Aldous Huxley

Jake Poller's outstanding new critical biography of Aldous Huxley will appeal to a wide audience. Sensibly priced, and with a good number of images, it devotes equal amounts of space to both the man and his oeuvre. Huxley himself is brought vividly to life, and each of his major works receives a detailed – and at times innovative – critical appraisal . . . This exemplary contribution to Reaktion's Critical Lives series is beautifully written, as well as being witty and informative – hallmarks of all good biographies. * TLS *
Jake Poller, in his new biography of Aldous Huxley, does the impossible. He covers the ground revealed previously by other scholars, but also manages to add fresh details, knowledgeable insights and astute critiques – and in far fewer pages than in any earlier treatments. This book is not only a marvel of concise and readable scholarship but a welcome and necessary update of the life of one of the 20th century’s most provocative intellectuals. * Dana Sawyer, professor of religion and philosophy, Maine College of Art and author of Aldous Huxley: A Biography *
Jake Poller’s Aldous Huxley is not just an engagingly written introduction to the life and work; this well-researched and wide-ranging critical biography provides many fresh insights into the less familiar aspects of Huxley’s oeuvre, such as Eastern religions, parapsychology and ecology. An outstanding book. * James Sexton, editor of Selected Letters of Aldous Huxley (2007) *