Fahrenheit 451

“Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features. This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more ‘literary' you are. That's my definition, anyway. Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often.”

I can't believe in all the English classes I've taken over the course of my high school and college careers that I've never had to read this book. In a way, I'm almost glad that I didn't, because I feel like I wouldn't have appreciated this book enough in high school. But now that I've finally allowed myself to pursue a degree in English Literature and stop pretending science is all that matters, this book meant so much more to me than it ever would have before. Bradbury wonderfully illustrated the importance of books and reading in an extraordinarily unique way, and it worked really well. I think from now on when anyone questions why I would major in something like English Literature, I'll point them to this book. It really highlighted for me why it's okay to not be focusing on a career in science and medicine like the majority of my friends are doing; books are incredibly important too and should not be taken for granted.