Fahrenheit 451

By Ray Bradbury

Book Overview

Nearly seventy years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1451673310
• ISBN13: 9781451673319
• Release Date: January 2012
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 249 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.4" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Can't Get Into It

I've been reading a lot of dystopia novels lately, and this is by far my least favorite. I'm not connecting with any of the characters and I don't find the writing very good. It's a short book and I am struggling to get through a page of it at a time.

Collective loss of memory, history, and the outside world

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a story of a society that has been changed to a dystopia. High authorities try to regulate life to make people happy. To achieve this happiness, firemen (which has been redefined) burn books to people don't know what the past was like. The city is a dystopia in a utopia. Guy Montag, firemen who finds out that he isn't happy once he has multiple conversations with a spontaneous adolescent girl named Clarisse. Clarisse doesn't thrive in the dystopia like everyone else. She does not accept that books are bad. She late affects the train of thought for Montag. Mildred, Montag's wife is happy with her life. She accepts the thought of books being bad. She agrees that destroying books brings happiness. She spends most of her time watching T.V. all day. Faber is an old man who enjoys books, but he is terrified of the firemen. He's a smart coward. Captain Beatty reads books from time to time, but he doesn't believe anything he reads. The common theme for the book the collective loss of memory, history, and the outside world in a society will result in an easy psychological manipulation of mankind by a government ultimately leading to dehumanization of the people. This is the theme because they are erasing history in an effort to achieve happiness. The common characteristics used in the book are relying on physical and somewhat psychological torture to maintain order. They threaten to burn books and houses if you're caught with books. The society the government runs thought to be an utopia but is far from it, the government basically runs and controls everything. Fahrenheit 451 really unfolds when Montag begins to take books for himself. His wife is terrified that he wants to keep the books. She is afraid that her house will be burned by the firemen, but Montag is a fireman, but does this make him able to read books? Things become more interesting when he is caught with a plethora of books in his home. Deon, Carlos, Juan, Cody (12th grade)

Fahrenheit 451 Audiobook

I bought this for my English 10 class and we used it to begin our reading. It matches the novel perfectly and allowed us to stop and discuss often!

farenheit 451- a readers response

I think that this book was an intriguing account of what a possible future society might be like. this book, though very difficult to follow or understand at times, was one i enjoyed very much. I do not suggest this book to someone who does not agree with cursing. If you are easily offended by the d-word, G-D, or h-e-l-l then this book probably is not for you, also if you have difficulty reading such as following the flow of words then this book is not going to make it any easier on you. Speaking of being difficult to read, the end of this book is a pain, it leaves you hanging, wanting to read more but you cant because there isnt a sequel and it the book ends on a very tense moment that does not have time to cool off with.

Bradbury's classic parable on the evils of censorship

I am teaching "Fahrenheit 451" as the example of a dsytopian novel in my Science Fiction class, although it is certainly one of the most atypical of that particular type of narrative discourse. Compared to such heavy weight examples as George Orwell's "1984," Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," Yevgeny Zamiatin's "We," Ray Bradbury's imaginative meditation on censorship seems like light reading. But the delicious irony of a world in which firemen start fires remains postent and the idea of people memorizing books so they will be preserved for future generations is compelling. Of course, there have been more documented cases of "book burning," albeit in less literal forms, since "Fahrenheit 451" was first published in 1953, so an argument can be made that while all the public debate was over how close we were the Orwellian future envisioned in "1984," it is Bradbury's little parable that may well be more realistic (especially in terms of the effects of television). The novel is based on a short story, "The Fireman," that Bradbury published in "Galaxy Science Fiction" in 1951 and then expanded into "Fahrenheit 451" two years later. However, those who have studied Bradbury's writings caw trace key elements back to a 1948 story "Pillar of Fire" and the "Usher II" story from his 1950 work "The Martian Chronicles." Beyond that, there is the historical record of the Nazis burning books in 1933. The story is of a future world in which everyone understands that books are for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montage is a fireman who has been happy in his work for ten years, but suddenly finds himself asking questions when he meets a teenage girl and an old professor. "Fahrenheit 451" is not only about censorship, but also about the inherent tension in advanced societies between knowledge and ignorance. Reading this novel again I am reminded about Pat Paulsen's editorial on the old "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" (a series well acquainted with the perils of censorship) about how we might enjoy freedom of speech in this country but we do not enjoy freedom of hearing because "there is always the danger of something being said." Censorship, in practical terms, is the effort of those who do not want others to hear what they find offensive, for whatever reasons, basically because it leads to people thinking thoughts they do not want them to be thinking. Through the rambling diatribes of Captain Beatty, Bradbury makes this point quite clear to his readers. Even though this is essentially a novella, Bradbury's work retains the charm of a short story. The recurring use of animal imagery throughout the story, the use of the mythic ideas of the salamander and the phoenix, make "Fahrenheit 451" more poetic than any other dystopian work. Even if it is predominantly a one note argument regarding censorship, it is impossible to deny that Bradbury makes a clear and convincing case for his position. Besides, there is something to be said for

Fiction? Really?

"Fahrenheit 451" is a simply great book. Yes, it's quite distressing and unpleasant to read - because what Bradbury describes is much closer to truth than we'd like it to be. And that is precisely what makes the reality of the book so alike our own - it's more pleasant not to think about such things, and therefore one can merely say the book doesn't suit one's taste and go 'get entertained' in front of the TV.The disturbing thing about the book is that, unlike many other books that deal with the distant future, "Fahrenheit 451" (written in 1953) hasn't been proved wrong simply by time itself. Not at all. Actually, what is shocking to realize is that we've come quite close to the society Bradbury writes about. Perhaps books haven't been banned yet, but it is indeed the entertainment industry that controls people's minds, the political correctness has reached ridiculous levels, there are ads everywhere and now we even have Segways so that we don't have to walk anywhere... And, of course, we can get a thousand page long classics shortened to a hundred pages - or, better yet, simply watch the movie.The book also has other qualities besides making one think (which is, judging by some other reviews, one of its biggest downsides). One cannot but admire the brilliant way Bradbury uses absurd and creates a completely surreal feeling by using the methods of expressionism to describe the feelings and thoughts of the main character. Bradbury sure had things to write about - and that can be proved by even something as simple as the fact I've spent the last half an hour writing a review on the Internet rather than reading a good book or looking at the world...