Week 38, 2025 In Reveries
Read-list Series, Essays on Preface and Chapters 1–3 of Huxley’s Brave New World
From this week onwards, you will receive one email at the end of each week: a digest (newsletter) with my latest and relevant essays and a roundup of the week's shorter notes. That way, your inbox stays uncluttered, but you still have access to everything I write, even if you sit with it or choose to skim.
Between Pages 📖
Currently, I am working my way through Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. I am totally enjoying this extraordinary novel, exploring its ideas in relation to our own society, our desires, and the compromises we make for comfort and stability. As you know already, I am writing a series of essays, which will be inspired by groups of chapters in this book.
Instead of a YouTube playlist, this is my curated "read-list" for you.
This latest piece, inspired by Chapters 1-3, is about conditioning and the illusions we accept as reality. What if the society around us could shape our minds before we even knew it?
We, the Manufactured Dolls of the World Factory
Imagine the terror of living in a world that functions as a factory, where you exist as just another manufactured doll. As far as I know, we have always preferred order over freedom. When that order controls the mind, that is horrifying. No one will ever resist, because no one knows how, and no one wants to. We will just become one of the millions of manufactured dolls, ready to be played with.
Relevant Archive 🔗
If you would like to start with the first piece in the series Manufactured Minds, below is the link! It is about the inspiration behind my picking this book; consider it the preface of the essay series.
Manufactured Minds
Why return to Brave New World nearly a century after its publication? It feels like reading a prophecy in real time!
Thoughts to Hold 💭
You know what?! I started an online course on Critical Reading from Oxford last week. I'm pretty sure you will hear a lot about it in the coming days. But for now, I learnt about how to think with literature but not just about it. To do that, I am learning how to put a frame around the text, and only look at words on the pages, and nothing else. And then, read and analyze!
These are a few wandering thoughts from this week!
Until Next Week 👋
As the week comes to a close, I am grateful for the time we have spent wandering together through ideas and words. I look forward to sharing more next Sunday.
Until then, my dear, take care of yourself.
Yours in thought,
Yana ♥️
P.S. I pour my heart into every word I write, and it means the world to have you here. Also, please consider sharing it with others who might appreciate this space for intellectual exploration. ♥️