Island

I live in Uruguay, south america, bot the book on dec 28th and expected it at the end of jan. By the 10th of jan I already had it at home. Nice job!

I recommend the book, anyone who has read brave new world and liked it, will enjoy this one too.

i love Island by Aldous Huxley! Definitely one of his best works. If you found Brave New World as somewhat of a dystopia and would like a more pleasant read that leave you feeling all warm inside then Island is what you're looking for.

This is not for those who have not read the works of Huxley before. And this is not the first book I would recommend if you are new to Huxley. Exciting, interesting, filled with one or two thoughts that stay in your mind for days. I love reading because I fell in love with literature when I was a child.

The nice cover art with the hodgepodged bird from the online item preview did not match what actually appeared in the mail, but I'll disregard that in lieu of the fact that it was promptly delivered and in better shape than the seller had advertised. I'd recommend this seller.

Island, published in 1962, was Aldous Huxley's final novel, though I assume he didn't know that when he wrote it. Nevertheless it works pretty well as a kind of final word on his philosophy of life and politics. Unfortunately, it doesn't work all that well as a novel unless you're interested in Huxley's philosophy, as not much happens and the narrative consists mainly of conversations and monologues retailing Huxley's ideal society. It's like reading a string of Socratic dialogues with brief semi-dramatic interludes.

The story is set in Pala, an idealized Southeast Asian country in which the main character, Will Farnaby, finds himself stranded (intentionally, as he is on a secret mission to help his employer land some oil concessions). Farnaby, a cynical journalist who is guilt stricken over the recent death of his estranged wife, becomes an ideal devil's advocate as he has long philosophical discussions with various characters, primarily Dr. Robert MacPhail, an Englishman who has lived in Pala for decades and is the descendent of the man who originally helped set up the current society.

That society is billed as the antithesis of the dystopia of Huxley's most famous work, Brave New World, but is it really? Both use sex and drugs to keep the populace happy and content while an elite priesthood (in Pala moistly MacPhail and his circle) pulls the strings. Yes, it is a benign autocracy, but then so was the World State in Brave New World. Pala, like the World State, uses birth control, though here people actually have babies (in Brave New World they are run off in factories). Both societies obsess about different "types" of individuals and pigeonhole them into set societal roles.

In Brave New World, the pigeonholing is done in utero as individuals are "manufactured" with set levels of intelligence and conditioned from birth into their designated social roles. Pala doesn't have the advantage of such sophisticated genetic engineering but it aggressively works to identify traits in young children that could lead to rebellion against the system down the line and heads them off with intensive intervention and conditioning. Ultimately, Pala is as regimented a society as North Korea, though without the brutality.

If you're interested in Huxley's views on society, human nature and metaphysics, this is probably a must read. Otherwise, Island is a very tough go. I was mildly interested at the start but progressively less so as the pages piled up. The three stars are a kind of compromise between pure personal reaction and the book's potential to excite a different sort of reader than I am.

After listening through Island once, I realized two things: first, I need to buy a hard copy of the book and second, I need to listen to it again with book and highlighter in hand. Island is not a casual read. Huxley used principles of Eastern and Western philosophies while painting the idealistic society of Pala--principles that we are still exploring today. I cannot believe that anyone could experience Island and emerge unchanged.

Oversimplified and at the very surface, Island is a novel about a man, Will Farnaby, who is shipwrecked and finds himself on a remote South Pacific island. Pala is this isolated island. Here he finds an enlightened culture where the Eastern philosophies blend and harmony reigns. The Palanese are taught from earliest childhood to cultivate mindfulness and to strive toward true enlightenment--Nirvana. There is much that the listener/reader can absorb from the spiritual success achieved by the Palanese. Very useful in the examination of what inner disciplines are necessary in life.

Unfortunately the outer world intrudes in the form of a petroleum company and a discontented Rani and her son, Murugen. The boy was not raised in the Palanese way, but rather by his mother toward a militaristic and capitalistic mindset.
I look forward to a deeper study of this modern classic.

This particular version of Island is an MP3-CD format very conveniently ready for IPod or MP3 player. It is 11.5 hours and unabridged. The reader is Simon Vance.

Thank you to Tantor Audio for providing me with a free audio book in exchange for my honest review.

Military ambitions and inherited power threaten to upset a utopia that has been founded on the basis of enlightened intellectualism in this short novel by Aldous Huxley. ISALAND is full of philosophical passages and intellectual banter, a form that is referred to as “a novel of ideas.” Fans of Huxley’s preoccupations will find ISLAND to be worth their time. Most people new to Huxley will probably be better served by reading BRAVE NEW WORLD first as that novel appears in cultural references from time to time whereas ISLAND is not usually alluded to at all. Fans of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. will also find this book worth reading thought are best forwarded that Huxley does not share Vonnegut’s knack for reveling in the humorous absurdity of the human species when when he writes on the subject social evolution.

Three and a half out of five stars

This isn't a novel so much as it is an extended monologue in which Aldous Huxley stands on a soapbox with some puppets and croaks about his world views.

I kept waiting for some glimpse of a plot to build. But, as other reviewers have mentioned, this is not so much a novel as it is a philosophical discussion. Which is fine, don't get me wrong; however, I was really expecting this to be more along the lines of Brave New World, but with a utopian approach versus dystopian.

There were some passages in which characters clucked about the importance of meditation and the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms (mycomysticism) among other things. At first, I found myself eager to hear what these characters had to say. But, characters started to be introduced for the sole purpose of giving a speech about one of the domains of Palanese life. When Mr. Farnaby inquires about the education of Palanese children and finds himself in the acquaintance of the overseer of education, I rolled my eyes and face palmed as yet another 20+ page monologue ensued about how different and revolutionary the Palanese approach is.

All in all, thought provoking. Whether you agree with the highly liberal agenda Huxley attempts to beat you over the skull with is actually irrelevant. I found myself wondering if Pala was *really* the utopia it is presented as, and I think that may be part of the point.

I wasn’t a big fan of this book. While the premise started off good enough the book soon changes from a story to a series of long speeches on society and values. As a result the plot doesn’t move much and there descriptions of the island of Pala are virtually non-existent much past the start. If you’re a philosophy student or into self-help, this book might peak your interest otherwise I would look elsewhere for entertainment.

I really liked this book a lot, but having said that, I actually thought it was a continuation of "Brave New World". In Brave New World, Huxley mentions the Island several times. It is a place for those who have not been able to adapt to the Brave New World society of pre-conditioned and expected behavior, thinking and lifestyle. The Island is the place for those who tend to be individuals and think for themselves. It is not a form of punishment, but rather a way to have those who have not given in to Soma and the Rules of Brave New World, to still have a place to live among others like them and express themselves, yet be productive human beings. Well, this Island is not that.

Island is about a man who ends up in this "paradise" and people who truly have found synergy in the way they live, interact and love. The place where they have found a way, as many try, to "harness human spirit". They tend to think of themselves as individuals, but working towards common goal and trying to better their society while still keeping their individual thinking. It all sounds great and as many have tried, to create a perfect world, but once again, we see that it is not possible. Not because it just can't be done, but because there is always someone, those, who tend to want something different from the rest. Whether it is good, bad, evil or however someone wants to judge that behavior, there are always those who do not give in or don't want to go along with the rest, no matter how good it might be.

Religious:
The book, or better yet the society, that Huxley describes is pointing out that all the organized religions have a flow. At the same time, it points out that Buddhism allows the individual to be part of society, but still be an individual in their own sense of being. Well, I don't know enough about Buddhism to know for sure if that is the way of the Buddha or this is just their, Pala's way of Buddhism. I am pretty sure that if the book wanted to take a point of religion or lack of religion is either too constrictive or too relaxed, respectively, wouldn't it apply to most or all? Just pointing out that Huxley, in this fictional Utopian paradise, describes Buddhism or their form of Buddhism as a way of living in "here and now", therefore enjoying every moment and not some distant eternal life.

Spirituality:
Through my martial arts training, I have read, taken and tried multiple forms of medication and ways of zen being. In the book, they talk in some depth about how meditating or inducing subconscious thinking, either naturally or through moksha-medicine, they are able to find their inner being, restore balance and "be happy". Everyone on the island can and should be able to induce this state at any given time. Huxley's fascination with describing induced Utopia involves suggestive or subconscious state. In Brave New World we have seen Soma and here through Moksha-medicine.

Social Structure:
Even though they live in more or less equal society, if that was ever possible, they do have royalties and they do have those with more than normal human "greed" and "ambitions". In Pala, they don't have Socialism and they don't Capitalism. They live in harmony, where everyone contributes to society, to better that society and try various tasks, jobs that will better channel their natural ability and peek their interest for full satisfaction. They claim to have found a way to channel Muscle Man and Peter Pan types into challenges that make them non dangerous to society and also valuable in the sense of those abilities. It is a great way to ponder on something that can be done as such, but this is a fiction and in reality, there are those who can not be tamed and therefore lash out and develop on their natural human character. Human spirit is not possible to harness, condition or tame. Whether that spirit is good, to be an individual to strive for something that is not available or that spirit is to do evil and dwell on all that is wrong in the world, it cannot be contained. That is the nature behind any "Utopian" thinking and the problem behind it.

The human nature is to want to do what it tends to do with unpredictable and unconditional thought process. Even in every "type" and every "character" of specific group, there are still multiple personal characteristics to each and every being. Even in the same family, same upbringing and same genetic structure, you can never predict what and how each one of the kids, even those who are exactly alike, will react in any given situation and preventing that behavior, would be almost, and actually, impossible.

Overall, I really liked this book. It is not a fast reading page turner, but yet, it is a page turner nevertheless and I really enjoyed it for many reasons. I also kept thinking and comparing it a lot to "Celestine Prophesy". Somehow the spiritual aspect of the book kept remind me of that novel. If you are expecting something, as I have, you might be disappointed at first, but yet, I found it to be very well delivered message and a very interesting topic. I am glad that I picked it up and even though, not what I expected originally, still enjoyed it a lot. I was torn, because I wish there was 4.5 starts instead of like(4) and love(5) decision.

I also recommend:
Brave New World
The Celestine Prophecy
1984 (Signet Classics)
Brave New World Revisited
Aftertastes and Tales from Russia

Esta é a estória da ilha utópica de Pala, no Oceano Pacífico, onde o crescimento populacional é estável e os Clubes de Adoção se sobrepõem às famílias.
Pala é uma ilha proibida, que ninguém sabe onde fica, onde uma sociedade supostamente ideal, vem florescendo há 120 anos.
Inevitavelmente, essa ilha atrai a curiosidade do resto do mundo.
Uma conspiração se inicia para dominar Pala e os acontecimentos são colocados em ação quando um jornalista, Faranby, naufraga na costa da ilha.
O que Faranby não sabe, é como o tempo em que irá passar com as pessoas da ilha, irá revolucionar todos os seus valores e – para seu prazer – lhe dará um sopro de esperança na vida.
Quanto mais ele vê e vive em Pala, mais ele descobre que a ilha deve ser preservada da civilização, a todo custo.
Num mundo onde o consumismo é o rei e a liberdade sem responsabilidade é vista como uma dádiva, Pala parece tão distante quanto os mundos de ficção científica da Isaac Asimov,e de Arthur Clarke.
Pala nos mostra como estamos condicionados pelo nosso entorno – e que ultrapassar esse condicionamento pode fazer o melhor para nossas vidas, apesar de continuarmos vivendo nesse mundo cruel.
Aprendemos que Moksha, na ilha, é um cogumelo alucinógeno que faz com que os Palaneses não se sintam aborrecidos, caiam vitimas das ameaças da velhice, do progresso material e da expansão territorial.
Também aprendemos sobre Maithuna – a yoga do amor.
Talvez o livro mais pessimista de Huxley, seu último, considerado por ele, o mais importante, é uma mistura perfeita da sabedoria ocidental e oriental.
Depois de ler estelivro, duvido que alguém não questione os valores morais decadentes existentes no mundo atual.

First off, as many people have pointed out, 'Island' is a complete and total failure as a novel. The plot is paper thin and the 'characterization,' such as it is, is pretty horrible. But this doesn't mean this is a bad book, or not worth reading. Hermann Hesse's last (and one of his best) book, "The Glass Bead Game" (aka "Magister Ludi") suffers from the same faults, but likewise is eminently worth reading.

I wouldn't say Huxley succeeds in portraying a true utopia, but then, who ever has? Nowhere in fiction, essay, or political propaganda have I seen anyone else come even remotely close - Huxley at least borders on plausibility, and indeed, desirability (something else lacking from many 'utopian' visions). Many of the negative reviews here are by radical conservatives who find the ideas of more open sexuality, psychedelic visions and a modern updating of Eastern philosophy and contemplation anathema. Well, fair enough, I guess, but look at the world THOSE people are endeavouring (some cynics might say successfully) to build. I for one would definitely have appreciated more rock climbing, first-hand experiential evidence of 'higher things,' even if through psychedelics, and more sensitive sexual experience, during my confused youth. In fact, ultimately, I found my way to all of those things through friends, readings, and my own meandering gropings through life, but I don't feel at all that these were (or are now) encouraged by the social structure in which I live, nor by my elders. Huxley imagines a world in which this situation is reversed, and though I have some problems with his vision, I find it quite charming and desirable in many ways.

Some negative reviews have poitned out how quaint and 1960's-oriented and dated many of the ideas are (to those reviewers anyway); I would argue though that many of the new ideas fermenting in the 60's have really yet to come to full fruition, and far from being dated, are in need of further dissemination.

The book is heavily didactic and this can get a little annoying at times, but as always Huxley is full of insights and is worth reading. From what I understand he wrestled with this book for years trying to find a good way of conveying these notions; maybe he should have just opted for non-fiction of some kind. Still, this book is far from 'obsolete' and is Huxley's utopia very much worth considering for all those of us living in a the real-life, if toned-down, version of 'Brave New World.'

One thing needs to be said: this novel doesn't really tell a story. This is a very long parable expounding on Huxley's view of spirituality and society.

But that by no means makes this a bad novel. The narrative is well woven and, despite the relative lack of conflict, the characters are interesting and the setting sparks one's curiosity about why Pala is such a paradise. It avoids falling into the trap of the average utopian novel: the people are far from perfect and the society has its share of problems. There are grieving widows, children often don't get along with their parents, and the ruler is an incompetent mama's boy who would rather browse a shopping catalog than study for his position. The narrative eschews an overarching conflict to examine these problems, all tied together by the protagonist's discovery of the underlying philosophy of Pala and his involvement in a conspiracy to bring it all to an end.

In all, this proves to be a response to Brave New World more than anything: it is an attempt to demonstrate that the benefits of the Brave New World can be enjoyed without losing one's humanity through the proper application of Eastern spirituality, psychedelic drugs, and tantric sex. Because of that, the ideology behind it is distinct, and the two have to be read side by side to really appreciate it.

This is my favorite book of all time. It changed my life. Some passages are so wholly enthralling that reading this book induces a trance like state similar to what the characters themselves experience. Full of applicable wisdom and also with fantastical hypothetical idealism, this book is one of the greatest works of fiction that I've had the pleasure of reading. Huxley is one of my favorite authors, and this book reminds me why. He feels and he makes you feel it too. Insightful yet grounded. Intellectual yet spiritual. He's done his research and he's done his imagining.

I have to admit that I didn't find this novel as transformative as some readers did, but I'm quite glad to have read it. Truthfully, it's not much of a story, but it sure will give you food for thought and I expect Huxley's ideas will stick with me for a long, long time.

The protagonist of Island is British journalist Will Farnaby. Will isn't an entirely likeable character as the novel opens--as is so often the case in these tales of redemption. In an attempt to escape his troubles, or possibly to escape himself, Will takes a day off from a Southeast Asian business trip to go sailing. A sudden storm sweeps in, and in the novel's opening pages Will realizes he's shipwrecked and injured. Luckily, Will has washed up on the exotic and little-visited island of Pala. This island-nation is a modern (or the 1960s version of it) Utopia.

Will is discovered by some children who promptly go for help. It arrives in the form of Dr. Robert MacPhail, one of the island's most respected citizens. Dr. Robert patches Will up, and he and other islanders indulge Will's curiosity about their home. Over the course of just a few days, they introduce Will to every aspect of their most extraordinary society. From family life, medicine, education, and rites of passage, Will learns about Palanese life from birth to death.

He meets many islanders, including the future Raja who is about to come of age, and his mother, the Rani. These two members of the ruling class have some very different ideas about how things should be on Pala. And their agenda may just tie in with a secret agenda of Will's own... It is this loose storyline that the plot consists of, but it's actually a very minor part of the novel--just a thread that runs through a lot of philosophy and sociology. Personally, I had a very limited interest in and tolerance for a lot of Eastern religious (mostly Buddhist) philosophy. But I really loved the sociological ideas Huxley put forth in his Utopia. Really, really interesting stuff! For another reader, it might be the reverse. One way or another, I really have to believe the novel would be of interest to any thinking person.

In any Utopian novel, the author must deliver an almost perfect fusion of plot and theory that simultaneously captivates and inspires the reader. Huxley is not quite able to deliver here. In short: in comparison to Brave New World, which is a masterly critique of the way things are headed (I strongly recommend supplementing with BNW Revisited), this vision of what things might be pales.

This book is built as a dialogue between the West (Farnaby) and various elements of a better society (characters of Pala). Many of the conversations are outstanding and revealing. Huxley obviously had a great intuitive feel for humans and their trajectory when operating in a Western, consumer driven system. There are many great insights that you will literally not find in any other work. I think most books of Huxley are worth reading for these revelations alone. This is not to say that he is an infallible sage type. For example, he recommends hormonally modifying youngsters if they are too "muscle bound" or "inferior". Then we wouldn't have such a risk of psychopathic dictators... Not sure he truly appreciated man's lust for greed and his boundless capacity for self-delusion.

However, as Huxley alludes to himself,he is not the great poet that can thrill us with harmonious language and thrilling plot. While the middle sections move well, the beginning and conclusion are hard to follow with any passionate interest. Sir Thomas Moore's "Utopia" was far more engaging because of the great humor and satirical elements employed. Huxley must surely be lacking in a sense of humor, a deficit which is sorely missed when such a grave topic is handled.

In conclusion, this book is a must read. I only wish Huxley stuck with more of a non-fiction approach, as his contemporary Bertrand Russell wrote in because he is a direct writer and incredibly logical. These strengths make his fictional writing unnecessarily tedious and preachy, which was a common criticism among his readership of the time.

Huxley gives us a lot to ponder in his "utopian" schemata. His satirical and humorous protagonist, Farnaby, was hilarious. His snide comments and thoughts made me laugh out loud at times. I felt Huxley's writing style was much clearer and more accessible than A Brave New World and as a result I liked Island much better. Island reflects a great deal of cynicism about America and the world. Huxley attacks, among other things (1) consumerism; (2) the cold war ideology of both the capitalistic west and the socialist east; (3) religious suppression of the right of others to develop and practice their own sexual and other "private" mores and the use of the state to further this suppression; (4) violence and militarism clothed in religion, progress (technological and moral), and so called freedom; (5) political and social corruption of corporatism and the power of corporations and those that control them to use their resources for political power.
The key point I feel Huxley makes is that capitalistic or corporate power in the west is able to use it vast resources to obtain what it desires. Corporate power uses money, religion, and the greed of the State to pursue its ends. Had the leaders of Pala given into greed then the Island would not have suffered its eventual fate at the hands of an outside force--but would have suffered an erosion of its "utopian" nature and everyone except the greedy would have lost in the end anyway. But either way it is clear that the corporate interests will take what it desires and use the tools of religious fervor and state power to further their own ends. Its key resource, however, is still MONEY---and in pursuit of what?----more MONEY. The happiness of everyday citizens is sacrificed at the altar of corporate greed.
Island was published in 1962 and really reflects Huxley's views, I suspect, of the latter half of the 1950's. Interestingly, the 1950's are marked by (1) the true rise of consumerism and corporate exploitation of American demand for goods; (2) entrenchment of the Cold War and suppression of individual rights and free thought based on ideological extremism (McCarthy, Hoover, John Foster Dulles, Castro, and Stalin are all towering figures of the 1950s); (3) the emerging battle and public expression of a new set of sexual mores which met a backlash by conservative/religious segments of society; (4) The emergence of cold war capitalism fueled both by American defense corporations and the attempt of the Soviet Union to catch up with the west in terms of industrialization and military might (Eisenhower, during his Presidency, warned of the might of the military industrial complex). Some argue the entire cold war was generated by the greed of American defense industries (this is far-fetched in my opinion).
The scary thing about all this--the same set of circumstances can be said to have exit today, despite the end of the cold war. Certainly, the power of corporations to dominate the political agenda and decision making process is still intact. Whether this limits or threatens individual liberties and democracy is another question. Certainly it did in the 1950's in America. It is amazing to me the correlation between the 1950's and the 1980's at the height of the cold war in American History. (For more information on the 1950's in this country I would recommend a perusal of David Halberstam's The 1950's). Huxley's book is as timely and poignant today as it was in 1962. The right or ability of an individual and a society to choose how it is going to live and progress is as impeded today as it was in the early 1960's---and by the same forces.
Some rogue comments:
1. I found the discussion of "maithuna" or the "yoga of love" to be quite humorous. I especially liked Farnaby's snide thought "What shall be do to be saved? The answer is in four letters". Is there really such a thing as "maithuna"?
2. The use of mind altering drugs for experiencing a different slice of reality was provocative. Huxley wrote a book called "The Doors of Perception" which I have not read. I found these elements of the book to be interesting and really wanted more explication on the subject.
3. The commentary on population control was also quite timely then and now. This exchange I found quite clear and commonsensical:
Farnaby: "You seem to have solved your economic problems [on the Island] pretty successfully".
Dr. Robert: "Solving them wasn't difficult. To begin with, we never allowed ourselves to produce more children than we could feed, clothe, house, and educate into something like full humanity".
4. One of the scary pitfalls of the book is the Island's use of psychological drugs to control and shape the personality of its children so they don't grow up to be problems. Huxley, I felt, placed too much trust in science and medicine in this instance. This seemed to me like something not out of a peaceful utopian society but "A Clockwork Orange" (see p. 154-155 of the Perennial Library paperback edition for the reference-about 2/3rds into chapter 9).
5. I know little about Buddhism and Yoga so those parts of the books I did not get as much out of, although I found them of interest. I wonder why he chose forms of these religions as those most applicable to his utopia as opposed to atheism or some form of spiritualistic religion other than Buddhism?
One last comment: The ending was perfect in its cynicism. (...)

I kept reading this book because on some level I was just waiting for something to happen. There were a couple of conflicts that could come to head somehow and make the book interesting in the "I'm reading a fictional narrative sort of way". However, none of these became more than hints until the very last two pages of the book. When this happens it seems like some predetermined anticlimax that you have been waiting for all along. The book fails as a narrative which is a problem when the publishers want to sell it as fiction.

The problem is that it is not a work of fiction but is more a work of philosophy as story. I kept thinking of Candide or Gulliver's Travels (Oxford World's Classics). The problem is that Voltaire and Swift's works were at the bottom much more interestingly told. Island is the vehicle for Huxley to lay out his real utopia devised after a lifetime of intellectual work. The protagonist and the reader are guided around the island to learn about the pro-Buddhist, pro-hallucinatory drug, pro-sex, and anti(capitalist, communist, consumption, western education, nuclear family, etc) philosophy.

This journey, as the protagonist learns and starts to internalize the teachings of the island, comes to an end based on the forces that represent the bad in the world. Poor Huxley's utopia even though isolated from the world cannot survive as the very nature of the philosophy is non-violent and acquiescent. It contains the seeds of its own destruction. I cannot help but think how much Huxley hated modernity and hoped for and sought a world beyond this one in the form of religion and drugs. For him, the struggle was not about the control of the means of production, but whether the means of production should exist. I just think he should thank his stars that he did not live to see the Brave New World in the flower as we can see it.

My wife and I have been preparing for next year's season premiere of ABC's hit series, Lost (Lost - The Complete Fourth Season), and decided to engage in one of our "movie marathons" by watching all four seasons' prior episodes over several weeks. As part of the experience, we perused the Lost Book Club offerings (on ABC's website) and noticed that Aldous Huxley's "Island (Perennial Classics) was included. The connection, for those die-hard Lost fans: the "Others" use the Pala Dock Ferry to travel to/from their barracks.

On seeing that online listing, I was reminded that I had read the book about a decade after it was originally published (in 1962), while I was in high school. Although most of us growing up in the 1960s were more likely to have read his more famous and successful Brave New World; his last novel, Island is also worth a read. One of the lasting memories from the novel involved the talking parrots that inhabit Huxley's idyllic island, Pala. The parrots had been trained to remind the Palanese inhabitants to pay "attention" and to concentrate on the "here and now." Very good advice indeed.

The book can be a bit tedious at times, but I certainly enjoyed re-living the transformation of the book's cynical and corrupt main character, Will Farnaby, as he gradually comes to understand and accept the more spiritual existence he finds on the island. Through his conversations with the islanders, Farnaby learns of group upbringing of children in what are known as Mutual Adoption Clubs; special religious traditions (based on a mixture of eastern religions, primarily Buddhist); the pervasive use of mind-expanding drugs, called "moksha medicine;" tantric sexual practices; and much more.

Go ahead and give it a try... whether it's your first time reading, or you're diving back in after a long absence, it's definitely worth a read. Maybe, just maybe, it'll help you figure out what "Lost" is all about as well!

John Cathcart
Award-winning author of "Delta 7"

One of the most impressive books that I've ever read (especially on the subject of idealism and human consciousness evolution) was, by Aldous Huxley after he had left his pessimism period and entered his optimism phase. It is titled "Island" and concerns an attempt to establish an island utopian society by marrying science and something akin to Buddhist philosophy. I loved it because it taught yin/yang and helped people accept approaching death by the elderly as a part of the life/death cycle. They also did brilliant things like teach children that they could tell were going to be big and strong that force doesn't make right. They actually systematically taught bully prevention and empathy. We could learn a lesson from this book in combating bullying.

Well, on a plus I read Utopia by Thomas Moore due to a suggestion in this book's reviews. So that was Awesome.

Another plus - this book has increased my lexicon.

Minus -
I kind of expected this book to be a pleasant cross between Utopia and The Power of now. From other reviews: I gather this author is some sort of genius, and maybe he is/was, but it feels like he used a thesaurus for every other word. That could be my limitation though. The book drags on, and at first is rather confusing, though does become clearer. Even when it becomes more clear it's just plain boring.

The final straw for me, was in the last two chapters I read, there was a lot of hatred aimed at Christianity and in particular the Catholic Church. It seemed rather hateful and I didn't really care for that. Again, that's my personal preference and my opinion. Just as I have a right to my opinion so does the author. We just happen to disagree. I could probably get passed this in hopes of a plot twist but the book is so boring to me I just can't give it anymore time. For all I know he mentions later some pluses and praises of Christianity in conjunction with Buddhism - I just am to bored with the book to find out.

If you judge this book solely on its literary merit, you will be disappointed. There isn't much of a plot here, and characterization lacks adequate depth. If on the other hand, you regard this novel as a way to frame a whole set of ideas, you'll be greatly rewarded. Along with Thomas Mann, Huxley is perhaps the most intelligent and well rounded man in the world of 20th century literature, and this work is a culmination of a lifetime of thought about society, science, and the relationship between them. Huxley was a man who actually cared about humankind, and in this book he tells us what it would take to create a perfect society. He seems to have taken great pains to stay clear of science fiction and wrote the most practical utopia he could conceive based on the scientific and technological achievements of his day. Forty years later, the world of Pala lies well within our realm of technological possibility. So why don't we build it? What Huxley indirectly shows is that even when we can do it, we are not willing to pay the price for it. In a world where the market is king, and freedom without responsibility is seen as a given, Pala looks as distant and quaint as the SF worlds of Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Even if Pala is not feasible on a nationwide or worldwide scale, this novel has important things to teach us as individuals. It convincingly shows how we are conditioned by our environment and upbringing to behave a certain way. If we change or overcome that conditioning our lives will be transformed, even as we are encroached by the cruel world around us. Island is sure to give food for thought for a long time to come.

Huxley's final novel is testament to an interesting and rather brilliant man. It will forever, no matter what, lie in the shadows of Huxley's excellent "Brave New World" and will always be just another book by Huxley, read only by those seeking Huxley's clever spark once again. People such as myself.

"Island" is, ultimately, a sign of Huxley as a writer. The plot is virtually nonexistent (not too unlike the amusing "Point Counterpoint" in that respect) and the writing is at times dull. But just as Huxley falls in some of the usual traps, he shines in others. The book is amazingly interesting, whether you agree with the philosophy or not. There's a clever, sneaky sort of irony to the entire book, one that is not undermined by the curious blandness of the novel as well. It's got one of the strangest views of society I've encountered in my life, a book-within-a-book that's pretty boring (similar to "1984"), and a number of scenes so curiously written that just about every reader will set the book down to scratch their head.

It's the Huxley conundrum, really. On the one hand, the book is intelligent, amusing in its irony, and provides plenty of food for thought. On the other hand, it can get amazingly dull. The story actually bogs down at some point, but picks up again soon after. It's an uneven book, sporting both superb writing in its descriptions and choppy writing in the flow and the overall intrigue of the novel.

Ultimately, it's interesting for its points, less so for its writing. Huxley is as clever and thought-provoking as ever, but those coming from "Brave New World" may find themselves disappointed by somewhat dull writing and a barely existent plot. Still, it provides plenty of food for thought - just see if the tradeoff is worth it.

There are plot driven novels, and there are not so plot driven novels. Island falls whole-heartedly into the latter category. Will Farnaby a reporter with ulterior motives finds himself stranded on the tropical island of Pala. The readers' learn the religio-socio-philosophical engine that drives Pala as Will does. It is a utopian society formed around sensuality, and mind enlightening drugs.

This novel is a philosophical treatise in disguise. It is a worthy tract comparable (as some here have I believe) to Candide and Gullivers Travels (but on acid.) The prose is very lucid in parts, yet also a little wacky(not most literate term but nothing else is coming to mind) at times. I could picture Huxley ingesting his muse opening the doors of perception and writing furiously. In fact I admit I have not braved the new world, but have read Huxley's THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION/HEAVEN AND HELL and enjoyed that more mainly because it didn't wear the disguise of a work of fiction. This is a fine satirical commentary on the human condition and would have rated four stars from me if the ideas expressed were not recycled in some cases from DOORS OF PERCEPTION.

I was a fan of "Brave New World" as well as Huxley himself and without hesitation picked up this enlightening book. I believe this book invokes numerous topics of discussion be it politics, capitalism, individuality, spirituality, etc. I personally feel out of all those components I listed above Huxley emphasizes the concept of spirituality, particularly Buddhist philosophies. I believe Will Faranby was both a protagonist and a antagonist, but thats open to interpretation. Huxley wrote this book giving the reader an opportunity to see how spirituality shapes and impacts a persons perception of him/herself (the being) and the world. The book centered around the progression of Will Faranby's introspective of consciousness. Huxley incorporated hallucinogenics aka moksha-medicine as being totally appropriate and relevant to the characters development, thus solidifying Farnaby's introspective of himself. In essence, the moksha-medicine was an eye-opening, yet intense experience that ultimately gave the main character a deeper awareness to the world and his own personal existence (the being).

I found this book lying in a closed dusty box in the basement where all of my dad's old books are. I had heard tons about The Doors of Perception so decided to give this one a try. If I say that this book changed by whole life it would be saying too much. But if definitely makes me wonder why we, the entire human race, are rotting away to glory when a "formula" for better and more fulfilling way to live is out there for us to take. It's in this very book. After reading this book I doubt there would be anybody who would not question the existing, decadent values and morals that bind us all. What a perfect mixture of eastern and western wisdom! I really recommend that this book should be a part of the curriculum in schools throughout the world. Oh ya the part about the mushrooms in that temple as part of the initiation process and the accompanying Shiva Vedic chants...it really can be the most awesome out of body experience you can have. Trust me I am from India. Bottom Line: Go read it and ask everyone you know to read it too. Spread the message and who knows maybe one day we could all experience Huxley's Utopia.

I don't know that I have a lot to say about ISLAND that other reviewers haven't said already. Your response to the novel will have a lot to do with how you feel about overt didacticism in art. Personally, I don't really mind it as long as the ideas expressed are interesting, and, as I always do in Huxley's work, I find his ideas very interesting; you, on the other hand, may (quite reasonably) say that if you want to be preached to, you'll go to church this Sunday. I probably would have responded much more readily to this novel had I read it, say, in my mid-twenties (which, ironically, was when it was given to me) - at 42, I'm afraid I'm a bit too set in my ways to embrace it as wholeheartedly.

This is really a book for people who are interested in Huxley's thoughts on improving society and improving oneself who, for whatever reason, can't stomach non-fiction - for those who are free from such an aversion, I'd recommend reading Brave New World Revisited (P.S.) and The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell (P.S.).

This is the work of a social planner - and not the kind that coordinates seating arrangements and makes out guest lists. The culmination of several explorations in cultural engineering, Island is a how-to book describing the requisite customs, attitudes, and institutions for a society devoted to the positive development and individuation of its citizens.

In this book Huxley subverts all the conventional storytelling devices to make his points. Plot and characterization really are afterthoughts here unless they assist in some way to get an idea across. All the relevant conclusions that have been carefully and thoughtfully arrived at over an entire lifetime are given airing here mostly in awkward asides. Huxley is reaching the end of his life, and there's an urgency in the prose that resembles a harangue. But if we recall the ambitious intention here - to lay out a blueprint for a society truly dedicated to individual liberty and liberation - it seems inane to complain about the lack of conventional storytelling devices.

In this book we can see that Huxley has done all the heavy lifting long before the hippies came on the scene and turned drug-taking into a recreational activity - invalidating drug use for any other purpose in the minds of a majority of people. Many of these same people now seek to invalidate Huxley's crowning achievement because the writing can't be enjoyed as an escapist, recreational activity. This paradox is the result of an all-too-human tendency to manipulate facts and use them to argue against any idea that might contradict their ingrained beliefs.

Of course, some will argue that their problem with Island is not that it can't be enjoyed recreationally, but that it is the leftist ravings and ramblings of a drugged-out kook. My response is that this argument is not supported by a careful consideration of the points Huxley makes. Perhaps, given more time Huxley would have polished this work into a more easily-accessible form; but that didn't keep me from appreciating it.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. "Brave New World" is one of my favorite dystopias, so I was excited to see how Huxley tackled a utopia, and to see how his thoughts on society matured between his writing of "Brave New World" and "Island"-- his last novel. I felt the result was slightly disappointing.
While all dystopias and utopias are comments on society, and almost all utopia/dystopia authors have an agenda which they would like the reader to come to after reading the work, most do so in a more subtle manner. There is nothing subtle in "Island" which is my biggest problem with it. While I agree with many of the ideas shown in the story, I felt that Huxley didn't present them, but preached them. The book left no room for the reader to form their own opinion on issues in modern society, instead they were told, repeatedly. This preaching seemed both at odds with the ideas Huxley was pushing, and weakened the rest of the story by sacrifing things such as well rounded characters. The reader only gets flat, static, characters who can all be catagorized as either the pro-Western culture characters,who are all portrayed as naive, ridiculus, or greedy, and the anti-Western culture characters, who are all portrayed as smart and sexy ideals.
These elements made it so that while I agreed with many of Huxley's ideas, the heavy handed style weakened the force of both the message and the book as a whole.

Island, in my opinion is probably Aldous Huxley's best work, and also one of the best books I have ever read. For those of you interested in spirituality, this would probably be the book to get started on. It has a good way of telling you what peace and the "Buddha Nature" really does feel like. The book is about a utopian society on an island called Pala. Will Farnaby, 'suffering from the disease called Civilization', lands on the island, in the hope of getting the bid for a lucrative oil contract, but the more of the island he sees, the more he realizes that the island must be saved from civilization at all costs. To say more would be to spoil the story for those of you who have not read it. Needless to say, I liked this book a lot more than I liked Brave New World, or any of his other books. I feel that this was his most pointed attack on our way of life. It can be read and re-read a million times. The ideas contained in it are really refreshing, so refreshing and original that I'm still trying to come up with well founded criticisms. This book is well worth the price, now if only there were more authors who could write like this.

OK, let's for a moment disregard the Robinson Crusoe-like opening where the hero, a reporter named William Asquith Farnaby, is discovered by two children lying injured on a deserted beach of the mystical, forbidden island of Pala, located somewhere in Indonesia or Micronesia (perhaps a wordplay on the real island of Palau?). Let's also forget that the hero's seemingly inadvertent arrival in Pala happily coincides with his robber baron boss Joe Aldehyde's intentions that Farnaby visit Pala for reasons having to do with giving Aldehyde's companies access to the island's reputedly rich but untapped oil supply. What are we left with?

In Aldous Huxley's last published novel, he returned to the notion of creating his own (micro-) world. Unlike the futuristic nightmare of BRAVE NEW WORLD, however, Huxley's Pala is a veritable nirvana. For over 120 years, Pala has largely closed itself off to the outside world and developed its own form of ideal society. Pala is characterized by free love, communal child-raising, shared manual labor, an educational system based in part on Zen Buddhist principles, adoption of technology only where the essential needs and benefits vastly outweigh the costs, and consciousness-raising through hallucinogenic drugs. A certain amount of religious mysticism has also held sway, particularly as regards the afterlife.

Now, at the time of Farnaby's oddly convenient arrival, Pala's peaceful calm is threatened from within and without. From within, the prince and future ruler Murugan favors modernization, exploitation of Pala's oil resources, and crass materialism (represented by a Sears, Roebuck catalog over which he salivates like a teenager with his first copy of Penthouse); his mother favors the same policies as a means to finance her own cultish, self-promoting religious program to save the world. The external threats are most clearly embodied in Colonel Dipa, the industrialize-at-all-costs leader of the nearby island of Rendang-Lobo. Of course, Dipa is only a puppet of the true threats to Pala: big oil and other avaricious Western corporations and governments that would cannibalize Pala's utopian world in the name of profit. In this story, Farnaby is their front man.

While Farnaby recuperates for a month on Pala, he is given full access to the workings of their society. He is educated in Palan ways like a child would be taught, exposed to Zen notions of not-ness, suchness, and experiencing of the here and now. Farnaby is taken to visit schools and learn about Palan health care, and over time, he is led to the point where he is guided through his first alternate reality encounter with the help of the local hallucinogenic, the so-called "moksha-medicine." His moksha trip forces him to confront his own personal demons of divorce, infidelity, and a fear of death that he melodramatically refers to as the Essential Horror.

Can Will become a new and better Will and master his demons in just 30 days on Pala? Will he see Pala in a new light and reject his old ways and the wishes of his economic marauder boss, Aldehyde? Can he convince Prince Murugan that his notions of development and modernization will destroy the very things that make his country unique? Will Farnaby somehow act to prevent the Aldehyde-backed Colonel Dipa from leading the Rendangians in an invasion of Pala that will mirror the Italians entering Ethiopia or the Chinese entering Tibet? Or will he be so drugged up on the moksha-medicine that he won't care one way or the other?

Regretably, Huxley fails to achieve the sense of identification that would generate enough empathy for the reader truly to care. Palan society reads today like a quaint rendition of a hippie commune thirty years after Woodstock. At the same time, Huxley's characters are wooden, one-dimensional caricatures of what they represent, from the robber baron Aldehyde, the psychologically scarred Farnaby, and the enlightened Westerner Dr. Robert MacPhail to the fiberglass boat, Italian motor scooter-grubbing Prince Murugan, the despotic Colonel Dipa, and the inscrutably oriental Susila (now a MacPhail, naturally). By the end, I found myself recalling fondly my better high school readings: Hilton's LOST HORIZON, Goldings LORD OF THE FLIES, Swift's GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, Voltaire's CANDIDE, even Huxley's own BRAVE NEW WORLD. Unless you are an avid Huxley fan or a zealous Zen Buddhist, I'd recommend taking a pass on ISLAND.

Do not bother reading "Island" unless you are going to take a serious look at yourself and your society. You may not feel the connection between yourself and Mr. Farnaby, but if you live in the western world it's there. Directly or indirectly we have all commited his crimes.
Readers would do well to constantly question fictional truth versus literary metaphor. People on the Island bluntly explain so many concepts to Farnaby that many readers and reveiwers seem to miss key themes. I mean come on, Huxley couldn't just give you everything straight, he had to leave somthing for your post reading reflection.
To all the haters, I say open you mind. Is taking a real look at your self really that offensive?
If so, you just proved one of Huxley's points about ignorance.

Pala, the island in this book, is everything I've always wanted. Uncontaminated by the Western world, this island would have been an amazing place. I'm writing this review as I read the final pages of this book. However much of a cliché it is, I could not put it down, even at one AM. In the library, in my hometown, this book was classified as science fiction, but truly, it's more of a spiritual quest. The main character, Will started in the beginning of the book as a cynical, pessimistic man, but transformed drastically by the end. I think that throughout the book, I made a transformation too. If fiction can change one's life, it undoubtedly has changed mine.

I really didn't enjoy reading this book as much as I had hoped. The whole plot is essentially used as a device for Huxley to give his ideas about what a sustainable society might look like. Although I find Huxley to be a very good writer, this book was a little to authoritarian and condescending for me to enjoy. But, if you have ever read books that highlighted alot of problems, but never seem to give solutions, this is a good book to read. Many of the problems Huxley see's in modern society are brought forth with real answers applied to them. I have to admit that alot of his proposed solutions were very interesting and a breath of fresh air.

I recently finished this book by Aldous Huxley.

It was written near the end of his life in the early 1960's, and it is filled with philosophy popular at the time or soon after - free love/sex, mind expanding drugs, Eastern philospohy, etc. etc. These points of view were brought forth within a story about a utopian island in Asia.

I had looked forward to reading this book from what I had heard about it. I was somewhat disappointed. There was very little story and a lot of preaching about how bad/wrong the "West" is about everything and how sex, drugs and Buddha could save mankind. If you ask me, Buddha might save the world, but I doubt if this would happen in the preachy way of this book.

No, I did not care very much for the book. The ending was not even a happy one.
The one positive thing I can say is that I do think I really got the concept of "not-thought" at one point in reading this book. That has value. It is along the lines of another book recently out, THE POWER OF NOW; I think that ISLAND is specifically mentioned in it.

I wouldn't want to live on Huxley's Utopian Pala. I wouldn't be able to watch children starving to death on my 5 t.v. sets while thinking about how I am going to increase my income so that I can watch 10 t.v. sets at the same time. Life on Pala is much too earnest. Too much serious pursuit of health and happiness. I would need to let off steam in the same way that the Puritans had a respite from their quest for total goodness by frying a few witches. Total happiness is, like total goodness, too demanding. No wonder the residents of Pala don't seem perturbed that an evil dictator might take over their paradise one day. They are secretly as fed up with the pursuit of happiness as any normal person would be. That's why they choose not to use their superior psycho-spiritual skills to dreamweave the continued existence of their life-style.
Virtually every ingredient of Pala's utopian system exists, or has existed at some time in humanity's history. If you end up calling this book a spoof it's because your lifestyle, values, or values have been brought into question by Huxley's probing book, and you can't find a reasonable reply. Huxley is angry at the rottenness of society, angry that nobody REALLY wants a less rotten society, and angry that people cannot see that a less rotten society is NOT a utopian dream - that there IS a way to a better world.
New Agers should get out of their sweat lodges, put away their crystals and read this book. Then they would really know "What's What and What It Might be Reasonable to Do about What's What." Or at least have a better idea what New Age is really about, and how it developed. Actually everyone would benefit from reading this book. It should be compulsory reading in all schools. It helps removes the blinkers of rigid thoughts and beliefs. Although it is much more fun to watch WWF, sick movies, state-sanctioned murder by lethal injection, and bombs being dropped on foreign countries than to think or dream about, or try to create Utopia.
But Utopian Pala is also bit like Life itself? Both were created by the union of opposites. In Pala's case it was a union of science and mysticism. In both Life and Pala people prefer not to think that existence as they know it might, or will, end one day. And if it must end - what comes next? More of the same? Some things continue while other's don't - like the soul might continue while the body doesn't? Or is the ending total, final, absolute? Nothing continues?
This book raises more questions than it answers - questions that will always demand attention. That's why I liked it so much.

First of all, like any utopian vision, this book lacks life. Though I think that psychedelics (entheogens) can help some people to get in touch with a larger reality, I dont think that this holds true for everyone. For instance, personal transformation and inner-conflicts were treated simplistically. I did think the dynamic between the peaceloving people of Pala and its internal greedy members as well as outsiders who wished to exploit the island rang true. Would like to give this book a better review, but I can't.
Thomas Seay

Whew, am I glad to be finished with this book. It was very heavy reading, and boring as well. I'm glad I did read it, just so I know what it's all about, since it is a well-known classic by a famous author. But I'm so glad to be done, it was a real slog to get through.

It is the antithesis of *Brave New World*, a Utopian vision rather than a Dystopian one. The thing is, it is only very thinly disguised as a novel. Except for the main character, there's not a lot of character development, and practically no plot at all. Nothing happens except at the very beginning and very end (and even then, not much.)

What it really is, is a discussion of Huxley's theory of what it would take to create Utopia. If this is something you are passionately interested in, and you are reading it as such rather than as a novel, you would perhaps appreciate it. The story mainly consists of the main character going around touring an island country while different residents explain all the elements that make their society so ideal. It is a series of highly abstract, esoteric discussions mainly of philosophy and spirituality, told in "appropriate" weighty language (i.e., the heaviness of the language is apparently intended to convey the seriousness of the subject. In case we don't get that.)

I didn't buy Huxley's vision, either. Many of the foundations he proposes for the building of a Utopia are either realistically impossible, almost childishly naive and pie-in-the-sky, or both. For example, magic mushrooms whose effects are only vaguely described (to me it appeared that all they did was get people stoned to the point of hallucination) but were essential to impart transcendence and make a person "fully human." And being able to identify and cure young children who would otherwise grow up to be violent, sociopathic, self-destructive, etc. And getting everyone over the age of 15 to practice Tantric sex, and only Tantric sex. (Can you imagine a 15-year-old boy being able to do that, or even wanting to try?) True, these impossibilities are supposedly excused by being under the umbrella of fiction, but the actual result is that the book doesn't really succeed as either fiction OR nonfiction.

I was also put off by Huxley's unadulterated and open contempt for anyone who was overweight. And by his (perhaps unconscious) apparent pedophilia. I wish I'd kept a tally of how many times he ecstatically described the breasts of pubescent girls (naturally, they were always bare in his utopia.) I'm betting such descriptions would number in the double digits.

The one thing I did like about this book was that when he wasn't being portentously weighty, Huxley's descriptions are gorgeous and lyrical. For example, I loved the care-crows (scarecrows) and the Japanese Hornpipe dance.

If you've never read Aldous Huxley before, I recommend giving this a skip and reading *Brave New World* instead. That one is quite interesting. It's hard to believe the two books were written by the same person.

(286 pages)

I did get some good quotes from *Island*:

"Both of us victims of the same twentieth-century plague. Not the Black Death this time; the Grey Life."

"I have a theory that, whenever little boys and girls are systematically flagellated, the victims grow up to think of God as 'Wholly Other' -- isn't that the fashionable *argot* in your part of the world? Wherever, on the contrary, children are brought up without being subjected to physical violence, God is immanent. A people's theology reflects the state of its children's bottoms."

". . . she was slowly, and with a great deal of pain, put to death in solitude. In solitude . . . For of course nobody can help, nobody can ever be present. People may stand by while you're suffering and dying; but they're standing by in another world. In *your* world you're absolutely alone. Alone in your suffering and your dying, just as you're alone in love, alone even in the most completely shared pleasure."

In recent years I became more and more interested in culture and cultural differences. In order to understand the latter you first of all have to know your own very well and at least one other. In my opinion Huxley managed to help me with both quite a bit. He provided me a foreign culture explained it, described it to the fullest. True it is fiction but this has the advantage of being complete while in reality it might take you a lifetime to get to know a culture as a whole.
Huxley then makes us watch this culture clash with ours. At that point I realized that the absolute right or wrong does not exists nor does the only true way. I had to put my knowledge and my beliefs into perspective and question everything. I realized that different cultural backgrounds (in sense of a base of knowledge) not only lead to different actions but, even more important, also to different interpretations of what people say and how they react and do things. When I say Huxley made those two cultures clash I do not think of the British journalist interacting with the Palanese. The true clash in my opinion is the young prince of Pala. He is torn between cultures and tries to mix both not knowing that he is about to destroy paradise. You can watch that happen in a lot of countries. People are trying to import parts of foreign "evident culture" which is not compatible to their own "deep culture".
By reading this book I "experienced" cross cultural interaction - It changed my view on cultures and their interaction as much as living abroad did.

This book was not terrible, but compared to Brave New World, it was Boring New World. I took it on vacation with me (to an island) and I ended up being disappointed because I had nothing else to read. But I did finish the book, and as a few other reviewers have commented, it seemed to be low on plot... and to not really get off the ground. I think that Huxley was a genius, and a wonderful writer, and so it pains me to say this about this particular book. I just think he was trying to say too much here... too much selective philosophy rammed into a novel. What do I mean by selective? Well, for one thing, it leaves no room for the possibility of a God who is separate from his creation. Theism is mocked here. A more well-rounded novel about philosophy would be Jostein Gaarder's "Sophie's World".
Huxley's Island is this isolated Pala, a magisterial queendom, founded on the principles of Mahayana Buddhism and western/scientific atheism. Dr. Robert, who is the grandson of one of the two founders of Pala, says, "The Palanese were Buddhists. They knew how misery is related to mind. You cling, you crave, you assert yourself - and you live in a homemade hell. You become detached - and you live in peace." (ch.viii). The residents of Pala have developed a society based upon disciplined detachment, admirable enough in many ways. A peaceful compassionate world where even the wild mynah birds are trained to say "have compassion, have compassion." This detachment is achieved through many methods, including hypnotism, transcendental meditation, animal magnetism, and of course, the ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms (called "moksha-medicine"). Living in the "here and now" is of paramount importance, in fact, it could be said that this is the worldview of Pala. "Matter is evil" is a big idea too.
Will Farnaby (an outsider) is deliberately shipwrecked on this tropical would-be utopia and seeks to influence the Queen or "Rani" regarding the lucrative oil rights to Pala. But Mr. Farnaby becomes integrated into the life of the island, and is experientially impressed to the point of second-guessing some of his own motives and ambitions. What seemed to be opportunity now looks like exploitation. But it may be too late for anyone (including Huxley) to do anything, one way or the other, about the inexorable conclusion.
At any rate, the ending seemed sort of weak. Somewhere I remember reading that Huxley was pressured to finish the book quicker than he would have liked. If so, that is unfortunate. Have you ever watched one of those movies where at the end the screen goes black, and you're expecting a bit more but the credits start rolling by, and you turn to whoever is next to you and say "What?" Well, that's how I felt, out in the paddle-boat when I finished this book.
Everyone knows that Huxley was tremendously interested in the hallucinogenic experience. I agree with him that hallucinogens can grant a momentary heightened awareness, maybe even make someone feel that they are thereby tapping in to some kind of mystical Oneness. Whoop-de-do! But the benefit of such experience will always break down when applied to society. The benefits, if any, will always be individual, and individually experienced. Let's face it, for utopia to be sustainable at all, a certain amount of society has to be brutally sober. For instance, there's nothing "utopic" or peaceful about taking off in a jet when the pilot is up front burping mushrooms and "tuning in to his Oneness".
Pala doesn't work for me, because it's too simplistic. I'm rounding off 2.5 stars upwards, out of respect for the author in general.

One of the best books I have read is Aldous Huxley's 'Island'. It is a take-off on the utopia theme and not his first one on it, the earlier one being 'The Brave New World'. His 'The Brave New World' was a brilliant trenchant satire, written on the premise that the human race has only two alternatives viz. being either insane or lunatic. 'The Brave New World' was a fantasy fable. 'Island' published in 1962, 30 years after 'Brave New World' was written by a much mellowed Huxley. Huxley's premise had changed from the earlier one. He believed that humanity had a third choice, of being sane. 'Island' is no satire, less fable like, the socio-political, economic system exposited in it is less fable like, and though might seem very difficult to realize, is not impossible if we all manage to be sane!
Pala is a tiny (fable) island in the Indian Ocean, where it's small community has made the best of western and eastern worlds. The inhabitants are basically Shivaite-Buddhists. They have adopted the western technology but not to the extent that the technology becomes dehumanizing and prevents them being full human beings. They have steered clear of the three pillars of the western prosperity:- armaments, universal debt and planned obsolescence. They have of course their tradition of empathy for all the living beings, their respect for the environment, habitat and the practice of their traditional mind science. The Community believes that God is immanent, man is potentially transcendent. The island's enlightened community have attempted the enormous folly of trying to make a marriage between Hell and Heaven and succeeded at it. They have blended their tradition with western technology in a perfect synthesis. Rather, one of their prime credo is making the best of all the worlds.
The book opens in a dramatic fashion. An English journalist on a secret mission to push the Oil interests of his tycoon boss is regaining consciousness an early morning on the fable island Pala. He had the previous afternoon procured a boat at the neighboring island (a separate country) and planned to sail into the Pala harbor. Unfortunately, he gets caught in a squall. Instead of sailing into the Pala harbor, he is washed ashore the wrong side of the Island with steep hills to be negotiated to reach habitation. Even as he is descending in the failing light of dusk, negotiating the slippery rain washed rocks, he espies snakes (not necessarily venomous) slithering around. Probably finding live snakes around for the first time in his life, he panics, loses hold and falls. Fortunately for him, this fall to the ground is cushioned by an obstructing tree. Still badly bruised, shaken and utterly terrified he loses consciousness. He regains consciousness the next morning with two Palanese urchins - a ten year old girl and a four year old boy- solicitously looking down upon him. The girl sends off the boy to get help. Meanwhile she feeds the famished journalist with bananas. The journalist is still carrying the phantom images of the slithering snakes though they are no more around. How the ten year old successfully administers therapy to the adult journalist to rid of the snakes crawling in his mind is one of the high points of the novel!
One of the other high points in the novel: - the character Lakshmi, in last dying stages of terminal cancer is treated by her relatives. Death is treated as any other incident in life. It is as if Lakshmi's relatives are seeing her off for a long journey she is undertaking. She is helped in every way to live to the very fullest even as she is dying. Huxley had been deeply influenced by the book 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead' so popular in the west during 1920s & 1930s. This particular episode seems to have been inspired by 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead'.
Huxley concludes the book on somewhat tragic but realistic note.

One of the best books I have read is Aldous Huxley's 'Island'. It is a take-off on the utopia theme and not his first one on it, the earlier one being 'The Brave New World'. His 'The Brave New World' was a brilliant trenchant satire, written on the premise that the human race has only two alternatives viz. being either insane or lunatic. 'The Brave New World' was a fantasy fable. 'Island' published in 1962, 30 years after 'Brave New World' was written by a much mellowed Huxley. Huxley's premise had changed from the earlier one. He believed that humanity had a third choice, of being sane. 'Island' is no satire, less fable like, the socio-political, economic system exposited in it is less fable like, and though might seem very difficult to realize, is not impossible if we all manage to be sane!
Pala is a tiny (fable) island in the Indian Ocean, where it's small community has made the best of western and eastern worlds. The inhabitants are basically Shivaite-Buddhists. They have adopted the western technology but not to the extent that the technology becomes dehumanizing and prevents them being full human beings. They have steered clear of the three pillars of the western prosperity:- armaments, universal debt and planned obsolescence. They have of course their tradition of empathy for all the living beings, their respect for the environment, habitat and the practice of their traditional mind science. The Community believes that God is immanent, man is potentially transcendent. The island's enlightened community have attempted the enormous folly of trying to make a marriage between Hell and Heaven and succeeded at it. They have blended their tradition with western technology in a perfect synthesis. Rather, one of their prime credo is making the best of all the worlds.
The book opens in a dramatic fashion. An English journalist on a secret mission to push the Oil interests of his tycoon boss is regaining consciousness an early morning on the fable island Pala. He had the previous afternoon procured a boat at the neighboring island (a separate country) and planned to sail into the Pala harbor. Unfortunately, he gets caught in a squall. Instead of sailing into the Pala harbor, he is washed ashore the wrong side of the Island with steep hills to be negotiated to reach habitation. Even as he is descending in the failing light of dusk, negotiating the slippery rain washed rocks, he espies snakes (not necessarily venomous) slithering around. Probably finding live snakes around for the first time in his life, he panics, loses hold and falls. Fortunately for him, this fall to the ground is cushioned by an obstructing tree. Still badly bruised, shaken and utterly terrified he loses consciousness. He regains consciousness the next morning with two Palanese urchins - a ten year old girl and a four year old boy- solicitously looking down upon him. The girl sends off the boy to get help. Meanwhile she feeds the famished journalist with bananas. The journalist is still carrying the phantom images of the slithering snakes though they are no more around. How the ten year old successfully administers therapy to the adult journalist to rid of the snakes crawling in his mind is one of the high points of the novel!
One of the other high points in the novel: - the character Lakshmi, in last dying stages of terminal cancer is treated by her relatives. Death is treated as any other incident in life. It is as if Lakshmi's relatives are seeing her off for a long journey she is undertaking. She is helped in every way to live to the very fullest even as she is dying. Huxley had been deeply influenced by the book 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead' so popular in the west during 1920s & 1930s. This particular episode seems to have been inspired by 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead'.
Huxley concludes the book on somewhat tragic but realistic note.

I finished this book two days ago and I can't stop thinking about it. I'm no slack when it comes to knowledge about Eastern philosophy--I've been to Tibet and Nepal, into the monasteries, and made blessings at Buddhist Stupas. Of all modes of thinking, Buddhism probably best captures that essential element of all religions, that mystical and ever-present aspect of the universe. I've never thought it reasonable, however, to extrapolate Buddhist thinking into a functional and at least semi-modern society. In Island, Huxley creates this--an oasis of peace and spirituality in a working society that does not contradict its own Buddhist teachings. The book sharply and blatantly contrasts life on the Island to Western society and even Eastern society and their inherent problems. It's obvious Huxley is trying to send a message, that the world does not have to be the way it is, but he explains it and gives examples of it so well that his obvious message comes through as realistic and reasonable. The end is sad, and yet hopeful, emotionally ripping, and yet you feel somewhat indifferent to this end, which is exactly what the book is trying to say--that life has ups and downs and peacefulness can only be found when one lives detached from life's vicissitudes.
For all the English Lit. teachers out there, I'll be fair and say that his message is thinly disguised. It's right there out front and sometimes the book is even preachy. But, you only feel that *during* the book, and only in parts. By the time you finish though, all you can really do is say "Wow," and if you really want to do the book justice, just sit there...in a silence filled with awe and redefined perceptions. One more thing--tonight, I downloaded Brandenberg Concerto #4, and I have to say, I know *exactly* what Huxley is talking about. (awed silence)

Like in his famous novel "Brave New World", this is a utopian story, however in this case it is not a negative Utopia. Set on a tropical island and told from the point of view of a jaded journalist secretly helping an oil company interested in concessions, it explores Buddhist religion and possible alternatives to our lifestyle. No great revelations, but then, noone has the answers. A good read for Huxley fans and people who enjoy utopian stories

Island
Aldous Huxley
354 pages
13.95
ISBN 0-06-008549-5
HarperCollins Books

I was browsing around Borders, looking for a book to get for this personal reading assignment when Island by Aldous Huxley caught my eye. I assumed from its title and cover that it was some type of survival book about a group of people stranded on an island, struggling to make a fire and to get some food. However, I was completely wrong. Island is actually a book about Huxley's idea of perfect society. This isolated island in the story called Pala, receives only limited outside influence, making all of its unique culture possible. The story begins when Journalist Will Farnaby crashes his sailboat and washes up on the island's shore. Throughout the story Will learns all about this unique society, while Huxley articulates his view about human nature and the possibility of a utopia.
When Will arrives on the island he's confused and upset, not only at himself but also at the world. However, as he sees more and more of this unique society during his stay in Pala, he discovers a lot about himself. This completely changes his outlook on life, "revolutionizes all his values and - to his amazement - gives him hope." While the reader learns about Pala, the existence of its unique philosophy, customs and policies are being threatened. Its soon-to-be-leader Murugan plans to change Pala entirely. Like his idol Colonel Dipa, military dictator of a nearby country, Murugan has an obsession for power. He wants Pala to be an industrial, strong and powerful country. This means he aims to build up a huge army, sell Pala's oil reserves and modernize the island completely.
Huxley does a great job developing characters which helps support his theme about the complexity of human nature. And while explaining how this utopian society functions, Huxley raises some interesting points that make you re-think our surprisingly twisted way of life. Though it's not difficult to read, there are a fair amount of long dull parts, so I don't recommend it to those who want an exciting story. The New York Times book Review stated that, "In this book, Mr. Huxley has said his final word about the possibility of the good society. Island challenges the political scientist, the psychologist, the philosopher, and the theologian." I agree, in that it's a good book for people interested in this subject, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else.

I have been a long time fan of Aldoux Huxley's "Brave New World" but found that his ability for dystopian realities are also completely applicable to utopian realities. Highly recommended read for any Huxley fans, or anyone questioning our current global values, or dreaming of what society could look like.

this book describes aldous huxley's vision for how human beings could live if we would acknowledge that we are neither perfect or fatally flawed ... just a group of animals living on a planet together. if we dealt with that, we could then use our big brains to minimize the suffering of life.
the ending of this book is, though, a bit of a travesty. what huxley spends hundreds of pages building gets knocked away in just a chapter. another writer i know of, jean houston, says that she asked huxley about the ending of island and he said he lost the last bit of the manuscript and had to very quickly re-do it.
happens to the best of us i guess. you will like this book, though, if your friends accuse you of being an idealist. funny how 'idealist' is the word used to describe people like huxley, who look around them and despair because of their purely pragmatic knowledge that what we are doing now (as a society and a world) is not working.

This book was not even as good as 'Brave New World'. I opened it up hoping for that same almost humorous satire of a Utopian society. bad move...The storyline of this novel, with the ambiguity of the main character's past, falls flat in the first few chapters. I cannot really remember any portion of this book that really jumped out and grabbed me. The book was not bad, but it was not very good, either. Read this one if you are a Huxley fan or would like a small window of insight into one writer's view of a perfect society.

Island is heavy reading. It is basically a philosophical treatise and critique of society and history, coated with only the thinnest layer of novel-sugar. The philosophy is Huxley's report of mysticism and some psychology serves to back this up, as does the sociology, which also strongly criticises many traditional traits of Western and modern society and history. Pala is heralded as the utopian solution to this, though eventually is overrun by the forces of Western society.

I think it is underrated because, as I've said, it is considered a novel. It must have been hard, because Huxley couldn't have just left it without this 'novel-ness', yet to give too much emphasis on entertainment would presumably have detracted from both the intention and the meaning. In this light actually, it is a finely balanced book: a platform for this great writer and thinker to express his ideas and opinions that must've been brewing for quite a while. Unfortunately some come off as rants, for example Christianity, particularly its more extreme varieties; but of course one must consider this was published about 50 years ago, and it would have been more dominant than the (increasingly) small part Christianity plays in Europe (at least in terms of the suffering it inflicts).

For some reason this book is no where near as popular as Brave New World. I suppose it's because Brave New World is about our culture exagerated into the future, whereas Island is about extreme changes in our world views.
Island is about looking at existence and reality from a sane perspective, and by this I mean that it puts human ends above all else. Why tolerate and perpetuate instituations and modes of thought that alienate humans from themselves, their environment and each other? This book helps point out how much of our behaviour is learned, and how much of what we consider "natural", is simply human construction.

I think the best way to describe it is as John Lennon's song Imagine, in book form.

I think everyone should read this book.

In Island, Huxley takes all the devices that were used to keep a population dull and in check in his earlier novel, Brave New World, and sets them to a new purpose. Drugs are now used for enlightenment (see also Huxley's works Heaven and Hell and The Doors of Perception). Behavior modification is now for autonomy, not to control. It is a shame this book does not receive more attention, or even one percent of what its mirror image receives.

Huxley's unique blend of utopia and appocolypse. This novel is a simultaneous blend of excitement, hope and dread. It is successful as a story because of it's compelling story line, but also important as a fresh approach to ancient wisdom. Huxley is a master of dazzling imagery, and startling conclusions. This book will make you think!

Having been mentioned in my copy of St. Thomas More's "Utopia", I was anxious to read "Island". I can honestly say that Aldous Huxley's work peaked with "Brave New World". I was very disappointed with "Ape and Essence". In the same way, the plot of Island has a lot of potential which it never follows through on.

In reality "Island" is not a novel, but a series of characters involved in a dialogue. Huxley uses these characters to address the ills of the world as he sees them. Among the topics addressed are spirituality, wealth/economics, and human emotions such as guilt. Much of the time seems to be focused on spirituality and Huxley's chosen faith Buddhism.

The thin plot shows the main character Will Farnaby washing on the shores of the ficticious island Pala. As Will returns to health, he finds himself at the center of a conflict. The future king or raja of the island plans to modernize the simple ways of people's lives in Pala. Forces have attempted to prevent this but the future raja has taken the influence of neighboring ruler Colonel Dipa. The dialogue of the book shows the competing forces and their views of the future. In reality, there is little action until the final pages with its predictable ending.

If I were giving Huxley a grade for this book, I would give him an A for the concept. Unfortunately, I would give him a D for the presentation. The book is slow, making it painful to follow at times. This work is far inferior to his masterwork Brave New World.

I read the book again in November 2012. I was so unimpressed with the book the first time, I actually forgot that I read it. That said, I would not change a word of my current review.

In this book, Huxley shares with us his view of the perfect society throught the eyes of an English cynic. In true Huxley fashion, we see a utopian world on the brink of destruction by the self-important west. It's a haunting views into Huxley's thoughts on perfecting and destructing society. It is best to read this book with an understanding of Indian religion, and the semantics involved with it, as Huxley uses a lot of Hindu and Buddhist jargon to describe his society. This is a must read for any Huxley fan.

An easy read. Island has an interesting fictional narrative of an ideal society located on a remote tropical island. Huxley's story is loaded w/ references of Eastern spiritual traditions and nonduality. Excellent stuff for those interested.

Being Huxley's last novel I was skeptical when I picked it up. Certainly I had no reason to be. Huxley was in top form writing Island. If you are looking for a blueprint for a harmonious life look no further. Huxley lays out a true Utopia and once again proves it could never be. Fortunately for us, he brings to light concepts for child raising and general peaceful living. One can certainly learn from this modern masterpiece. The plot is just as enjoyable as the underlying message. A secluded island, a shipwrecked spy, a changed man, and the inevitable corruption of Utopia. Huxley has spared nothing with this one. Island is a definate must read.

not for everyone - this novel is used by Huxley to propose the antithesis to Brave New World - not much action, just conversation that reveals the characteristics of a progressive society at the edge of being compromised by the rest of the world -

If I had to go to a deserted Island and could take one book with me, this would be it. Especially when looking at current petty international conflicts, it is rather sad to read about a society that cherishes love, intellect and cooperation. At the same time it inspires hope that one day we can start living up to our human potential.

A good book that touches on lots of theory that some may enjoy and others may find a bit too unrealistic. I enjoyed the the concept of the book and at times, it had me wishing Huxley owned an island like it. If your even remotely interested in this book, then read it knowing you won't be dissapointed.

My main issues with the novel are that it was poorly written and Huxley utterly fails here at compelling storytelling. I could not suspend my disbelief or cynicism while reading Island at all, and I was often confused about what Huxley's point truly was.
Perhaps I didn't enjoy it because the characters lecture, ramble and gloat about concepts of social engineering that are as despicable as those in Brave New World (which is a beautifully written and intricately conceived novel). Perhaps because he anniliates his own utopia, by the hands of one of its founders no less. He proves that a society such as Pala's could not exist, flourish and *survive*. He shows us in the end just how weak and fragile such a socially-engineered society would be and how easily corrupted it could become.
I honestly thought it was a satire of a utopian society, like Brave New World, but attacked from the other extreme. Am I the only one who felt this?
Huxley succeeds at outlining a utopian society; that much is true. Whether he actually believed in the utopia is another question entirely. The writing is so overblown and didactic that I could not discern his intent.

This is perhaps one of the greatest pieces of literature ever. Huxley is a genius. Island is his utopia not a distopia. I have read it and reread it. "Pay Attention!" say the birds. Pay Attention. It is all about getting attuned to the real world and forsaking the material trappings that fool us. The real world is on this Island and our mundane world pales by comparison. Pay ATTENTION!
Listen to Huxley go to alexrandall5.com and look for 4 recordings of his voice.

This science fiction novel walks around the speculative situation about a natural (not social and not even political choice) population distribution, in agreement his skills and gifts.
Naturally many facts occur in this interesting tale , but the most remarkable issue is to make us think the elusive dreams about a better and even pacific society.

I absolutely loved this book! Eckhart Tolle in "The Power of Now" actually references this book and that is how I heard of it. Despite the fact that much of the book is ruled by long monologues from the characters, I enjoyed it all. Huxley had an interesting view of what a society can become when it takes the best of the Eastern and Western worlds combine.

Aldous's final book is a fine attempt at creating a Utopian ideal. Many of the Islanders have a great philosophy to live by, but there is a slight tarnishing of the ideal in the form of Huxley's penchant for psychedelia, and on the Island, even the children are not safe! Ingenious and well thought through, if a little 'kooky' at times.

I think maybe Neubaten (I think that's your name) did read a different book...I thought it was excellent. The description of the society is more in depth than Brave New World but I can see how many people would find this uninteresting "ramble".
Someone else said that Huxley destroys his society in the last chapter - that's often what good books do. BTW, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest does almost exactly the same thing. I think the destruction of Pala was a warning of what greed is capable of and that not even a land of pure love and kindness is immune to greedy people.

Island is an excellent novel that, even after 50 years, remains relevant because the story line resonates in terms of how we humans consistently, perhaps not consciously, but most assuredly, and maybe even inevitably, undermine the foundations of utopia through our daily actions, decisions and attitudes.

The first chapter of the book nearly had me in a trance right along with the protagonist. From early on you get the feeling something bad is going to happen. Huxley did a fantastic job of putting me in the protagonists shoes and getting me to experience what he was experiencing and making profound connections with the residents of Pala. I'd recommend this book more for people interested in enlightenment more so than people looking for another "Lord of the Flies" type book.

If Brave new world is the scientific forecast of future, Island is the utopia of living based on religion and spirituality.The book is so much in contrast to Brave New World, at the same time it reflects the degradation of humanity and mankind and how the inteference of foreign elements change the course of evolution for a small island. If you felt sad after reading Brave New World, this book will bring light and hope about the future we dont know.

I have read enough to know when I'm being preached to, and Huxley is unsuccessful in masking his assertions re: the human condition in The Island. I was very disappointed, since Huxley has the ability to write well, even about esoteric subjects (see The Perennial Philosophy, for instance), but ends up just making a hash of it here. Not highly recommended.

This is a "thought-provoking" book in the extreme - ten years after reading it, it still occassionally pops into my mind and elicits fresh insights. If Huxley's Brave New World were a rye whiskey, this would be a fine 12 year old scotch in comparison. The prose is that much more refined and the thoughts that much more profound.

Not much of a story here but if you like to fantasize about the perfect, controlled society, this is it. Kind of a cross between Timothy Leary and Karl Marx. Huxley is truly a wonderful writer and this provides a pretty good idea of where his head was in the last years of his life.

A man arrives on an Island to engineer an oil deal. He begins to like the place. It is a nice place. But one of the old money family wants to sell it out for greater access to the contents of a Sears-Roebuck catalog. In the end evil triumphs because good is pacifist and big oil money can buy more guns.

I didn't think that it was very interesting. Personally I really liked Brave New World and exspected alot more then I got out of this book. It was just a bunch of boring discussions that didn't really go anywhere in the first place. A person can usually tell if a book will be interesting if he wants to finish when he gets to the half way point (i use that method for all the books I read and every book that was ever good got good at least half way through). Reading this book only kept me from reading another book more worth while. I saw people saying that this book changed their lives. Ha! I can't imagine how.

Yes... I do agree that Huxley's "Island" has some faults, which may be keeping a lot of people from reading this book. But how I was happy imaging the Pala paradise on Earth! Paradise in a strict human sense, but a world so promissing and inspiring, the final thoughts of this great human being. The perfect last book and some gorgeous reading. Delightful!

This is a story with great topical interest as it exposes the ruthless methods, developers with large funds can use to manipulate governments.often to the complete detriment of the lives of the people involved.

If you read a Brave New World you have to read also this one.
Is the more mature vision of a possible better world from Huxley totally different that the first dystopia.
It was written back in the 60's but the book remains actual...

Although it was his last book, I wasn't that impressed. Half the characters were depressing/vulnerable and didn't have much going on. Huxley's ideas and philosophy were in place but it just didn't mesh for me. His earlier works much better.

This book is a whole island unto itself. It starts with a journalist who finds himself upon an island, where was shipwrecked. The inhabitants of the island Pala, known as Palanese, accept him into their culture for a short while. As he learns more about the Palanese, he also stays in contact with the head of the island, known as the Raja, a shrewd woman who uses her religion to gain access into the island, and ultimately make money. On the island Pala there is large quantities of oil, which makes it an object of desire to the Raja. The journalist's boss also is interested in the island, and is connected to the Raja as well.

This book had a plot, but where it was intended to go, I don't know. This is not Aldous Huxley's best work, because his entire novel is made up of dialogue, but very little action. There are several concepts and ideas that are discussed thoroughly by the inhabitants of the island, but Island seemed more like a guidebook to Pala than an actual novel.

Once again, as is usual in Huxley's case, the evils of the world beat out the Eden-esque of Pala. The journalist allows the Raja and her people to take over the entire island and its oil, which in turn destroys the serenity and simplicity the Palanese spent more than a century to create. The book touches on fascinating theories on how communities like the ones in Pala lived in, but everything seems either too cultish, and most often, unrealistic.

The great thing about this book is that it shows what living in a low-carbon world could be. Granted its very idealistic, but if you have been reading theoretical books on the subject, this should give you an idea of what such a place "could" look like in practice.

In today's volatile world, the island will give readers many ideas on how to improve their lives!Island (Perennial Classics)

I decided to read "Island" because i enjoyed "Brave New World" so much. Well the former is really horrible compared to the latter. It's pretty boring, the plot doesn't make much sense and the main character's ideas are often all over the place.

While certain parts of this story are interesting, in it's entirety, i would have to give it two thumbs down :(

The synopsis of this book sounded spectacular, a conspiring journalist gets stuck on a utopian island. The book starts off kind of entertaining but with a bit of rambling but you figure as you go on, it will probably subside. It doesn't. The characters keep going on and on about buddhism, sex and mushrooms. The plot barely starts and barely ends. This is a book with no journey and no destination.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this book is the apparently wholehearted acceptance that its dated and dangerous ideas seem to have found, at least as evidenced by a cursory reading of the reviews. What in the world gives Huxley the right to revise civilization? The fact that he is well-read? His adoption of discredited oriental philosophies?

It cannot be argued that Western Civilization is without room for much improvement; however, abandonment of family, use of "mind-expanding" drugs, renunciation of religion, modification of accepted societal behavior, repudiation of long-standing definitions of acceptable sexual conduct, etc. These have all been tried to some extent and have universally failed. Huxley merely puts a fine gloss on the 20th Century's disdain of tried and true principles.

Strong families supported by public morality and high expectations with respect to ethical behavior are the means whereby society will advance. History has proven this to be the case. It is no accident that English has become the language of the world--despite its many flaws, the rule of law and its protections of freedom and private property have given us the world we now, apparently, seek to destroy.

Huxley and his ilk would have us believe that our civilization is so inherently superior to all others that we are free to ignore the lessons of history. However, it is more likely than not that humanity's basic nature remains the same today as hundreds of years ago. For example, regardless of your religious persuasions and beliefs, one must acknowledge that the Jewish culture has proven remarkably adaptive and has a longevity that is the envy of any cultural group--they have kept their people together through thousands of years of history by following some simple rules that Mr. Huxley would throw out the window.

Despite the superficial attractiveness of Huxley's easy philosophy, hard work and obedience to laws will paradoxically produce far more freedom than a slothful abandonment to what feels good.

It is difficult to believe Huxley was almost seventy and a highly regarded novelist when he wrote this piece of adolescent rubbish. It is also difficult to believe that so many reviewers think his ideas here are new and interesting. Well, I suppose they weren't so clichéd when he wrote them, but they certainly look very tired now.

The first couple of chapters are actually very good, as we are gradually introduced to the protagonist, Will Farnaby, finding himself shipwrecked on an island and encountering its inhabitants. His confusion and his obsessive thoughts about his failed relationships are very well portrayed. Unfortunately, after this the book degenerates into a very boring talk-fest, with a minimal plot that surfaces from time to time before coming to a fairly predictable end.

Island is, so we are told, Huxley's idea of utopia, but from a modern perspective, it looks more like a very idealistic view of a hippie commune: free love, child-sharing and family planning via sexual yoga, all under the benevolent influence of consciousness-expanding drugs. It's difficult to believe he really believed it could work, but the whole thing is explored without a hint of sarcasm, and Will is so convinced by it all that he undergoes a total conversion experience.

The last chapter is well-written, apart from the flat ending, but Huxley had lost me long before then.

I disapprove of a writer using his novel as an excuse for preaching. I do believe that novels should have themes, and the more serious the theme the better, and I know that it is sometimes difficult to locate the precise line between thematic concerns and preaching - but this book is clearly way over the line.

I think this book was adventerous and scary. It wasn't the best book I've ever read but it was pretty good though. My favorite part was when they fell off the ship. The bad part was that they couldn't fine each other.

Please let me begin by agreeing with most reviewers that Aldous Huxley was a brilliant man, one of the most forward-thinking men in modern history and (on the whole) a wonderfully gifted writer. That being said, this book is absolutely, unequivocably horrible. It is 354 pages of plotless, repetitive socio-preach. Mr. Huxley's "A Brave New World" is, in my opinion, one of the best novels ever written. "Island" does not rise to that same level, though, and I would not wish it upon anyone.

Prior to reading this I thought that maybe as Huxley got older he might have improved as a writer. Evidently he didn't. This was even worse than Brave New World. In Island he seemed keen to promote his concept of magic mushroom so-called moksha medicine, as a means of inducing "dazzling ecstatic insights", coupled with meditation to make the insights permanent. This would lead to "liberation from the bondage of the ego". Sounds nice. It's the sort of book I imagine pot-smoking male backpackers stowing in their backpacks as they traipse round countries like India and Tibet in search of enlightenment, probably to be left mostly unread, but maybe to be occasionally produced as evidence of being against "the system". In the book there are such things as the "splendid rumble of Sanskrit" and such insights as "Elementary ecology leads straight to elementary Buddhism". I suppose such reasoning might make perfect sense if the reader had smoked enough pot before coming to that line. The message of this book is to take hallucinogens regularly to enhance consciousness. There's no mention of any harm that this might cause. I regard it as an irresponsible way for Huxley to end his writing career.