Aldous Huxley (1894-1962), the author of 50 works of fiction (most famously Brave New World), poetry, essays, philosophy, and travel writing, was astonishingly prescient in his assessment of the paradoxes inherent in human life, particularly the treacherous gap between our scientific accomplishments and moral evolution. Murray's vivid and fast-flowing portrait details every aspect of this amazing man and significant writer, including his startling appearance (Huxley was a very slender six-feet-four dandy with a musical voice and a strange, otherworldly look resulting from his severely impaired eyesight); the many luminaries in his social circles (all of Bloomsbury and 1940s Hollywood); his extensive travels; and the gloriously kinetic chemistry of his erudite, playful, and deeply spiritual mind. Many intimate aspects of Huxley's "exceptional" first marriage engage Murray's tireless attention, but the real story here is Huxley's courageous book-by-book metamorphosis from a brilliantly cynical satirist to a politically awakened peace activist to a polymath and "elegant sage" equally fascinated by science and mysticism. Marveling at the contrast between the paucity of Huxley's eyesight and the "absolute clarity" of his writing, Murray concludes, movingly, that Huxley's life can be seen as "a search for light, for means of knowing and seeing that did not depend on the shortcomings of the human machinery." Donna Seaman

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