusses the relationship between the theories and the practices of reformers and the nature of the universe. He argues that our beliefs about the ultimate nature of reality help us formulate conceptions of right and wrong, not only in our private life, but also in the sphere of politics and economics. Far from being irrelevant, our philosophical beliefs are the final determining factor in our actions. This provocative classic volume, now available in paperback, will continue to stimulate discussion and thought.

Written in 1944 by Aldous Huxley as a Christmas gift for his niece, The Crows of Pearblossom tells the story of Mr. and Mrs. Crow, who live in a cottonwood tree. The hungry Rattlesnake that lives at the bottom of the tree has a nasty habit of stealing Mrs. Crow's eggs before they can hatch, so Mr. Crow and his wise friend, Old Man Owl, devise a sneaky plan to trick him. 

This funny story of cleverness triumphing over greed, similar in tone and wit to the work of A. A. Milne, shows a new side of a great writer. Paired with stunning illustrations by Sophie Blackall, this timeless tale is sure to grab the attention of many readers—adults and children alike.


Praise for The Crows of Pearblossom
“With Huxley's mordant wit in ample supply, this tale will entertain literary novelty seekers.” 
–Publishers Weekly 

“Huxley's story starts good and grim—just the thing to hold a young audience.” –Kirkus Reviews 

“A rather charming children's book. The story is clever, wittily told and bristles with spiky humor — and it could quite possibly become a new favorite among schoolchildren. In the reissued edition, Brooklyn-based illustrator Sophie Blackwell transforms the chapter book into a picture book. Huxley's standing as one of the grandfathers of dystopian Y.A. is already established. Perhaps the next generation will think of him as that guy who wrote about crows' eggs.” –New York Times ARTSBEAT blog

“A vivid picture-book edition with robust and suitably disquieting illustrations by Sophie Blackall.” 
–Wall Street Journal

Un giornalista timido e inconcludente, certo soltanto di non amare più la donna con cui vive; un pittore di fama mondiale, celebre anche per i suoi scandali privati; il direttore di una rivista letteraria, meschino e ipocrita ma dotato di una sorprendente capacità di seduzione; una giovane ereditiera vanesia, amorale e condannata all'eterna insoddisfazione: sono solo alcuni dei personaggi che nella Londra degli anni Venti intrecciano le proprie vite - tra passione e infedeltà, violenza politica e noia esistenziale, volontà di dominio e paura della morte - in questo 'romanzo di idee' di Aldous Huxley. 'Il carattere di ciascun personaggio dovrà emergere, per quanto è possibile, dalle idee di cui è portavoce. Dato che le teorie sono la razionalizzazione di sentimenti, istinti e stati d'animo, si tratta di una cosa fattibile'. La dichiarazione d'intenti, affidata al taccuino di uno dei personaggi, è esplicita quanto la tecnica di composizione, ispirata al contrappunto - come in Beethoven: 'La maestosità che si alterna con la leggerezza. La commedia che di colpo accenna a prodigiose e tragiche solennità'. Tecnica che Huxley padroneggia mirabilmente, combinando cinismo ed empatia, raziocinio e caricatura nella sua spietata dissezione di comportamenti e moventi psicologici. Il risultato è una satira paradossale che mantiene immutata la sua freschezza, così come immutati restano i conflitti, le paure e i desideri umani.

Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's most influential novel. It presents a dystopian depiction of the state of the world in the distant future. Many credit the bold scope of his vision with popularizing interest in scientific study. In an age of genetic engineering and virtual reality, Harold Bloom suggests in his introduction that the work is at once threadbare and more relevant than ever. This new edition of critical excerpts also includes an annotated bibliography of Huxley's works and an index for easy reference.

The astonishing novel Brave New World, originally published in 1932, presents Aldous Huxley's legendary vision of a world of tomorrow utterly transformed. In Huxley's darkly satiric yet chillingly prescient imagining of a 'utopian'

future, humans are genetically designed and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded and as a thought-provoking yet satisfying entertainment.

This deluxe edition also includes the nonfiction work 'Brave New World Revisited,' 'a thought-jabbing, terrifying book' (Chicago Tribune), first published in 1958. It is a fascinating essay in which Huxley compares the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy envisioned in Brave New World. He scrutinizes threats to humanity such as overpopulation, propaganda, and chemical persuasion, and explains why we have found it virtually impossible to avoid them.

With a Foreword by Christopher Hitchens

Written at the height of his powers immediately after Brave New World, Aldous Huxley's highly acclaimed Eyeless in Gaza is his most personal novel. Huxley's bold, nontraditional narrative tells the loosely autobiographical story of Anthony Beavis, a cynical libertine Oxford graduate who comes of age in the vacuum left by World War I. Unfulfilled by his life, loves, and adventures, Anthony is persuaded by a charismatic friend to become a Marxist and take up arms with Mexican revolutionaries. But when their disastrous embrace of violence nearly kills them, Anthony is left shattered—and is forced to find an alternative to the moral disillusionment of the modern world.

In his final novel, which he considered his most important, Aldous Huxley transports us to the remote Pacific island of Pala, where an ideal society has flourished for 120 years.

Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala, and events are set in motion when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and—to his amazement—give him hope.

Thirty years ago, ecstasy and torment took hold of John Rivers, shocking him out of “half-baked imbecility into something more nearly resembling the human form.” He had an affair with the wife of his mentor, Henry Maartens—a pathbreaking physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize, and a figure of blinding brilliance—bringing the couple to ruin. Now, on Christmas Eve while a small grandson sleeps upstairs, John Rivers is moved to set the record straight about the great man and the radiant, elemental creature he married, who viewed the renowned genius through undazzled eyes.

Aldous Huxley's acclaimed and gripping account of one of the strangest occurrences in history

In 1643 an entire convent in the small French village of Loudun was apparently possessed by the devil. After a sensational and celebrated trial, the convent's charismatic priest Urban Grandier—accused of spiritually and sexually seducing the nuns in his charge—was convicted of being in league with Satan. Then he was burned at the stake for witchcraft.

In this classic work by the legendary Aldous Huxley—a remarkable true story of religious and sexual obsession considered by many to be his nonfiction masterpiece—a compelling historical event is clarified and brought to vivid life.

Half an hour after swallowing the drug I became aware of a slow dance of golden lights . . .

Among the most profound explorations of the effects of mind-expanding drugs ever written, here are two complete classic books—The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell—in which Aldous Huxley, author of the bestselling Brave New World, reveals the mind's remote frontiers and the unmapped areas of human consciousness. This new edition also features an additional essay, 'Drugs That Shape Men's Minds,' which is now included for the first time.

An inspired gathering of religious writings that reveals the 'divine reality' common to all faiths, collected by Aldous Huxley

'The Perennial Philosophy,' Aldous Huxley writes, 'may be found among the traditional lore of peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions.'

With great wit and stunning intellect—drawing on a diverse array of faiths, including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christian mysticism, and Islam—Huxley examines the spiritual beliefs of various religious traditions and explains how they are united by a common human yearning to experience the divine. The Perennial Philosophy includes selections from Meister Eckhart, Rumi, and Lao Tzu, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, Tibetan Book of the Dead, Diamond Sutra, and Upanishads, among many others.

LE JEUNE ARCHIMEDE - HUXLEY ALDOUS - Sodis

John Rivers, un giovane scienziato, diventa l'assistente del premio Nobel Henry Maartens. Invitato a vivere con la famiglia di Maartens, Rivers si ritrova attratto da Katy, la bellissima moglie del grande scienziato, e diventa oggetto del desiderio della figlia adolescente Ruth, che cerca invano di sedurlo. Rivers ricompone i frammentati ricordi di questa drammatica esperienza, ritrovando tra le pieghe del passato una storia più insensata e vera di qualsiasi romanzo, e pagine di vita da raccontare a un amico la notte di Natale.

A special seventy-fifth anniversary edition of the classic, prophetic novel capturing the socialized horrors of a futuristic utopia remarkably explores the now-timely themes of cloning, individual creativity and freedom, and the role of science, technology, and drugs in humankind's future. Read by Michael York. Book available.

Of the ten thousand letters that Aldous Huxley wrote, only a fraction have been published. Almost forty years after the first appearance of a volume of Huxley's letters, those that were once considered too sensitive for publication can now be included in a wholly new collection. James Sexton's thoughtful selection opens new perspectives on the personal and intellectual lives of one of the giants of modern English prose and of social commentary in our time. Some of the earliest Huxley letters movingly depict his courageous battle with almost total blindness and his resulting unfitness for service in the Great War. Later letters to his patroness, Lady Ottoline Morrell, demonstrate much of the brilliance that would soon gain Huxley an international reputation as one of his generation's major satirists. Perhaps the most important group of letters in this edition is the sparkling correspondence from Huxley to Bloomsbury hostess Mary Hutchinson, revealing Aldous as a witty yet ardent lover.

Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a 'utopian' future—where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.