Fahrenheit 451

I am sure at the time this book came out, it was more fantastical. The book spoke of a future with hi-tech gadgets, which are pretty much like regular gadgets to us now. Despite its straight forward storytelling, the story itself is pretty darn cool. Imagine books, newspapers and magazines being outlawed to a point that anyone in known possession of these items will have their house burned to the...more

I am sure at the time this book came out, it was more fantastical. The book spoke of a future with hi-tech gadgets, which are pretty much like regular gadgets to us now. Despite its straight forward storytelling, the story itself is pretty darn cool. Imagine books, newspapers and magazines being outlawed to a point that anyone in known possession of these items will have their house burned to the ground. I imagine if internet was around, that would have been taken down too. The story really starts to progress when the main character a fireman named Montag with the job of burning down these homes, begins to question his work and the information found these books he is made to burn...   hide

it has such a powerful message that it manages to both whisper and scream. ray bradbury does things to words that other people do with paint, or film or glass. he so masterfully portrays a time in the unspecified future but does so without any long descriptive paragraphs. he leaves so many blanks and challenges the reader to fill them in. it's engaging,...more

it has such a powerful message that it manages to both whisper and scream. ray bradbury does things to words that other people do with paint, or film or glass. he so masterfully portrays a time in the unspecified future but does so without any long descriptive paragraphs. he leaves so many blanks and challenges the reader to fill them in. it's engaging, whats-going-to-happen-next-what-is-this-all-about reading. his dystopia doesn't have robots ruling the world, or puritanical right-wing fundamentalists taking over. it has people who give up on engaging socially and intellectually. Censorship isn't started by the state, its by an indifferent, lazy, spoilt, apathetic people who are over-stimulated by multimedia. Ipods are thimble-sized ear implants. Wide-screen TVs are WALLS, four of them the ideal, in the living room, and referred to as "the family". Suicide and sleeping pills are commonplace, stomach pumping done by "tradesmen" with portable stomach-sucking machines. Firemen start fires. Burning houses with books in them, often with the "readers" burnt alive inside. so rich on so many levels. i loved this book. S   hide

I'm always annoyed when I think of all the great books that I wanted to read that were read in other people;s highs school classes. Even in the my high school. One semester I would here about one class reading something cool like "1984" and then in my semester, I wouldn't get to read it and I get "Who Has Seen the Wind" instead. This was one of those cool books. I've known about it for so...more

I'm always annoyed when I think of all the great books that I wanted to read that were read in other people;s highs school classes. Even in the my high school. One semester I would here about one class reading something cool like "1984" and then in my semester, I wouldn't get to read it and I get "Who Has Seen the Wind" instead. This was one of those cool books. I've known about it for so long, but have only just read it for the first time. Very relevant for any time period. For any society that frowns upon free thought or questions, this is a very important book. My only problem is that the very end of it sounded very preachy to me. Then again, I'm a cynic and a pessimist, but it just seemed like along speech, but the rest of the novel makes up for it. I would suggest this book to anyone.   hide

"...If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, topheave, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more...more

"...If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, topheave, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely damned full of noncombystible data, chock them so 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel ther're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy. Any man who can take a TV wall apart and put it back together again, and most men can, nowadays, is happier than any man who tries to slide-rule, measure, and equate the universe, which just won't be measured or equated without making man feel bestial and lonely. I know, I've tried it; to hell with it. So bring on your clubs and parties, your acrobats and magicians, your daredevils, jet cars, motorcycle helicopters, your sex and heroin, more of everythingto do with automatic reflex. If the drama is bad, if the film saysnothing, if the play is hollow, sting me with the theremin, loudly. I'll think I'm responding to the play, when it's only a tactile reaction to vibration. But I don't care. I just like solid entertainment" Ray Bradbury - FAHRENHEIT 451 - Published 1953   hide

I think people have commonly misinterpreted this book as being about state censorship. While the firemen are in fact state-appointed censors, it is apparent that it is the people themselves that have caused the censorship to become so widespread in the first place (as Beatty alludes to). The state willingly cooperates in this censorship because it maintains that status quo and makes its citezens...more

I think people have commonly misinterpreted this book as being about state censorship. While the firemen are in fact state-appointed censors, it is apparent that it is the people themselves that have caused the censorship to become so widespread in the first place (as Beatty alludes to). The state willingly cooperates in this censorship because it maintains that status quo and makes its citezens easy to control and manipulate. The main theme I got was about people's willingness to give up critical thought because it is simply easier to be a "sheep," and have someone else do the thinking for you. Such a society has crumbled into a cultural wasteland, where citizens are not happy (but in denial), engage in violence against thier fellow man, have no family values, are out of touch with the natural world and have empty souls. The similarities to contemporary western society are chilling.This book is a must-read. Incredibly powerful, but told through Bradbury's subtle and beautiful prose.   hide

This was a re-read for me after many years & I had forgotten many of the details. The story is very compelling & gripping, & if you have read it you know how cogent it is. One thing that struck me is when the main antagonist, Fire Chief Beatty says, that burning books isn't necessary and you can see the reality of that statement in our culture. How many people are voracious readers in our...more

This was a re-read for me after many years & I had forgotten many of the details. The story is very compelling & gripping, & if you have read it you know how cogent it is. One thing that struck me is when the main antagonist, Fire Chief Beatty says, that burning books isn't necessary and you can see the reality of that statement in our culture. How many people are voracious readers in our visually stimulated society? Book burning really isn't necessary if books just sit on a shelf. I enjoyed the story, kept alive & moving by Bradbury. At times his style doesn't agree with me & I'm not sure I can explain why. It's just that I found myself eager for the story to finish even though I mostly enjoyed the story. At times it just seemed like Bradbury was being to wordy or cryptic or something. Nonetheless, I would encourage anyone to read it. The image of the Mechanical Hound, with its needle piercing attack, is just flat-out frightening. There are some other aspects that will give the culture critic pause, the 3-4 wall interactive television for example, with the majority of the population zoned out in a de-humanized humanity; it is a very relevent mirror for what is going on in our society. Considering the 1953 copyright date, Bradbury shows a high amount of vision.   hide

Wow, this book is scary. It was written back in 1953 but it feels like it's happening today. This book follows Guy Montag, a fireman, only in the future, firemen don't put out fires, they start them. This book sucks you in so that you feel like you're going through all the things Montag goes through, and he goes through some mind-bending changes as he wakes up to how dead people have become in...more

Wow, this book is scary. It was written back in 1953 but it feels like it's happening today. This book follows Guy Montag, a fireman, only in the future, firemen don't put out fires, they start them. This book sucks you in so that you feel like you're going through all the things Montag goes through, and he goes through some mind-bending changes as he wakes up to how dead people have become in real life (it has a lot in common with "The Matrix" in that way).Bradbury deals with teen violence, war, shallow entertainment and "info-tainment," the speed of modern life, consumerism, commercialism, sound-bite politics, endless and unjustified war, divorce, fascism, alienation and a million other things that we struggle with here in the 21st century. It really is frightening how prophetic he was- how much we've become like the world of the future he describes. Wide-screen High Definition, interactive TVs, iPods, well, except that everybody drives VW Beetles instead of SUVs!Of course, if you've never heard anything about this book before, I may as well tell you that it mainly deals with censorship and reading. It's short, fast paced and exciting. Hope you're not afraid of robot spider dogs with hypodermic needles filled with poison, or of fire!   hide

Bradbury is a fine writer, and "Fahrenheit 451" proves to be his burning star. Like George Orwell, Bradbury must have seen the impending doom that the future held. With the emergence of TV and radio, he saw the destruction of individual thinking and the construction of a media controlled society. And whoever had the power of the mass media had control of the people that watched. In the...more

Bradbury is a fine writer, and "Fahrenheit 451" proves to be his burning star. Like George Orwell, Bradbury must have seen the impending doom that the future held. With the emergence of TV and radio, he saw the destruction of individual thinking and the construction of a media controlled society. And whoever had the power of the mass media had control of the people that watched. In the book, people were absorbed into their Television rooms and virtual families, their sitcoms and their thought numbing music. It's a world quite like ours. Sure, it might be more exaggerated in the book, but the concept is the same. whatever the media puts over the news, the majority of the people watching will take it in as truth, and nothing but truth. People become dependent on their mass media for entertainment, because the media can do all the thinking for them. All they have to do is observe and stare blankly into a monitor all day, no one to impress, no one to communicate with, nothing but them and the fantasy world displayed before them. So yeah, before I get carried away, just read the book, I highly recommend it, especially if you enjoy to sit and think after reading.   hide

An important statement against censorship, this book presents a prophetic vision of a world where people are pre-occupied by 'popular entertainment' and distracted away from any serious thought or real knowledge (as represented by books). The disturbing similarity of this fictional world to the one we actually live in today, makes this a thought-provoking must-read. I must say, however, that I am...more

An important statement against censorship, this book presents a prophetic vision of a world where people are pre-occupied by 'popular entertainment' and distracted away from any serious thought or real knowledge (as represented by books). The disturbing similarity of this fictional world to the one we actually live in today, makes this a thought-provoking must-read. I must say, however, that I am not a big fan of the writing style. Points are driven home without much subtlety. It sounds a little preachy in places, and this diminishes the urgency of the message for me. Even the imagery of book-burning, though very provocative, ultimately makes the world of Fahrenheit 451 seem more un-real and distant than it actually is. The other problem is that the book never gets past the central premise to explore questions like why or how such a world might come to pass in any real detail. This is probably because it was originally written as a short novella. However, in this case, I would have liked to see a sequel!   hide