Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He was best known for his novels Brave New World and The Doors of Perception. Early in his career, Huxley edited the Oxford Poetry magazine and wrote travel articles, film stories, and scripts. He later became interested in spiritual subjects such as parapsychology and philosophical mysticism, including universalism. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in seven different years.

Aldous Huxley (July 26, 1894 - November 22, 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He was best known for his novels Brave New World and The Doors of Perception. This recording is from a speech he gave, "What a Piece of Work Man Is". Earlier in his career Huxley edited the Oxford Poetry magazine, wrote travel articles, film stories, and scripts. He later became interested in spiritual subjects such as parapsychology and philosophical mysticism, including universalism. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in seven different years.

The CBS Radio Workshop was an experimental series of productions, subtitled "radio's distinguished series to man's imagination" that ran between 27 January 1956 and 22 September 1957. The premiere production was Brave New World, narrated by Huxley himself, with a complicated sound-effects score that evidently took a long time to construct, and comprised a ticking metronome, tom-tom beats, bubbling water, an air hose, a cow's moo, an oscillator, and three kinds of wine glasses clicking together.

In this anthology of 26 essays and other writings, Huxley discusses the nature of God, enlightenment, being, good and evil, religion, eternity, and the divine. Huxley consistently examined the spiritual basis of both the individual and human society, always seeking to reach an authentic and clearly defined experience of the divine. 

In his final novel - which he considered his most important - Aldous Huxley transports us to the remote Pacific island of Pala, where an ideal society has flourished for 120 years. Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala, and events are set in motion when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and - to his amazement - give him hope.