Aldous should have toned down his inclination to use his wide vocabulary in favour of a more mantra-like style that would have been more in keeping with the ideas in the book.

This book describes a bland yet menacing society where spontaneous and creative ideas and thoughts are no longer tolerated due to the rearing of the population in factories, genetic engineering, and indoctrination. And yet in the minds of a few people such as the psychologist Bernard Marx, some sceptical thoughts do spring out. People with these ideas are normally sent to islands where their thoughts won’t spill over into the general population.

Everything is regimented and follows a pattern with no surprises. When someone is dying in the hospital no relatives come to visit because no one knows who their relatives are, as there’s no concept of families any longer – “everyone belongs to everyone else”.

After a trip to a reservation in New Mexico Bernard and his girlfriend-of-the-moment Lenina Crowne bring back a savage called John who of course is a human being as the reader would know it. Bernard envies him, Lenina loves him, and everyone else is fascinated by this person who doesn’t conform to their indoctrinated ideals. John finds it extremely difficult to cope with the attention he receives and wants to be alone in a tower. Of course, this is never going to happen and the sightseers begin to arrive and overwhelm him…