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	cat_mcdougall 2007-02-11 01:02 am UTC (link)
	raises hand meekly I've never heard of it at all. Not even in passing. But then, the summary makes it sound like hard sci-fi and I don't read much hard sci-fi at all. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

hallidae
2007-02-11 01:07 am UTC (link)

I dunno what everybody else's opinion is, but I think it's fine you haven't read the book. Hell, I hated the damn thing. What I'm pissy about is that the people in the thread are like "Yay, I'm stupid, let's party!" or whatever. Even if you're just kidding around or being snarky, acting like being an idiot is a good thing grates me.

...Drat. Shoulda kept biting my tongue.

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	wankaholic 2007-02-11 01:07 am UTC (link)
	Yes, but you're not celebrating the fact. :) For the record, it's a satire, with a SF setting, and pretty good, even if you don't like "hard sci-fi." (Reply to this)(Parent)

(Anonymous)
2007-02-11 02:40 am UTC (link)

It's not really hard SF, unless I've completely misunderstood the definition of that particular genre. I hate hard SF myself, but I really did like Brave New World. It's a dystopian novel (often linked with Orwell's 1984 and Ayn Rand's Anthem, although I don't think it's similar at all). It's been a while since I've read it, but I really don't remember there being much hardcore science-y stuff in the book at all. The book is more focused on society.

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	heddychaa 2007-02-11 08:46 pm UTC (link)
	I'm all for people not reading "classic" books if they just don't like them. I have avoided LotR for ages because ick. But Brave New World is not Sci-Fi, if that's your only qualm with it. Sc-Fi makes me grind my teeth, but Brave New World is positively lovely. Not to say that it will automatically be your cup of tea, however. Just that it's not Sci-fi. (Reply to this)(Parent)

gobsmacked
2007-02-14 07:19 pm UTC (link)

It's too bad that you didn't get some exposure to it. For many decades, it was Required Reading for High School and University students where I grew up, along with 1984. I'm not sure why they aren't anymore - maybe some kind of crazy right-wing religious thing - you know, like banning Harry Potter because it promotes witchcraft.

Anyway, here's my summary:
In a future society, people do not reproduce sexually. They do have sex, and lots of it, but no babies. The government controls reproduction in labs and creates a genetically based class system. (E.g., they put alcohol in the chambers of fetuses destined to be the manual and factory labourers to ensure that they are born with a sufficiently low intelligence). The novel is about what happens when one of the babies conceived by one of the "upper-class" couples gets brought up outside the system and is brought back into it.
Although written in the mid(?)-20th century, it's full of social commentary which is still valid today.

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