Fahrenheit 451

I count it a privilege to be able to revisit the canon as an “adult” instead of the forced march of high school reading. It's nice to savour the book and just be blown away at the sheer volume of ideas intimated at in every chapter. And dense too. I can't help but feel in today's indulgent age the book might have ended up being twice as long and half as good.

Ironic reading this on the LED screen of an iPad especially considering how Bradbury was a big fan of words on the printed page. When Faber caresses the Bible Montag gives up he reminisces aloud: “Do you know that books smell like nutmeg or some spice from a foreign land? I loved to smell them when I was boy. Lord, there were a lot of lovely books once, before we let them go.”

Glad I finally got around to reading this.

I was nervous when I began Fahrenheit 451. Right away I noticed the style of writing, the characters, the pace—it all reminded me of another book I once read and hated, a book everyone and their mother seems to hold up as an example of brilliant literature: 1984. I don't like to compare works of literature, but it's bound to happen from time to time. Unfortunately, 451 was a bit too much like 1984 to shake my initial worries: the same basic setup, similar themes, very similar feel, protagonists that parallel one another, and the same disregard for females with sense or intelligence. What helped me push through 451 was its size. By the time I started questioning how much more I could put up with, I was a quarter of the way through. Yes, I could finish it.

And I was glad I did. While the same basic backbone existed in both stories, Fahrenheit 451 shaped up to be a much better story. First of all, to its credit, it wasn't any longer than it needed to be. It's a very short novel, and before I got to the point where eye rolls were a plenty, it was over. Secondly, the writing was far superior. Bradbury's word choice was fresh. I never felt bored with his prose. No, the story didn't pull me in, but Bradbury's words did (an immense step up from Orwell). Third, the characters were a little more interesting, a little more rounded. Could they have been better written? Yes, but part of this may have been a consequence of keeping the story short.

In the end, I wasn't impressed with Fahrenheit 451, but I will consider returning to Bradbury. Orwell's people on the other hand are going to have to work hard to earn my time again. Am I letting my feelings for 1984 weigh too heavily on my reading of Fahrenheit 451? Likely; however, it was such a significant thought in my mind as I read that it would feel unnatural, perhaps dishonest to not mention it in my review.

So consider this what you want: a review of Fahrenheit 451? or 1984? a critical response to dystopian fiction? the ramblings of a madman? Call it what you want, and I'll do the same, but in the end, we both know it's two sides of the same coin. ;)

Couldn't finish it. It was mega boring, and I'm just too busy with school to even bother. Maybe I'll try again in a few years.

After listening to the audio book version of [b:Fahrenheit 451 4381 Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1298412440s/4381.jpg 1272463] I sat for a moment and thought. I looked around and wondered. What would the world be like if all the books were gone? How could we stand the deluge of media that consumed those in this Dystopian future and made them stop questioning the world around them?That was when I began to think about the world around us now, which is consumed in so much media. I hope we are not heading in the direction of this book because I could not imagine a world without everything that can be found in a book and through our imagination. Think of all that would be loss without philosophy, discussion, science, questions, and time to think.My only gripe is that I did not come to this book until after the death of its Author. Thank you Mr. Bradbury for helping us look beyond the pages of a book.

It was an eye opening read. Great concept but I sometimes found it hard to follow. Got lost while reading. Not really a favourite style of writing I guess. But the last part was mind blowing and I actually like reading what the author had to say about the book. I usually skip those parts but somehow I didn't for this book and I'm glad I took the time to read the afterword.

Capolavoro della letteratura. Uno di quei libri che non possono mancare nella vita di un lettore e infatti mi sembrava strano non averlo letto e giustamente durante la stessa mi sono ravveduto di averla intrapresa molto tempo fa.

La cosa grave mi sembra che sia l'averlo dimenticato a tal punto da scordarmi di averlo già letto; grave perchè è l'indice di quanto mi sia piaciuto e in effetti anche in questa seconda lettura non mi ha entusiasmato. E' veramente di una lentezza spaventosa, anche se la trama e il contesto sono sicuramente entusiasmanti.

Fahrenheit 451 è la temperatura a cui la carta brucia per autocombustione. Un mondo futuristico, in cui le guerre scoppiano e durano pochi attimi, dove il governo totalitario manipola le menti dei cittadini tramite dei televisori avveniristici: una società diventata completamente apatica e conformista. In più esistono i vigili del fuoco, che invece di domare gli incendi, li appiccano nelle case in cui sono conservati dei volumi, ovviamente diventati illegali. Questo ha portato gli uomini a vivere in uno stato di vegetarismo sentimentale, dove la morte, l'amore non praticamente hanno perso di significato.

Se vogliamo fare un paragone con un altro libro simile in cui viene descritta una società futuristica così alienata, possiamo farlo con 1984 di Orwell e a mio parere quest'ultimo è molto migliore. Personalmente non amo propriamente i libri in cui le riflessioni strabordano cos' invasivamente sulle azioni e Montag (il protagonista principale) per metà buono del libro non fa assolutamente nulla e quando ci si mette, sono più gli antagonisti a prendere in mano la situazione. Mi sarebbe sicuramente piaciuto di più di leggere di personaggi come Faber e Beatty, mentre ho trovato insopportabili Clarisse e Mildred.

Ovviamente è bello vedere il cambiamento di Montag e la parte finale del libro è di gran lunga migliore di quella iniziale, forse perchè comincia a succedere veramente qualcosa. L'ambientazione è buona, ma non eccelsa, ma giustamente si puntava sui risvolti sociologici della vicenda.

Il libro rimane comunque una lettura da fare perchè insegna e fa capire l'importanza dei libri, della lettura, delle divergenze delle idee. Ed è scritto divinamente. Una società senza una cultura, senza una storia tramandata attraverso i libri, è una società morta e perdente in partenza. Ma rimane comunque un libro che io ho trovato troppo lento e anche se comunque lo consiglierei, non va più in là di tre stellette.

I loved this book from the first pages once you open it you'll find out there's a reason why this book always shows in the top 10 sci-fi lists.[a:Ray Bradbury 1630 Ray Bradbury https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1361491094p2/1630.jpg] described a hell in earth for readers.

The idea of the book is very simple yet brilliant. Dumb people feel inferior to smart people, therefore, intelligence leads to unhappiness. Books make people smart. So, lets burn all the books and everyone will be content. Except that although the minority, there still are some people that just cannot be happy with an empty life, of superficial dialogs and hollow TV Shows. But eventually these anomalies will die down.

The war aspect wasn't much explorated though.

Can't believe it took me this long to get around to reading this classic novel by one of my favorite authors! It was unbelievable how Montag's thoughts about the noisy-ness of the world and life in general STILL is relevant and applies perfectly to our lives NOW. I think that is what floored me about this book. The TV wall-screens in the book that everybody is sucked into is the Internet of today!
I guess it's a downer to read this now and realize that everything the book (written in 1953) worries about for the future is happening now (or already has) or is in the process of happening.
Won't forget this book ever.

“Tiene que haber algo en los libros, cosas que no podemos imaginar para hacer que una mujer permanezca en una casa que arde. Ahí tiene que haber algo. Uno no se sacrifica por nada”.

This is a pretty fun little read - doesn't take long. I love Bradbury's descriptions of the scenes and characters - wonderful metaphors. I would have liked to see more of the breakdown/reconstruction after the ending, but overall a good read.

Fahrenheit 451 speaks for itself:

“The Book of Ecclesiastes would be fine. Where was it?”
“Here,” Montag touched his head.
“Ah,” Granger smiled and nodded.
“What's wrong? Isn't that all right?” said Montag.
“Better than all right; perfect!” Granger turned to the Reverend. “Do we have a Book of Ecclesiastes?”
“One. A man named Harris of Youngstown.”
“Montag.” Granger took Montag's shoulder firmly. “Walk carefully. Guard your health. If anything should happen to Harris, you are the Book of Ecclesiastes. See how important you've become in the last minute!”
“But I've forgotten!”
“No, nothing's ever lost. We have ways to shake down your clinkers for you.”
“But I've tried to remember!”
“Don't try. It'll come when we need it. All of us have photographic memories, but spend a lifetime learning how to block off the things that are really in there. Simmons here has worked on it for twenty years and now we've got the method down to where we can recall anything that's been read once. Would you like, some day, Montag, to read Plato's Republic?”
“Of course!”
“I am Plato's Republic. Like to read Marcus Aurelius? Mr. Simmons is Marcus.”
“How do you do?” said Mr. Simmons.
“Hello,” said Montag.
“I want you to meet Jonathan Swift, the author of that evil political book, Gulliver's Travels! And this other fellow is Charles Darwin, and this one is Schopenhauer, and this one is Einstein, and this one here at my elbow is Mr. Albert Schweitzer, a very kind philosopher indeed. Here we all are, Montag. Aristophanes and Mahatma Gandhi and Gautama Buddha and Confucius and Thomas Love Peacock and Thomas Jefferson and Mr. Lincoln, if you please. We are also Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.”
Everyone laughed quietly.
“It can't be,” said Montag.,

First of all, Bradbury is a much better writer than I remember him being. His action writing lacks clarity at times, but the major passages in the novel (Beatty explaining the history of the Fireman and needling Montag with literary allusions, Montag yelling at his wife and her friends, Granger explaining the phoenix and the importance of remembering) are all amazingly well-written. Second, I think F451 is more relevant now than it has ever been before. The world of the novel is strikingly similar to today: constant war, obsession with television (including mindless game shows), a willful cultural and historical illiteracy, even the part where the man on the TV says Mildred's name is similar to the recent Old Spice promotion where Old Spice Man would say Hello, {insert Twitter Name} instead of Hello, Ladies. It's scary how accurate Bradbury is in his vision of the near future, excepting of course for the lack of giant robot spider-dogs in today's society.

First of all, Bradbury is a much better writer than I remember him being. His action writing lacks clarity at times, but the major passages in the novel (Beatty explaining the history of the Fireman and needling Montag with literary allusions, Montag yelling at his wife and her friends, Granger explaining the phoenix and the importance of remembering) are all amazingly well-written. Second, I think F451 is more relevant now than it has ever been before. The world of the novel is strikingly similar to today: constant war, obsession with television (including mindless game shows), a willful cultural and historical illiteracy, even the part where the man on the TV says Mildred's name is similar to the recent Old Spice promotion where Old Spice Man would say Hello, {insert Twitter Name} instead of Hello, Ladies. It's scary how accurate Bradbury is in his vision of the near future, excepting of course for the lack of giant robot spider-dogs in today's society.

It is scarily delicious ! Loved it.

This was the book that made actually understand symbolism, which was a tough thing for my math-oriented mind to wrap itself around. Thank you to my high school English teacher for helping me get there with Fahrenheit 451!

I think I would have liked F451 more if it hadn't been overhyped, if my expectations hadn't been so high. All in all, an odd little story that doesn't deserve a 1/4 the praise it gets.

“Do you know why books as such 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. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies.”