Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.50 You Save: $4.49 (64%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Fahrenheit 451
Book Review: A narrative of OUR time...
Summary: 5 Stars
In the middle of the last century, a number of authors wrote novels describing the de-evolution of out Western culture:
-Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
-A Clockwork Orange
&
-The Wanting Seed, by Anthony Burgess
-1984, by George Orwell
...And Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury!
Set in a "near-future" which has somewhat already materialzed in our own time, the Fire Department has long ceased to be an emergency service. They have become a secret-police force, whose primary purpose is to incinerate "illegal printed material". Why? Long before Thomas Paine distributed "Common Sense" and "The Rights of Man", or Martin Luther nailed his Theses to the cathedral door, the printed word has proved most unsettling to all thug-ocracies.
Montag, a disillusioned fireman, who just can't stop thinking for himself, soon finds himself under suspicion for his own secret literary curiosity.
The future described by Bradbury, is a time and place defined by LOUD, ALL PERVASIVE, BOMBASTIC commercialization, and a truly vapid, soulless, and superficial popular culture. Does that sound familiar?
Printed material has been banned, (and burned) because it "disturbs" peoples minds.
Montag, a sensistive and introspective sort, finds himself profoundly alienated in this society, failing to find authenticity even from his own wife. He can not help but question the role he plays as a fireman, and finds that he must find out for himself as to why the books he burns are so "dangerous".
Look at the contemporary "popular culture".
Observe all the conforming artificial fools about you.
See the overt lack of free-thinking on any given college-campus, (institutions that once exemplified the concept).
The loud, obnoxious, all-pervasive and overly-commercialized popular "culture" is ALREADY HERE. With so many empty-heads so easily distracted, the next step can very well be the willful incineration of all that "disturbing" literature out there.
Be assured it didn't just "happen this way".
Someone wants you to conform. Someone wants you to STOP THINKING.
There may not be a "fire-brigade" acting as the tool of an oppressive police-state, or even public book-burning events. Maybe books will become "passe", because we have "computers", and "electronic media".
However the printed word becomes "obsolete" (and there are people working very hard to bring this about), be assured that your very civilization is circling the drain. Be assured that someone want you to stop thinking.
"Books are humanity in print"
"Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill."
-Barbara Tuchman
Book Review: Can You Imagine...
Summary: 5 Stars
reading to be against the law?
In this classic book, Ray Bradbury paints a picture of a future society where it is actually a crime to read. Before you laugh at the thought, seriously think of how, in many ways, reading is actually becoming more and more discouraged. Every day you read where in school libraries certain books are considered as being "unfit" reading material for young adults. Books are becoming more and more a thing of the past. Have you gone into a library lately? Just 20 years ago, when I was in my late teens, libraries used to be filled with people and now they look like ghost towns. A lot of libraries across the country have been closed down.
In the book the firemen do not put out fires, they start them. 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature that book paper burns. That is an actual fact. The protagonist of the story, is fireman Guy Montag who is at a point in his life where he is really beginning to question what he does for a living. He really doesn't know why books are being burned, he just does it. Sounds like a lot of us, doesn't it? Sometimes we find ourselves doing things or believing things not because we have personally investigated the matter, but we do it because everyone else is doing it, or because we don't feel that we have a choice in the matter. I tell you this, and this may be a little difficult for some of you people to hear, but in every situation we are in, we always have a choice.
What are we choosing to do when we hear that schools are banning certain books? What are we choosing to do when libraries are being shut down? What are we choosing to do when other forms of media are taking over reading? I have a couple of friends who are in their late 30s, early 40s, who actually admitted to me recently that they do not like to read. I found it completely appalling.
Without our knowing it, we are gradually making it easier and easier for the "authorities" to decide for us; this book isn't just a piece of fiction, it's a warning. A lot of things in this book have already come true. I'm not going to tell you what they are because I want you to read the book, but it's almost kind of frightening that we, as a supposedly "advanced" society have allowed these things to come to pass.
When we let others tell us what to believe, how to believe, what to read, how to think, we give away our original power. One must become a "soul-rebel". One must learn to protect those things that rightfully ours to express. We cannot let others do our thinking. We cannot let others tell us what to believe. We cannot let "authorities" decide what we are to read. Make no mistake about it; this is an extremely dangerous book. I suggest you read it before it, too, is gone from sight.
Book Review: Still 5 Stars in 2004...? Really? Yes!
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read F451 in high school... and was moved by it. This was a book that at once fueled my teenage-born desire to fight "the man" and inspired me to become a science fiction author myself.
So why am I writing this review now, more that a decade (sadly, much more than a decade) after high school? Well, I just read F451 again. It is now April, 2004. I am amazed at just how accurate Bradbury's future is. If the "slaves to our TV's" accusation doesn't strike close enough to the bulls-eye, just look at the role of war in F451 and then turn on CNN and watch for 5 minutes.
Bradbury has hit the nail on its proverbial head; in his verbose-yet-eloquent style he has painted a horrible and terrifying future where man fears and scorns knowledge and wisdom. It has gotten to the point where firemen no longer put out fires, but start them--to burn the books which embody everything that is dangerous to a society that fears free will.
Reading this again, now, I couldn't help resurrecting a memory. I was at work in the high-tech field (before the crash)... I make a habit of either reading or writing during my lunch hour, and a coworker had made a comment along the lines of "why on Earth would you read a book when you can get all the entertainment you'd ever want online?". Reading F451, I remember this person, and imagine them in a "parlor" with their fabricated online "Tv walls" that cater to their egos and their banal desire for raw and stupid entertainment.
My advice to those who don't typically read, those who have siblings or offspring who do not read, and those who think anything that isn't digital is unworthy of their attention: Read this book. The main story (sans afterword, etc.) is only about 160 pages long. There's no excuse. read it.
Those who do read (and especially those who write): this is a classic for a reason, and Bradbury's poetic quality is very enjoyable. He creates only a few characters in this book, but from the start you have such depth in the lead man (montag) that you feel pity for him as his wife's stomach is pumped, and you understand why he is drawn to the spirit that is Clarisse. Because you will have the privilege of reading this far beyond the time in which it was written, you will both fear the "hound" and relate to it. You will also relate to the TV walls and (unless you live underground in isolation) you will begin to fear what the modern media has become.
[edit - You shouldn't burn books. Certainly not Cluck: Murder Most Fowl. I wrote it, so please forgive the self-promotion, but also please check out my book. Thanks, -edk]
Book Review: Truth or tale?
Summary: 5 Stars
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (the title referring to the temperature at which paper combusts) is breathtaking not because of beautiful prose, though Bradbury is an excellent writer, but because of the book's relevance to where the world and its inhabitants stand today. It's very unnerving to see how accurate Bradbury's story-form prophesies are as they unfold and become more real with each new generation; not that firemen are going to start burning books anytime soon.
People of the 21st century are introverts. Not in the quiet and reclusive, deep soul searching manner of the poet or monk. But more like anti-social, selfish beings living alone in their little bubbles; indifferent to the world and the people around them. Even when in groups, people practically ignore each other; Giving instead their attention to gadgets and things that place barriers between them and real relationships: barriers that are created whenever people prefer to communicate by pressing buttons rather than looking in to attentive eyes while conversing; Or when people would rather vegetate in front of a television set than talk with anyone at all. In Bradbury's story, these things become more than barriers: they become obsessions in which the people are entombed.
The plotline is very simple and easy to follow, which serves well to highlight the main points of the story. All the way through, the reader knows what is wrong with the picture, and can almost feel it as if the conditions in the book are the way things are in the real world at the very moment the words are being read. The story is told in third person, and always follows the actions and thoughts of the main character, Montag.
If there is one word that can be stamped as a label on Bradbury's writing style, picturesque is it. I can think of no other author that uses as much imagery in their writing than he. For example: "the body as thin as a praying mantis from dieting, and her flesh like white bacon."; "the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house."; "the blast and cough and suction of the gaseous dragon roaring to life." These fragments from the book, though out of their context, are not only good examples of Bradbury's imagery, but also of his poetic prose.
The only real downfall of the book is too much of the above mentioned. Sometimes the descriptions and imagery used can be so obscure that they cause the reader to veer off of the path and become lost.
Overall, Fahrenheit 451 is a wonderful book. It is a classic in every sense of the word, and should be required reading for everyone.
Book Review: The Fireman
Summary: 5 Stars
Fahrenheit 451 is about a fireman named Guy Montag. He lives in a day and age of very high technology. Instead of having televisions they have `parlors'. Which are rooms where pictures are displayed on the walls and it is very interactive. Guy's job as a fireman is not an ordinary fireman's job. In this future time houses have been made fire proof. Therefore there is no need for firemen who go put out fires. However the government has banned all books from the United States. They figure any book can cause disagreement by someone. Even the smallest minority could find a book that they think is prejudice towards them. Hence, Guy's job as a fireman is to burn any and all books that are found. However, a young girl moves in next door to Guy. She stimulates his interest in books. At first she just tries to get him to slow down in a world that is constantly speeding up. She tells him to stop and smell the flowers. This girl is found dead, but she left an impression on Guy Montag. Guy collects books from the ones they go and burn. He begins to hate is job as a fireman. He finds a man that also likes books and has been planning to destroy what the fireman do. Then, Guy Montage is reported to have books in his house. While on the job the fireman receive a call to go and burn some books. Guy is startled when they pull up in front of his house. The head fireman gives a blow torch to Guy and has him do it himself. Guy burns his entire house down, but by now he has almost gone insane. He ends up killing the head fireman and running. The authorities chase him for hours. Guy is able to escape down the river. He finds a group of people who all have ran away because they love books. Soon after he leaves the city the next world war starts. Guy's city is one of the first to get flattened by bombs. The people in the city had no warning. They were told it would never come so close. Guy Montag and the head fireman, Beatty, where actually very much alike. In the beginning they both went out and burned books with no second thoughts. However, Guy soon begins to think about what he is doing. This is when we find out that Beatty also once read books. Beatty found burning the books as an escape to loving them. When Beatty is about to be killed by Guy, Beatty does no try to move or jump away. He seems to just stay in place like he is ready to die. He has burnt enough books and he is ready for it to end. Death is his new escape. In this novel, Ray Bradbury shows us the importance of books and what could happen if we forget about books and what they teach us about ourselves.