Island by Aldous Huxley

Island

Aldous Huxley

HarperCollins · Paperback · October 20, 2009

“Huxley’s final word about the human condition and the possibility of the good society. . . .

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Who it’s for
A serious, slightly mischievous read for when you want ideas to do the heavy lifting.
Genres
Visionary Fiction, Dystopian, Sci-Fi
Published
HarperCollins, October 20, 2009

Nearest books

Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved. Most of these share its genre: Dystopian.

  1. AnthemAyn Rand50% match
  2. Brave New WorldAldous Huxley, John Sutherland68% match
  3. The Island of Dr. MoreauH.G. Wells, Elizabeth Kolbert56% match
  4. Childhood's EndArthur C. Clarke, Eric Michael Summerer53% match
  5. SolarisStanislaw Lem47% matchAlso shares Sci-Fi
  6. Snow CrashNeal Stephenson49% match
  7. Lord of the FliesWilliam Golding, E. L. Epstein47% match
  8. Island DreamsGavin Francis48% match

For younger readers: Landscape With Invisible Hand, We Are the Ants, The Islands at the End of the World

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About this book

“Huxley’s final word about the human condition and the possibility of the good society. . . .

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Island is a welcome and in many ways unique addition to the select company of books—from Plato to now—that have presented, in imaginary terms, a coherent view of what society is not but might be.” — New York Times Book Review The final novel from Aldous Huxley, Island is a provocative counterpoint to his worldwide classic Brave New World, in which a flourishing, ideal society located on a remote Pacific island attracts the envy of the outside world. In the novel Huxley considered his most important, he transports us to the remote Pacific island of Pala, where an ideal society has flourished for 120 years. Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala, and events are set in motion when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and—to his amazement—give him hope.

Ideas With Teeth

A serious, slightly mischievous read for when you want ideas to do the heavy lifting.

Come here for

  • philosophy with a comic edge
  • layered ideas, not just incident

Expect

  • dense conversations
  • an authorial intelligence that likes to wink

Where it sits

Sci-Fi43%
Visionary Fiction38%
Dystopian34%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • The Classics
  • World War II & Holocaust
  • Literary Fiction
  • Sci-Fi
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Hard Sci-Fi
  • Funny Sci-Fi
  • Political Fiction
  • Visionary Fiction
Authors
Aldous Huxley
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
October 20, 2009
Format
Paperback
Reading lane
The Classics