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Proper Studies
extremely rare,very good condition
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1927
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About the author
Aldous Huxley
952 books13.7k followersAldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxley family, he graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with a degree in English literature. Early in his career, he published short stories and poetry and edited the literary magazine Oxford Poetry, before going on to publish travel writing, satire, and screenplays. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times, and was elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962.
Huxley was a pacifist. He grew interested in philosophical mysticism, as well as universalism, addressing these subjects in his works such as The Perennial Philosophy (1945), which illustrates commonalities between Western and Eastern mysticism, and The Doors of Perception (1954), which interprets his own psychedelic experience with mescaline. In his most famous novel Brave New World (1932) and his final novel Island (1962), he presented his visions of dystopia and utopia, respectively.
Born into the prominent Huxley family, he graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with a degree in English literature. Early in his career, he published short stories and poetry and edited the literary magazine Oxford Poetry, before going on to publish travel writing, satire, and screenplays. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times, and was elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962.
Huxley was a pacifist. He grew interested in philosophical mysticism, as well as universalism, addressing these subjects in his works such as The Perennial Philosophy (1945), which illustrates commonalities between Western and Eastern mysticism, and The Doors of Perception (1954), which interprets his own psychedelic experience with mescaline. In his most famous novel Brave New World (1932) and his final novel Island (1962), he presented his visions of dystopia and utopia, respectively.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 16, 2021
This is an informal intelligent account of the study of Mankind which according to Huxley is the best subject to study for MAN “ by that He means human beings not as biological being but as individuals in a society. and
Begins with The idea of equality-of how we are all considered equal till there has to be a decision and what it means to be equal
then it shifts to the varieties of intelligence the extrovert and the introvert ,
the extrovert is regarded as somebody who understands himself and the world with objective realities like the outside world as the basis to understand the inside world whereas, for the introvert the very method of understanding the world is to understand it from the inside by what goes on within an individual,the soul the spirit to understand the world outside it is approached,like the introvert already seemed to have found the world as the universe, also the contradictions that may present itself when they are trying to understand the other and how it is easier for an extrovert to understand another rather than an introvert ,then there are those who visualize and those that do not .
then there are the gasometers and the analysts. and the talented and the untalented ,like somebody having a general aptitude towards mathematics and music .and also questions about the kind of intelligence and upbringing and there are vital inconsistencies that class and money determine ,not the nature of the individual's intelligence but the way in which it shall be used and the ends which the individual sets himself to attain.
This discourse moves on to education -here the author discusses the differences between physical and mental education as to how physical injury or malfunction can easily be detected as bruise or pain unlike mental agony or disruption like somebody who is becoming ill mentally deranged has only to suffer from mental fatigue and exhaustion and also emphasizes that the mind is not a receptacle that can be mechanically filled however it is alive and must be nourished.Nourishment is best absorbed by the organism that feeds with appetite and concludes that the most that we can hope to do is to train every individual to realize all his/her potentialities and become completely oneself.and critics the education system along with the universities
Then Aldous talks about the system of political democracy .and begins by quoting Mr . Chesterton that
"The essential things in men are the things they hold in common,not the things they hold separately “ and talks about how democracy is criticized and also about the system of merit in selecting the members of parliament or politicians like the government officials(Aristocracy).he also state s that a leader is required to be someone who can connect with the masses that is an excellent communicator and also somebody who has a vision and can envision the direction in which the society is required to move also the difficulty in getting both these qualities in one person alone and how charlatans with a gift of the gab secure a high ranking place for themselves
And then discusses about the Essence of religion .he begins again by quoting Professor whitehead and says that religion is what the individual does with his own solitude .and then distinguishes between the religion found as part of mass motivated activities and the one found when alone .also about how the great religions were found by solitary men and moves on to the substitutes for religion that can be found as unchanging foundations .the political surrogate ,rituals,art,business along with discussing the religion of sex.as talking about the take of religion on sex also a fanatic is defined as someone who consciously overcompensates a secret doubt and defines cranks , superstition priest surrogates.
Then what is talked about is the personality and the discontinuity of the mind .id like to begin this by quoting Wordsworth .
"Dust as we are,the immortal spirit grows
like harmony in music: there is a dark
inscrutable workmanship that reconciles
Discordant elements ,makes them cling together
in one society .how strange that all
The terrors ,pains ,and early miseries,
regrets,vexations,lassitudes inter fused
within my mind should e'er have borne a part,
and that a needful part,in making up
The calm existence that is mine when I Am worthy of Myself."
and realizes that the mind reacts differently in different physiological situations a person who is hungry reacts differently at things after her hunger is satiated and also other similar situations and also how personality is made.
The inherited qualities and states of existence and as the author puts it to compose it so that the discontinuous states may reveal themselves as part of a whole ,developing in time.The most perfect personality is that in which the natural discords are harmonized by some principle of unity and then talks about how in the test of Proust there is a need to know oneself but after one has found out what one is ,it is difficult to like he says ,he offers us the subtlest of psychological analyses ,but never suggests what we ought to do when we have achieved the self knowledge made possible by his insight and also says that the perfect personality is one in which all the psychological elements are taken account of and exploited .Nothing in such a personality is suppressed ,or rather (since an element of the mind can no more be suppressed than an organ of the body )nothing is relegated to a lower sphere or pushed into the darkness on unconsciousness and then gives out a note on ideals .The tangent and the curve how certain tendencies are natural and incline themselves along with nature
He also says that the ideal of communism in property and women is an important ideal :for it is an ideal which is not ,so to speak ,tangential to mans actual position,or to any point which he has ever occupied in human history ,The average Man has at all times been keenly interested in private property and marriage ,and no ideal which denies the existence of such can be pursued with profit and also says that The most valuable ideals are possible ,but unrealized .such ideas are framed so as not to contradict the facts of human nature's pursuit does not involve the denial by individuals or societies of any fundamental reality .they are at the same time unrealized ,so that the incentive to pursue them never fails
And then concludes the book with the idea of comfort and what is comfort about ...
Begins with The idea of equality-of how we are all considered equal till there has to be a decision and what it means to be equal
then it shifts to the varieties of intelligence the extrovert and the introvert ,
the extrovert is regarded as somebody who understands himself and the world with objective realities like the outside world as the basis to understand the inside world whereas, for the introvert the very method of understanding the world is to understand it from the inside by what goes on within an individual,the soul the spirit to understand the world outside it is approached,like the introvert already seemed to have found the world as the universe, also the contradictions that may present itself when they are trying to understand the other and how it is easier for an extrovert to understand another rather than an introvert ,then there are those who visualize and those that do not .
then there are the gasometers and the analysts. and the talented and the untalented ,like somebody having a general aptitude towards mathematics and music .and also questions about the kind of intelligence and upbringing and there are vital inconsistencies that class and money determine ,not the nature of the individual's intelligence but the way in which it shall be used and the ends which the individual sets himself to attain.
This discourse moves on to education -here the author discusses the differences between physical and mental education as to how physical injury or malfunction can easily be detected as bruise or pain unlike mental agony or disruption like somebody who is becoming ill mentally deranged has only to suffer from mental fatigue and exhaustion and also emphasizes that the mind is not a receptacle that can be mechanically filled however it is alive and must be nourished.Nourishment is best absorbed by the organism that feeds with appetite and concludes that the most that we can hope to do is to train every individual to realize all his/her potentialities and become completely oneself.and critics the education system along with the universities
Then Aldous talks about the system of political democracy .and begins by quoting Mr . Chesterton that
"The essential things in men are the things they hold in common,not the things they hold separately “ and talks about how democracy is criticized and also about the system of merit in selecting the members of parliament or politicians like the government officials(Aristocracy).he also state s that a leader is required to be someone who can connect with the masses that is an excellent communicator and also somebody who has a vision and can envision the direction in which the society is required to move also the difficulty in getting both these qualities in one person alone and how charlatans with a gift of the gab secure a high ranking place for themselves
And then discusses about the Essence of religion .he begins again by quoting Professor whitehead and says that religion is what the individual does with his own solitude .and then distinguishes between the religion found as part of mass motivated activities and the one found when alone .also about how the great religions were found by solitary men and moves on to the substitutes for religion that can be found as unchanging foundations .the political surrogate ,rituals,art,business along with discussing the religion of sex.as talking about the take of religion on sex also a fanatic is defined as someone who consciously overcompensates a secret doubt and defines cranks , superstition priest surrogates.
Then what is talked about is the personality and the discontinuity of the mind .id like to begin this by quoting Wordsworth .
"Dust as we are,the immortal spirit grows
like harmony in music: there is a dark
inscrutable workmanship that reconciles
Discordant elements ,makes them cling together
in one society .how strange that all
The terrors ,pains ,and early miseries,
regrets,vexations,lassitudes inter fused
within my mind should e'er have borne a part,
and that a needful part,in making up
The calm existence that is mine when I Am worthy of Myself."
and realizes that the mind reacts differently in different physiological situations a person who is hungry reacts differently at things after her hunger is satiated and also other similar situations and also how personality is made.
The inherited qualities and states of existence and as the author puts it to compose it so that the discontinuous states may reveal themselves as part of a whole ,developing in time.The most perfect personality is that in which the natural discords are harmonized by some principle of unity and then talks about how in the test of Proust there is a need to know oneself but after one has found out what one is ,it is difficult to like he says ,he offers us the subtlest of psychological analyses ,but never suggests what we ought to do when we have achieved the self knowledge made possible by his insight and also says that the perfect personality is one in which all the psychological elements are taken account of and exploited .Nothing in such a personality is suppressed ,or rather (since an element of the mind can no more be suppressed than an organ of the body )nothing is relegated to a lower sphere or pushed into the darkness on unconsciousness and then gives out a note on ideals .The tangent and the curve how certain tendencies are natural and incline themselves along with nature
He also says that the ideal of communism in property and women is an important ideal :for it is an ideal which is not ,so to speak ,tangential to mans actual position,or to any point which he has ever occupied in human history ,The average Man has at all times been keenly interested in private property and marriage ,and no ideal which denies the existence of such can be pursued with profit and also says that The most valuable ideals are possible ,but unrealized .such ideas are framed so as not to contradict the facts of human nature's pursuit does not involve the denial by individuals or societies of any fundamental reality .they are at the same time unrealized ,so that the incentive to pursue them never fails
And then concludes the book with the idea of comfort and what is comfort about ...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 13, 2025
Picked it up because I always like Huxley and enjoyed it thoroughly. I might call it a great work of middle-brow philosophy, meaning no insult. It covers a huge range of human life clearly, smartly, and entertainingly, and if I don't agree with it all, my mind--not highly trained in philosophy--was engaged throughout. It's a work of its time (nearly a century ago now) but in no way dated, I think: the years have provided their own gloss on his thought.
April 1, 2019
Dexterous thoughtfulness as usual from Huxley. Inevitably some of the comment on contemporaneous politics, science and religion seems dated, but Huxley has many interesting ideas, even if you take issue with some of them.
March 15, 2020
I've fallen in love with this book
April 7, 2021
A lot of interesting topics about democracy, education, personality, dogmas and, a very futuristic view that in some situations is still a snapshot of our society.
March 18, 2023
Livro datado, mas com os fundamentos teóricos da literatura de Huxley.
November 5, 2013
Good writing but dated source materials.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews