Aldous Huxley has 17 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 29 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.4★ across 1,279 ratings. The most-rated is Brave New World.
Brave New World
Summary
When Lenina and Bernard visit a savage reservation, we experience how Utopia can destroy humanity. On the 75th anniversary of its publication, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before. Cloning, feel-good drugs, anti-aging programs, and total social control through politics, programming, and media: has Aldous Huxley accurately predicted our future? With a storyteller's genius, he weaves these ethical controversies in a compelling narrative that dawns in the year 632 A.F. (After Ford, the deity). When Lenina and Bernard visit a savage reservation, we experience how Utopia can destroy humanity.
©1932 Aldous Huxley; 1998 BBC Audiobooks America (P)2003 BBC Audiobooks America
Island
Summary
In his final novel - which he considered his most important - Aldous Huxley transports us to the remote Pacific island of Pala, where an ideal society has flourished for 120 years. Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala, and events are set in motion when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and - to his amazement - give him hope.
©1962 Aldous Huxley (P)2016 Tantor
The Doors of Perception
Summary
The critically acclaimed novelist and social critic Aldous Huxley, describes his personal experimentation with the drug mescaline and explores the nature of visionary experience. The title of this classic comes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern."
©1954 Aldous Huxley (P)2009 BBC Audio
Le meilleur des mondes
Summary
632 après Ford : désormais on compte les années à partir de l'invention de la voiture à moteur. La technologie et la science ont remplacé la liberté et Dieu. La vie humaine, anesthésiée, est une suite de satisfactions, les êtres naissent in vitro, les désirs s'assouvissent sans risque de reproduction, les émotions et les sentiments ont été remplacés par des sensations et des instincts programmés. La société de ce Meilleur des mondes est organisée, hiérarchisée et uniformisée, chaque être, rangé par catégorie, a sa vocation, ses capacités et ses envies, maîtrisées, disciplinées, accomplies. Chacun concourt à l'ordre général, c'est-à-dire travaille, consomme et meurt, sans jamais revendiquer, apprendre ou exulter. Mais un homme pourtant est né dans cette société, avec, chose affreuse, un père et une mère et, pire encore, des sentiments et des rêves. Ce "Sauvage", qui a lu tout Shakespeare et le cite comme une Bible, peut-il être un danger pour le "monde civilisé" ? Chef-d'œuvre contemporain, dystopie visionnaire, roman d'éternelle actualité qui donne, aujourd’hui encore plus qu'hier, matière à réfléchir sur notre société.
©1932, 1946 / 1933 / 2013 Aldous Huxley, Plon / pour la traduction française / pour la présente édition (P)2015 Audiolib
The Perennial Philosophy
Summary
"The Perennial Philosophy," Aldous Huxley writes, "may be found among the traditional lore of peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions." With great wit and stunning intellect - drawing on a diverse array of faiths, including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christian mysticism, and Islam - Huxley examines the spiritual beliefs of various religious traditions and explains how they are united by a common human yearning to experience the divine. The Perennial Philosophy includes selections from Meister Eckhart, Rumi, and Lao Tzu, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, Tibetan Book of the Dead, Diamond Sutra, and Upanishads, among many others.
©1945 Aldous Huxley (P)2017 Tantor
Brave New World (Dramatized)
Summary
The CBS Radio Workshop was an experimental series of productions, subtitled "radio's distinguished series to man's imagination" that ran between 27 January 1956 and 22 September 1957. The premiere production was Brave New World, narrated by Huxley himself, with a complicated sound-effects score that evidently took a long time to construct, and comprised a ticking metronome, tom-tom beats, bubbling water, an air hose, a cow's moo, an oscillator, and three kinds of wine glasses clicking together. There was also a cast of some ten actors. What was most evident about this two-part adaptation, now available on podcast, was the vocal contrasts: between Huxley the narrator, telling the story in a cut-glass marked RP accent interspersed with occasional Americanisms ("diaper" instead of "nappy," for instance); the Controller, who spoke throughout in jovial tones, appropriate for the Brave New World of perpetual happiness; and the Savage, the representative of feeling, emotional humanity - now consigned to a reserve in darkest Mexico - whose tones became increasingly desperate as he understood how mechanized the universe had become. The Brave New World was a topsy-turvy environment, which despised institutions such as marriage and parenthood (any mention of such terms was greeted with scornful laughter), and advocated free love without passion. Everyone belonged to everyone else, and no one needed to think any more. Despite the Director's jovial protestations that this was the best of all possible worlds (shades of Voltaire's Candide), the doom-laden consequences of what had happened were suggested by Bernard Herrman's specially composed score, full of doom-laden chords, and metronome-like chimes played on the tubular bells. The adaptation was announced by the actor William Conrad - who subsequently found fame on television as the corpulent detective Cannon: at the end of the first episode he informed listeners in no uncertain terms about the moral purpose of Froug's adaptation. It was intended as a "warning against the destruction of moral standards, family life and the soul of man." Enjoy listening!
©2012 ABN (P)2011 ABN
Brave New World
Summary
A gripping BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Aldous Huxley's classic dystopian novel.
It's 2116, and Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson are token rebels in an irretrievably corrupted society where promiscuity is the norm, eugenics a respectable science, and morality turned upside down. There is no poverty, crime or sickness - but no creativity, art or culture either. Human beings are merely docile citizens: divided into castes, brainwashed and controlled by the state and dependent on the drug soma for superficial gratification.
Into this sterile society comes an outsider, John - a man born into squalor and suffering, but raised on The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, a book which has shaped his entire life. When he discovers that treasured ideals such as love mean nothing in this 'brave new world', where romance is ridiculous, marriage shocking and parenthood shameful, John's world is shattered - and his reaction will show Bernard and Helmholtz what rebellion really means....
Based on Aldous Huxley's 1932 masterpiece, widely considered one of the greatest novels of all time, this chilling dramatisation set in a futuristic totalitarian society stars Jonathan Coy, Justin Salinger, Milton Lopes and Anton Lesser. Running time: 2 hours
©2016 BBC Worldwide Ltd. (P)2016 BBC Worldwide Ltd.
The Divine Within
Summary
Brave New World author Aldous Huxley on enlightenment and the "ultimate reality." In this anthology of 26 essays and other writings, Huxley discusses the nature of God, enlightenment, being, good and evil, religion, eternity, and the divine. Huxley consistently examined the spiritual basis of both the individual and human society, always seeking to reach an authentic and clearly defined experience of the divine.
©1992 Aldous Huxley (P)2019 Tantor
A Rare Recording of Aldous Huxley - Volume 2
Summary
Aldous Huxley (July 26, 1894 - November 22, 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He was best known for his novels Brave New World and The Doors of Perception. This recording is from a speech he gave, "What a Piece of Work Man Is." Earlier in his career Huxley edited the Oxford Poetry magazine, wrote travel articles, film stories, and scripts. He later became interested in spiritual subjects such as parapsychology and philosophical mysticism, including universalism. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in seven different years.
©2020 Listen & Live Audio, Inc. (P)2020 Listen & Live Audio, Inc.
Brave New World (Dramatized)
Summary
For its premiere episodes, The CBS Radio Workshop aired a two-part adaptation of Brave New World, featuring its author, Aldous Huxley, as narrator. The musical score was created by Academy Award-winner Bernard Hermann, whose film credits included Psycho and Citizen Kane. CBS Radio Workshop aired from January 27, 1956, through September 22, 1957, and was a revival of the prestigious Columbia Workshop from the 1930s and 1940s. The program regularly featured the works of the world's greatest writers, including Ray Bradbury, Archibald MacLeish, William Saroyan, Lord Dunsany, and Ambrose Bierce.
©2006 Radio Spirits, Inc. (P)2006 Radio Spirits, Inc.
The Most Famous Dystopias
Summary
The best dystopian novels of all time. 1984 is George Orwell's terrifying vision of a totalitarian future in which everything and everyone is slave to a tyrannical regime lead by The Party and Ministry of Truth. We is a dystopian novel by Russian writer Yevgeny Zamyatin. The novel describes a world of harmony and conformity within a united totalitarian state. It is believed that the novel had a huge influence on the works of Orwell and Huxley, as well as on the emergence of the genre of dystopia. Aldous Huxley presents a future where the World Controllers have created the ideal society in Brave New World. All its members are happy consumers. Contents: George Orwell - 1984 Yevgeny Zamyatin - We Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
Public Domain (P)2020 Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing
A Rare Recording of Aldous Huxley - Volume 3
Summary
Aldous Huxley (July 26, 1894 - November 22, 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He was best known for his novels Brave New World and The Doors of Perception. This recording is from a speech he gave, "What a Piece of Work Man Is". Earlier in his career Huxley edited the Oxford Poetry magazine, wrote travel articles, film stories, and scripts. He later became interested in spiritual subjects such as parapsychology and philosophical mysticism, including universalism. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in seven different years.
©2020 Listen & Live Audio, Inc. (P)2020 Listen & Live Audio, Inc.
After the Fireworks
Summary
From one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Aldous Huxley, comes his great novella, set in Rome, about a writer's affair with a mysterious young fan - once again available in the US, for the first time in more than 70 years, and featuring two other acclaimed short works, plus an original introduction from noted critic Gary Giddins. In After the Fireworks, three of Aldous Huxley's lost classic pieces of short fiction are collected for the first time. In the title novella, Rome is the stunning backdrop where internationally famous novelist Miles Fanning is setting out on a walk down Via Condotti toward the Spanish Steps when he encounters the mysterious Pamela Tarn - a beautiful young American admirer of his work who shares a name, as well as conspicuous personality traits, with a character from his most celebrated book. Though there is a considerable age difference between them and they come from different worlds, both are soon irresistibly drawn into a dangerous affair that has unforeseen consequences. First published one year before he wrote his classic Brave New World and now available again for the first time in 75 years, After the Fireworks is Aldous Huxley at the height of his powers. Featuring an original introduction by National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Gary Giddins, this new collection also includes Uncle Spencer (1924), the story of an aging World War I veteran's quest for the lost love he met in a prison during the war, and Two or Three Graces (1926), the tale of a passionate and destructive writer's abusive relationship with an impressionable bourgeois housewife.
©1926, 1930, 1933 Aldous Huxley (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers
The Greatest Mysteries of All Time, Volume 6
Summary
The Greatest Mysteries of All Time, Volume 6 is an exciting addition to this series, featuring the most acclaimed writers, past and present. This unique collection of master writers, including Wilkie Collins, Aldous Huxley, and Edith Wharton, edited by multi-award winning mystery connoisseur Otto Penzler, is a delightful mixture of mystery and suspense.
©1998 Phoenix (P)1998 Phoenix
Brave New World
Summary
Set in 2540 CE, Brave New World is a dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley that was published in 1932. The novel takes place in a futuristic society called The World State, where life revolves around science and efficiency. Emotions and individuality are conditioned out of children, and citizens are socially engineered into an intelligence-based hierarchy. People are kept in a passive state through their consumption of a soothing drug called soma, and trouble-makers are exiled to various islands. The characters include Bernard Marx, a sleep-learning specialist, Helmholtz Watson, a lecturer, Lenina Crowne, a fetus technician, and John, also known as “Mr. Savage”. Brave New World was ranked at number five on the Modern Library’s 1999 list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks
Dystopian Science Fiction Classics Collection: Brave New World, 1984, & Animal Farm
Summary
Dystopian literature is a genre of fictional writing used to explore social and political structures in a nightmarish world. The term dystopia refers to a society characterized by misery, squalor, or oppression, and the theme is most commonly used in science-fiction and speculative-fiction genres. Dystopian Science Fiction Classics Collection: Book one: Brave New World. Set in 2540 CE, Brave New World is a dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley that was published in 1932. The novel takes place in a futuristic society called The World State, where life revolves around science and efficiency. Emotions and individuality are conditioned out of children, and citizens are socially engineered into an intelligence-based hierarchy. People are kept in a passive state through their consumption of a soothing drug called soma, and trouble-makers are exiled to various islands. The characters include Bernard Marx, a sleep-learning specialist, Helmholtz Watson, a lecturer, Lenina Crowne, a fetus technician, and John, also known as “Mr. Savage”. Brave New World was ranked at number five on the Modern Library’s 1999 list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Book two: 1984 is a novel by the British author George Orwell. Considered a classic of dystopian fiction, the book has contributed many terms to common usage, including "Big Brother", "doublethink", "newspeak", and "thoughtcrime", while the adjective "Orwellian" in the context of government deception, surveillance, and misleading terminology has entered the English language. The narrative unfolds in an imagined future when most of the world has fallen prey to omnipresent government surveillance, propaganda, and endless war. Great Britain has become a province of the super state Oceania, which is ruled by the Party, whose leader is called Big Brother. The Party employs the Thought Police to persecute individuality and independent thinking. Winston Smith, the protagonist, is an ordinary worker who secretly despises the Party and dreams of rebellion. Time Magazine included the novel on its 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005, and it is placed at number 13 on the editor’s list and at number six on the reader’s list of Modern Library's 100 Best Novels. Book three: Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell, first published in the UK in 1945. It is the tale of farm animals that rebel against the farmer, intending to establish a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. With stirring slogans, they set out to create utopia. However, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state worse than it was before under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon. This is the setting for one of the most revealing satiric fables of all time - an acerbic tale for adults that records the process from revolution against tyranny to a totalitarianism which is even worse. When Animal Farm was first published, Stalinist Russia was its target. Today it is quite clear that wherever and whenever freedom is suppressed, the message of George Orwell’s masterpiece is still relevant. Time Magazine chose the book as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. It also features at number 31 on the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Novels.
Public Domain (P)2020 Museum Audiobooks
The Doors of Perception
Summary
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was an English writer and philosopher who wrote nearly 50 books, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. The Doors of Perception (1954) which takes its title from a phrase in William Blake's poem "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell", describes the author’s experiences with peyote and mescaline in 1953. Huxley discusses the insights he gained, that ranged form the purely aesthetic to the spiritual vision, and relates them to philosophy, art, science and religion. He believed that the mystical experience attained through psychedelics is valuable as it gives the experiencers a better understanding of themselves and the world and because it may help them to lead a more creative life.
Public Domain (P)2021 Museum Audiobooks