Review : Doors of perception

Aldous Huxley was one of a handful of novelists to integrate ideas about
science into his novels. June Deery’s Aldous Huxley and the Mysticism of Science
(Macmillan, £37.50, ISBN 0 333 63767 4) trawls through his works,
meticulously noting the correspondences between his narrative and contemporary
science. Huxley’s reputation was such that he could approach the top person in
the field and ask them to explain their ideas, a resource not available to the
more humdrum novelist. That family connection must have helped.