I finished Brave New World, and I had heard here that nothing else of Huxley's was valuable. Is this true? For example, my OP pic seemed like a companion book to Brave New World.
>>7700919
worth a read. the island is a utopia which fuses transcendental philosophy with psychedelic shrooms, free love and a rationalist approach to agriculture/industry. to get the most out of i would read thomas moore's utopia. well utopia is worth a read in and of itself. and if you do read utopia then you should read karl kautskys analysis of it.
>>7700919
i liked brave new world revisted.
>>7700919
Island's probably better than BNW. A lot of his other shit is worth reading, but the 420blzait crowd and shakespeare plebs like BNW too much to accept that Huxley wrote other shit which was less like fanfic.
Island's more of a companion to his lecture series on the human situation and his nonfic is GOAT
His earlier novels are probably stronger novels than BNW too.
>>7700919
Grandpa Huxley wrote some great scientific papers.
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/bib1.html
>>7700919
I'm reading it right now. You might want to read The Doors of Perception to see where he is coming from with the psychedelic aspect, and then you might want to do some reading on Buddhism because it might be helpful reading. I don't know much about it myself though, just basic stuff you learn in school that I forgot the most of.
>>7702627
The Human Situation collection of lectures is better for understanding Island, most of his research for the society in Island is outlined in it.
>>7702641
Thanks
>>7701935
Julian wrote better ones, the Bulldog was just that.
>>7700919
it's decent
it's not that good of a novel but the use of the form to sell ideas is done really well, much better than bnw or anything orwell ever did
Ape and Essence is dope as hell, would also recommend the doors to perception
I liked Huxley a lot more until I saw YouTube videos of him. He seems like he'd be more comfortable in the new atheism crowd then in truly widely read / philosophical circles. His ideology first and foremost was that of subversion and then supplanting it with almost anything else that's intelligible, and can be extrapolated on. You have to be careful of people like this because while insightful they have a lower level block/hate thing going on that stops them from giving any credit to the simple and the obvious. In other words he might just be a charlatan. Not sure yet.
>>7701202
It's great, a must in my opinion.
>>7702913
>he'd be more comfortable in the new atheism crowd
fedoras are into agnostic hinduism and parapsychology now?
>>7703169
Maybe I'm judging it from an odd angle, but it seems with all his intellectual prowess he still doesn't 'get it'. It's all an intelligence game for him and he seems to be content with navigating the labyrinth with no clear purpose or exit strategy - in other words he's just a very advanced fedora. Until you crack love you're destined to stay like that, I think he consciously refuses which might be an even sadder state of affairs.
>>7702896
I thought Ape and Essence was trying a bit hard to be #nextlvl in that it lacks a cohesive storyline and the symbolism is very basic/obvious or too present, but it might have been what Huxley went for, I really enjoyed reading it nonetheless. The Doors of Perception and this thing here http://www.psychedelic-library.org/loudun.htm are very insightful
Haven't read anything else by him, I might read Island next
>>7700919
I couldn't finish it. After Many A Summer Dies The Swan was worth it, especially for the sharpness of its satire, and ending, which I shall not spoil.
>>7700919
>I had heard here that nothing else of Huxley's was valuable
that's because this board is largely inhabited by very stupid people
>>7703344
his focus is more emotional than intellectual to be honest.
the intellectual prowess comment strikes me as odd, because any of his self inserts are shown as not very smart, and while he was a public intellectual, he wasn't the smartest of his generation let alone his whole family and he seemed to be okay with that.
most of his stuff is more about spirituality and relationships and feelings than being smart or overintellectualising things. in fact, in Island overintellectualising this is exactly the kind of trap he knows would make him unhappy because he could easily have a bias to that if he lost sight of the human element.
in interviews he comes off as more concerned about the inhumanity of over intellectualising and over systemising than playing an intelligence game.
>no clear purpose or exit strategy
this makes me wonder if you understand your complaint.
>love
i dunno, anon, it sounds like you want to be the authority on love because he'd womp you intellectually, not that he's over intellectualising. but that you want him to be because you see it as in opposition to love and you want to dehumanise him somehow. i'm not as kind as huxley because i'll have to point out you fail to recognise the capacity to love in others, wanting to believe you're one of the rare type of feeling human beings and can comfort yourself you're better for having "cracked" it. it's like the epsilons who would never want to be a delta because being an epsilon is so much better.
>>7700919
haven't read the island, but is it meant to be a reference to the island in bnw that misfits get deported to?
anyone /doorsofperception/ here?
I recommend Grey Eminence if you are interested in Christian mysticism, the Catholic Church, or the Thirty Years War.
>>7705133
It's more like the barbarian reservation, but it's set earlier than that. It could be taken as the counterpoint to the BNW society, because there's a lot of things which would be misfitting in the BNW setting, but it's a different kind of utopia.
>>7703635
thank you anon
>you fail to recognise the capacity to love in others, wanting to believe you're one of the rare type of feeling human beings and can comfort yourself you're better for having "cracked" it.
you nailed this
>it's like the epsilons who would never want to be a delta because being an epsilon is so much better.
what is this referring to?
>>7705389
the epsilons and deltas are two of the castes in BNW. spoilers in case people want to read it stilleach caste is genetically engineered and educated to be happy with their place in the world. so alphas are very smart and raised to hate to be anything other than smart. betas are pretty smart but they're raised with essays like "i like being a beta, i'm much smarter than a gamma, but i would hate to be an alpha because they are so stressed out by responsibility, it's much better to be a beta than an alpha or a gamma". every caste would hate to be something other than they were created to be, except maybe the epsilons since they're created to be practically retarded slaves and i'm not sure if they're given enough capacity to think "wouldn't being a delta maybe make life easier?"
huxley does a lot of stuff about compassion, it might help you get over the love/intelligence divide. confidence in the potential for love in others will make your ability to love others easier, not harder.
>>7705437
Thanks anon. I've been surrounded by fake love, love deprived, so it does feel like 'cracking it' to me... Although like you say very self involved/narrow view of it... Maybe narcisstic
Doors of Perception is spectacular.
>>7701887
why would 420blazers like BNW? daily smokers seem the closest analogue to routine soma users and BNW isn't exactly an endorsement of that way of life
would you recommend reading the santa barbara lectures/the island concurrently or in a specific order?
>>7705750
not all stoners are smart people, anon. the lectures you should probably read second because otherwise the book will seem more like a recap of some of the points. the lectures open up a lot more than just on the pseudoscience in it, and a lot of people would drop Island for being a slow starter. Island's good, don't get me wrong, but the lectures are going to outshine it for a lot of people. if you're only going to read one, read the lectures. but it is worth getting past the slow start of Island to see how the society unfolds, instead of just reading the research behind how such an imagined society could happen.
>>7705725
DoP for me was more like "wow i can see colours again! something that makes me less blind!" than what you describe. it is pretty common for trip reports to be like that, but I found it touching he got to look at pictures and experience like he didn't get to usually.
Devils of Loudon seems innocuous boring history of France when you start it but then it's fucking insane. it's weird reading an academic book where the style is so staid and the content is so fucking batshit. very good book.
>>7705447
be yourself is actually good advice, you can't be loved for being you if you're relying on people loving the person you wish you were because they'll just love your fantasy at best, not you. nobody is black and white or one dimensional, all good or all bad, and learning to accept that in yourself makes it easier to accept in others and develop a healthy sense of love where it doesn't have to be perfect or else totally awful. or at least that's the prevailing psychological view now.
>>7705489
dude drugs lmao
