Books by Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894 – 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His most famous novel Brave New World has been recommended many times on Five Books.
“His final novel, Island, is a kind of blueprint for a society wherein the ecstatic is balanced with the Socratic. The young people on the island have an education which includes the rational but also the ‘non-verbal’ and ecstatic—contemplation, ecstatic dance, psychedelic rituals, tantric sex education.” Read more...
The best books on Ecstatic Experiences
Jules Evans, Philosopher
“Towards the end of his career, the novelist Aldous Huxley started writing a lot about ecstatic experiences and how we need to find more of a place for them in western society. Moksha is a collection of some of those writings. Huxley was one of the very few thinkers to consider how ecstasy relates to society, politics and education. He understood that transcendence could be healthy or toxic (what he called ‘upward’ and ‘downward’ transcendence). We need good cultural places, maps and guides for transcendence, so we can find it in healthy ways, rather than in unhealthy ways like addiction or violence.” Read more...
The best books on Ecstatic Experiences
Jules Evans, Philosopher
“This is about the perfectibility of mankind. He posits the idea that the political system actually does perfect things for people and it turns out to be nearly as scary as the horror shows actually created in the 20th century…So Huxley was showing us that this is a rum goal however ‘well’ it turns out. Even if our dreams of utopia were to come true it would be a horror show.” Read more...
The Best Political Satire Books
P. J. O’Rourke, Political Commentator
Interviews where books by Aldous Huxley were recommended
Ten Classic British Novels
Since Five Books was set up in 2009, we’ve interviewed more than 2,000 experts on all manner of subjects. Here’s our roundup of the ten classic British novels that have been recommended most often, starting with Middlemarch, described by Virginia Woolf as “one of the few English novels written for grownup people”.
The best books on Alternative Futures, recommended by Catherine Mayer
Catherine Mayer—author, journalist and president of the Women’s Equality Party—talks to Five Books about her optimism for a more equal future for society by way of her favourite science fiction visionaries and their work.
The best books on Utopia, recommended by Ellen Wayland-Smith
Utopia is out of fashion because efforts to set one up normally end disastrously, says author Ellen Wayland-Smith, whose forefathers set up a utopian religious community in the 1840s in Oneida, New York. And yet, they offer a critique of society that, even today, can’t be ignored. She recommends four books on literary utopias and one on real-life attempts to set up idealized communities in the United States.
The best books on Dystopia and Utopia, recommended by Chan Koonchung
Warnings about the future of society contained in novels such as Nineteen Eighty-Four may seem less important since the fall of the Soviet Union, but they are all too relevant to China today, argues the Chinese writer
The best books on Utopia, recommended by John Quiggin
Australian economist John Quiggin, author of Zombie Economics, says we need to inspire people with a view of a better society. In short, we need a new utopia.
The Best Political Satire Books, recommended by P. J. O’Rourke
Satire is humour used for a moral purpose, explains American political satirist P.J. O’Rourke—though it doesn’t have to be particularly funny and can be quite dark. Here, he chooses five classic works of political satire, books that lay bare the shortcomings of not only communism and fascism but also the two-party system and the quest for a perfect society where everyone is happy. Books by P.J. O’Rourke recommended on Five Books
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1
The Varieties of Religious Experience
by William James -
2
Moksha: Aldous Huxley's Classic Writings on Psychedelics and the Visionary Experience
by Aldous Huxley -
3
Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred
by Jeffrey J Kripal -
4
When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God
by Tanya Luhrmann -
5
Centuries of Meditations
by Thomas Traherne
The best books on Ecstatic Experiences, recommended by Jules Evans
The best books on Ecstatic Experiences, recommended by Jules Evans
States of ecstasy (from the ancient Greek ekstasis, meaning ‘standing outside’) are moments when you lose your ordinary sense of self and feel connected to something greater than you. It can be euphoric, but it can also be terrifying, says the philosopher Jules Evans. Here he selects five books that explore the significance and power of these surprisingly common experiences.
