Aldous Huxley

Philosopher, pacifist, psychonaut and prophet, Aldous Huxley was one of the 20^th century's pre-eminent intellectuals and writers. The author of over 50 books, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize nine times, and elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962, a year before his death.

Known for his mordant satire and visionary ideas, Huxley spanned the period from post-First World War disillusionment to mid-century mysticism, and the works in this collection reflect his literary evolution.

Valentine Cunningham presents, with contributions from Sybille Bedford, Lord Jenkins, Sir Stephen Spender, Gavin Ewart, Julian Symons and Lewis Wolpert, and archive recordings of Huxley, his brother Julian and contemporaries.

Prophesies on the future of mankind, which may perhaps come to pass. The world of Bernard Marx and Lenina Crowne is one where human beings are brewed from test tubes and then conditioned to accept the duties of their predestined castes in society.

In 1953, in the presence of an investigator, Aldous Huxley took four-tenths of a gramme of mescalin, sat down and waited to see what would happen. When he opened his eyes everything, from the flowers in a vase to the creases in his trousers, was transformed. Here, Huxley describes his experience with breathtaking immediacy.

For years the Pacific island of Pala has been the scene of a unique experiment, where western science has been brought together with eastern philosophy to create a paradise on earth. When cynical journalist, Will Farnaby, arrives to search for information about potential oil reserves, he quickly falls in love with the way of life on the island.