The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. The classic novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity. Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television "family," imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.

Bradbury--the author of more than 500 short stories, novels, plays, and poems, including The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man--is the winner of many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Readers ages 13 to 93 will be swept up in the harrowing suspense of Fahrenheit 451, and no doubt will join the hordes of Bradbury fans worldwide. --Neil Roseman

Customer Rating:
Summary: An easy read with much beneath the surface...
Comment: While a good read with strong themes, I struggle to grasp why this book is considered such a "classic" by so many. I'll admit - I am no one to judge what a "classic" is, but it would be nice if someone could explain it to me - as there are other books out there that drive at similar points but are considered far less noteworthy.

That being said, there were some strong themes running through this book that seem very prophetic - the book was written in the 1950s, and I caught myself more than once drawing on Bradbury's "exaggerations" (at the time) to current society. Such as the mass media (or propaganda) and mind control - crippling people's ability to think for themselves - and in fact doing the "thinking" for them. This is a central theme and one of the reasons behind the burning of books - as books make you think and loosen one's ability to control. And similarly, the (television) media's creation of short attention spans (immediately looking for the climax of a story - otherwise attention drifts) - creating a society that shallowly drifts from one climax to another, without every really grabbing a hold of anything. Senses have been dulled to the point where no one actually sees anything - to the point that it's suggested that society wouldn't know what grass or flowers were - only if you showed them a green blur would the recognize grass (as they are so busy driving fast to get to their next "climax" they don't see anything else). Both of these create a mindless society that lacks anything beneath the surface. Bradbury displays the deterioration this causes with the Mildred character - Montag's numb wife whose only satisfaction is her television "family", and who presents a shallow façade of happiness - but who in reality is miserable (poignantly displayed when she attempts to kill herself towards the beginning of the novel). I think she represents society in general - what Montag is "supposed" to be but is breaking free from.

Although interpreted to be exaggerations at the time - one can link these ideas to current society (in the 2000s). The ever shrinking attention span as technology develops new and newer media outlets (television, video games, Internet, iPods - all moving us further away from books). The mindless shows and distractions we watch to help us escape from our own lives (I don't mean to sound like I'm on a high horse here - I do the same thing); the mind control of masses by spin networks and political twisting. One reviewer mentioned the absurdity of intellectuals being banished to the far forest outside the city (in the book) - but what angle do you think "political strategists" are playing when they label President Obama an elitist, or rave about the liberal academia? The tension between knowledge and ignorance was one of the main reasons for the banishment of books in the book. I'm not suggesting that book burning is around the corner - only that the seeds that seem to have created Bradbury's fictional society are the same seeds that are present today.

Overall - as mentioned a good book - and one that continues to grow on me (perhaps it is a classic after all?).

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Burn it!
Comment: I'm no advocate of book burning, but burn this book! It was terribly disappointing--lots of hype over a cheesy science-fiction novel. There are two major problems with it. One is poor language usage--lousy descriptive word choices, lousy metaphors and similes that make inappropriate comparisons--and two, not enough attention paid to societal problems that give rise to things like book burning in the first place: the threat of the individual to the group; government control over the sheep-like masses; the modern epidemic of people's lack of interest in anything intellectual; the timeless epidemic of a fear of anything that goes against group mentality or upsets the status quo, and so on. Bradbury touches on some of these issues, but leaves them largely undeveloped.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The power of writing and learning to love to read
Comment: When I first encountered this book at the age of 13, I was more accustomed to 'choose your own adventure' books or pulp science fiction. I'd never heard of Bradbury, but realized as I fought through the first few chapters that I was in over my head. I stuck it out however, and when I was done, my life had changed forever. Since then I have read this book many times, and it is always with a particular fondness because this is the book that taught me to read. To read as more than someone who desires nothing more than to be entrained.

That is not to say that Bradbury isn't entertaining. I've always found him to be one of the most successfully entertaining science fiction writers of all time. FAHRENHEIT 451 is on of his best. Conceptually simple (books are outlawed and the world has become a dreary, dystopian place where cheap thrills and wars fought with disease bombs are the norm) but wise and deep in substance, Bradbury successfully weaves characters and plot into a profound statement about the essential nature of human kind and how the best of our writing can, if used (read) properly, even save us from ourselves.

There are few accolades that I can give this book that have not been already said more eloquently elsewhere. This is book filled with profound truth, a book that inspires, and a book that illustrates the best and worst of what men are capable of. Ultimately about the hope we have in the sum of human knowledge, few other books will make you treasure the act of reading and the privilege of owning books like this one will.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: If you like to think for yourself, you'll want to read this book
Comment: This book blows my mind. It says so many things that I've been believing for years (and that's before I read it) about human nature: the tendency of the masses to follow and do what they're told; how easily humans waste their capacity for critical thinking; the difference between pleasure and true joy; the true meaning of freedom. Many people don't search for a deeper meaning to life than what tradition gives them, and that's okay; it's their choice. But when those people assume that everyone is that way, and they start restricting people's freedom because they think it will make everyone happy - well, that's when you get Fahrenheit 451. The character of Millie, especially, strikes me with her utter devotion to meaningless trivialities. We all know a Millie, or two or three. And this book is the story of how Montag discovers he really isn't like Millie at all, even though he thought he was, and how he fights the law and becomes a renegade, just to discover who he really is.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Science Fiction Masked In A Glaze Of Poetic Impulse
Comment: If ever there is a formula for the perfect novel, 451 has the ingredients. It would be one part science fiction masked in a glaze of poetic impulse, settled on a bed of classic literature soaking up the juices of vast philosophical thought. The burning of books is a horror to any who love the written word and our freedom to dream. It would be our worst nightmare for society to regress to a state of anti-intellectualism so staunch that ideas themselves have become the enemy. Ray Bradbury not only captures our fears in this post nuclear world but also touches upon our often forgotten love for the stories that have captured our hearts. This is a must read for anyone who has ever loved a book.

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