Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

This was the July selection for the Wednesday book group that I run at work. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this book, and after a couple of false starts I really got into it. I think it took a while to get into the story because the main characters aren't introduced for quite a few pages. It starts with a lot of setting the scene and a lot of new concepts. The group was amazed that it had been published in the 1930s and it contained so many advanced ideas.

About the book
Brave New World is set far into the future. It is a Utopian society, where everything seems mechanised. Reproduction is done on a production line and natural childbirth is considered immoral. Everyone is created for a particular role. There are several main groups - Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon. Everyone is happy. There are reservations where small communities live "natural" lives. The two cultures clash when Bernard Marx, who is becoming dissatisfied with his life, decides to visit a reservation.

They discover a woman who had vanished 30 odd years ago living there with her son. Bernard takes them back to "civilisation".