Fahrenheit 451

It must be close on 25 years ago that I first heard about this book, and now finally I can tick it off the list. Surprisingly also, this is the first time I've read anything by Bradbury, even though I have a number of his works on my shelves.

The book is such a classic, that I'd be surprised if people don't know the general premise, and of course in that sense there wasn't too much wow factor or plot twists that one uncovers here. With that said, it is wonderfully written. The clarity of the landscape the characters see themselves in is simple and clear to the reader. Depressing, vapid and shallow as one continues through the story as it becomes more and more fatalist.

Such a simple phrase, such a beautiful phrase, as Montag meets the group by the fire at the end:
"... and Time was there." Truly gave me chills.

I have many thoughts about this book but recognizing that I'm unlikely to take the time to get them all coherently stated here, I'm going to opt for a few bullet points instead.

● People seem to like arguing about whether this is a book about the dangers of technology or the dangers of censorship. I think it's somewhat both, sure, but more about the dangers of being content to engage only with things that make us feel good.

● I say it's only sort of about censorship because, as Faber argues, "Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord. You firemen provide a circus now and then at which buildings are set off and crowds gather for the pretty blaze, but it's a small sideshow indeed, and hardly necessary to keep things in line. So few want to be rebels anymore. [...] People are having fun."

● One other bit I thought was interesting: before reading this book, I assumed it would be all about the book as savior. But another Faber quote: "It’s not the books you need, it’s some of the things that once were in books. The same things could be in the ‘parlor families’ today. The same infinite detail and awareness could be projected through the radios and televisors, but are not." As SparkNotes summarizes, "...the stories and ideas told in books could just as easily be told through different forms of media. But, those types of stories are not what people are interested in. [...] It is not just books that are absent from society, but knowledge and curiosity about the world in general."

● Some reviewers reject the book because "the future" (now the present) hasn't unfolded the way Bradbury described it. At least one other reviewer points out that sci-fi is never about an accurate prediction of the future, but instead a means of wrestling with timeless challenges in humanity. I agree, and for that reason consider the book incredibly timely. A whole lot of the issues we're facing currently (like social media bubbles and a seeming inability to have civil discourse about anything meaningful) come back to the preference we humans have for "feeling good" and avoiding discomfort.

How can I write a review for Fahrenheit 451, a book which has meant so much to me? How can I say some brilliant thing which will exhort you to read it? Reread it? May I tell you that I have extra copies of this book so that I may lend or give them should I find someone who has not read it but is willing to? Can I relate in a brief sentence the dream I had in which I read this book in response to a society no longer reading any book which lasted longer than a page?
I have been inspired and struck with urgency in every rereading of Fahrenheit 451. I see in the dystopian society of Ray Bradbury's envisioning a dreadful shadow of my own generation, and it frightens me, so I read the book again and it gives me hope to counter the fear.
Among all the books I have read, this is my first recommended, among my most passionately praised as genius. I urge you, now, this very moment, take this book from a shelf - buy it, borrow it, come to me and I will lend it you - and read it, drink it in. If you've read it before, reread it. So much worth is contained in these few pages, it can do you no harm to invite this book to touch your life for the first or hundredth time.

I finished this book back in August of 1996. The story was beautifully written and its message was absolutely terrifying. The protagonist lived in a world where people were not allowed to read books because their ideas caused too much confusion. I curled up in my bed that night and thanked whatever deity I was worshiping at that time that it was just a story.

I re-read it for a book club and I am now convinced that Ray Bradbury was quite the prescient mother****er. Don't worry about the book burning...I refuse to believe that will ever happen. Besides, like Dr. Faber says, the books are not the important thing - it's the ideas they represent. But read his description of how people live: everyone's got these "seashells" (like ear buds) in their ears at night so there's constant music and noise, everyone's walls are covered in giant televisions that are constantly on showing the story of a family and all their drama (reality television), people don't want to think or be unhappy, so they're always popping pills, the teens are lost with no parental guidance driving over 100 mph and running people over for fun, there's a war going on but nobody wants to talk about it and act like it has nothing to do with them. The list is endless and SO #$%!ING DISTURBING. HOW IS THIS NOT A PERFECT DESCRIPTION OF OUR SOCIETY TODAY??? This book was written in 1953!!!

Anyway, great read (even with the bouts of depression it caused). Highly recommend it.

Well this book was somewhat of a disappointment. It seemed so dated and heavy handed. The book was written in 1951 so here was America just coming out of WWII, a world that had seen the rise of fascist governments, the A bomb! the current cold war, McCarthyism... So I guess I can understand what "the future" might have felt like to a "thinking person". Face it, coming out of the war and the atrocities of mankind, the deprivations, people hungered for entertainment, good times, distractions. It might have felt that the real thinking, feeling, creative people were few and far between as America was distracted by buying houses and having children, buying cars and tv sets, plastic drinking glasses and bunk beds...

I feel, the real message here was not that books were "bad", not that television was bad and would rot your brain like the wife Mildred's, but that thoughts themselves were bad. Being a contemplative, introverted person meant perhaps you were questioning "why" when you should just go with the flow, let others in charge do the thinking and worrying. Reading books might lead one to think, to question, and thus be considered dangerous. If you consider McCarthyism and all the furor and blackballing that went in the early 50's it was almost as if you weren't even allowed to THINK about other forms of government, or question the status quo. Don't think like a commie for Christ's sake be happy you're in America, the greatest country in the world! go shopping, smoke a cigarette, relax. The war is over, forget about it.

I guess that idea is still relevant today. Consume, buy, be distracted by reality tv and smart phones. Reading books is boring. You can learn all you need to know on the internet! The IDEA still holds, I just think Mr. Bradbury went about telling his story in a clunky, one dimensional way. The character weren't believable or likable. The dialogue was lame. Why was there a war that destroyed the whole town in an instant? Did I miss something other than, yes, that can happen? This might be an important book. It's just not a great book!

I didn't read this in school as so many people did. I read it first in 2008 (brief "review" preserved below), and I wanted to read it again because he died last week and I thought perhaps I should give it another shake, since it's the book everyone knows him for. However, coming back to it a second time I still have the feeling that either 1) people haven't really read it, so their praise is in ignorance, or 2) I am somehow unable to understand it.

There are obvious parallels that can be made between F. 451 and today's world with it's "social media" that requires people to focus on little electronic screens to communicate with each other. That said, I think Bradbury does what all grumpy old men do and rushes to the extreme. Yes, Facebook and Twitter and website forums (not to mention BBS and #irc and USENET before them...) have created postmodern vices, but they haven't annihilated "society" in any way. Bradbury's fears about greater amounts of time being spent in virtuo, so to speak, have been realized, but the results are vastly different than he claimed — as evidenced by my friends who have posted pics on Facebook and elsewhere from marathons, Tough Mudders and mountain biking sessions in the last month. I don't mean to imply that Bradbury was predicting anything, but his conclusion that society can only be saved by a bunch of academics (with perhaps a recently converted blue collar worker) after the rest of the world destroys itself is an elitistly myopic view.

But more than the ideas, I simply don't believe the book. Montag is a hysterical character, in all that adjective's senses. He goes from maniacally spraying people's homes with kerosene to memorizing passages of the Bible in almost no time. He simply makes no sense as a character. And how exactly does one learn to read in a society that has been burning books for generations, and chastising them for even longer? I don't think an author has to completely describe a society to explore it, and often I think authors err too much the other way by over-explaining how things work, but the society should at least make some sort of internal sense.

Like I said, may I'm just unable to understand it.
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2008: Not as good as everyone seems to claim. While some of the ideas presented by Mr. Bradbury are certainly interesting, this book has not aged very well.

“Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury is an immensely powerful, well-written dystopia that gets in one's mind through its deceptively simple narrative and heartfelt earnestness. A book about the dangers of censorship and modern-mass culture, it is just as reason...ant today as it was nearly sixty years ago. One notices immediately the vividness of the characters, drawn deeply and delicately. One feels for these characters, even if we do not know much about them – which is a testament to Bradbury's power as a writer and how much he cares about his work. One feels the tension and confusion of Guy, the enchantment of Clarisse, compelled by Beatty's defense of the system, pity for Millie's blindness, and even fear of the Mechanical Hound. What makes the book powerful in my opinion is not its relevance but its simplicity. Unlike books like “1984” and “Brave New World,” the changes in this future society are quite subtle and the story itself is on the surface quite simple. Furthermore, Montag's journey from fireman to rebel is intensely personal and his awakening is has a very visceral feeling - my favorite moment in the book is in part three when Guy is walking through the wilderness and he is beginning to feel nature, to feel the world around him in a new way. The numbness he felt in the city has begun to melt away in a world of new sensations. So much has been said about this particular book but as Bradbury attempts to get across, the books are not important but it is what books do to people which is important. People are the carriers of the ideas within books. Bradbury, an admitted bibliophile, calls not so much for books but for thinking, questioning people informed by the wisdom of books, their worlds expanded and made complex by their ideas.