Island

By: Aldous Huxley

Narrated by: Simon Vance

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

Critic reviews

" Island...holds the charm of Huxley's cultured prose and fertile mind." ( The Guardian)

Favorite Huxley work

Amazing book about self discovery, parallels to modern society, Utopianism, spiritualism and enlightenment. I highly recommend this book as a lighter more positive version of Huxley's Brave New World

Now I know why it was required reading for every aspiring hippy!

Henceforth, when I start any discussion concerning human nature, families, community, society, technology or religion I will ask, “Have you read ISLAND?” If not, then visit me again after you have.

Not only a concise statement of Huxley’s philosophy but a suspenseful plot, alas all to common in the far flung colonies.

Tired of dystopian scifi stories?

If u want a picture of a what is the simplest form of scoeity, that is a utopian view without greed and conquest. This book uses the Buddhist tradition and nature to show what an isolated society can thrive. The last work of aldous Huxley before his famous medicated death, it show his vision of a dying utopian society u influenced by money and globalization. Tho the ending is chilling.

That Moksha-Medicine is pretty sweet

I loved this book, I listened to it all in one go on a sunny afternoon and I'm definitely about to go through it a second time.

Perfect

I looked at this book several years ago after having read Brave New World. At the time I decided to pass. Back then, this book would have made little-to no sense to me and I would likely have found it very boring. I probably wouldn’t have been able to finish it. A slow, but necessary life journey finally lead me back. I listened to it and I loved every second of it. I see that other reviewers have called this a “philosophy book” and yes of course it is. It’s also more than philosophy and more than a regurgitation of Zen Buddhism. Island is the full counterpoint to Brave New World. I believe Island is Huxley’s absolute best work. It is brilliant, enlightening and humbling. It also gives a sense of hope- which is something all of us, I think, could use a bit more of right now.

Essential reading for 2024

Pay attention to this novel as we enter election 2024. Attention! Attention! Attention! Attention! Attention!

Outstanding performance for an epic book

Outstanding performance for an epic book. Incredible. Is this enough words? Come on. This has to be 15 words.

Beautifully written and poignantly prescient

An adroitly perceptive journey as only A. Huxley can write through an elusive paradise that leads to shattered illusions and deeper truths that couldn’t be more relevant given today’s political turmoil. The reader does a fantastic job as well.

Another

Didactic sleepy tract concerning a sad misunderstanding of Buddhism and an assertion of dreamy socialism.

A Philosophy of What’s What as Utopian Social Theory

Like a nuclear age, psychedelic remix of Plato’s Republic + Symposium. Sometimes pedantic—but nevertheless beautiful and compelling. If you liked Doors of Perception, you’ll probably also enjoy this.