Fahrenheit 451

Overall, I guess Fahrenheit 451 is a good book. Personally it is not one of my favorites, but I think the message is extremely relevant, especially in today's society. The book is filled with imagery and figurative language, but the pace is a bit slow and lacks action. I would recommend it if you like books about dystopian societies/if you feel that censorship can ultimately lead to ignorance of the masses.

Five stars for the novel itself. Fours stars for this edition. This is a nice copy with a great cover design. The pages are a little flimsy. The big issue, however, are the numerous typos to be found in this edition's text, which are absent from my 1978 Del Ray edition. For example, on page 83 FLIGHT has be misspelled and reads FIGHT. On page 127 the YOU in the last line should be HE. This was the third typo I have come across so far. So a 60th Anniversary Edition, with around a hundred extra pages of commentary is undermined by sloppy proofing. Spellcheck will never be intelligent.

Arguably Bradbury's best book, certainly the best of his early career, this is just a timeless classic, and one of the few Genre books to ascend from the science fiction ghetto and be regarded as *actual* literature. It deserves it, too. The last third is perhaps a little too florid. ray is having so much fun describing things that it's sometimes hard to find the story, but even then it's beautiful enough to overlook ts minor failing.

This story is very interesting to read, because this story was written to talk about how in the future many things will be different. And really thinking about this I believe that a lot of this is true, people don’t want to read long articles anymore, they turn to news sources like Snapchat. I also believe that many people really don’t know how to interperate books anymore just like what had happened in the book. This book really makes you think about where we are headed as people and in the future will we really become incapable of even understanding books.

Absolutely love this book.

Had mediocre expectation, but it surpassed them.
Keep in mind I love these books that are designed as warnings. 1984 is comparable to this and shares a similar message..

Quite prophetic as well.. Some of what we see happening in an exaggerated fashion in the book is happening in real life.

What a masterful handling of such a premise. In an age of countless of studios and authors trying desperately scrape together a narrative that revolves around a dystopian future, this one persists in remaining one of the select few to go about it the right way, even after all these years. This could have easily treated the audience like a like a parent would a child, kneeling down and spoon feeding the information or message to us, but instead it conveys, in a tasteful way, a tale that presents tale that beautifully displays the ever eminent threat of tyranny, self installed by a society afraid of their own ability to think for themselves. 10/10, would highly recommend.

Everyone should read this book again as an adult. My first reading was a high school lit requirement. Reading it now, as a book club choice, provided more depth and insight to Montag, his wife and their stilted lifestyle. It amazes me how many things which were "futuristic" when the book was written, are now part of our lives. Also, we should take heed of the warnings. Too much television, electronics etc. could make our future generations as mindless as those described in this book. Books are a gift and we should all appreciate them.

I really appreciate the depth of subject matter Bradbury achieved in such a short and quick paced novel. Page after page of quotable material here, and eerily relevant too. I also appreciate that while Mildred is a shallow character on her own, she played a large part in Montag's character development, and while Clarisse is no longer a living part of the text, in the most literal sense, after the first few pages, she sets Montag off on his journey and lives, through him, throughout the whole book. Neither woman is truly a shallow character and both play rather massive roles in kick-starting the entire novel.

Fahrenheit 451 Is a brilliant novel disturbingly being brought to life in todays world. in it the protagonist is a fireman a very different role than what they are in todays world. this is a world where books are banned as they are not pleasant and comforting and the firemen are the enforcers they are called on the phone and go to burn the houses. Guy Montag accepts this society till he meets a young girl who makes him think on his role and the society as a whole. we can see more of this idea of censorship in many places today an example might be china censoring everything against the government or even the USA banning certain books that they think lead people to rebel against the government "the House on Mango Street" is a large example of this as it is banned from being taught to kids in school in many states. overall anyone who hasn't been taken over by the mass media like TV or video games and has a good since of symbolism would love this book.

Dallas was promoting student reading. Fahrenheit 451 was the chosen novel for everyone to read at the same time. Some books were handed out at the train stations, so adults could read along with the students. Not from Dallas, but not wanting to be left out, I purchase the book. What amazed me most was that this classic is still relevant today. At work, we could not stop contrasting and comparing the book with today and the future. It amazes me that the author could have envisioned technology that is so close to what we have today.

The world of tomorrow, where no one knows what could happen next. Everyone has their opinion, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a great example of a realistic future. This book is a cautionary story. The message is that we should consider the dangers of electronics, if we don't, people will start to forget the value of books, reading, and learning. I really enjoyed this book and reading what the author thinks the future holds.

Fahrenheit 451 is based in the 24th century where electronics and television are valued more than school, learning, and books. Reading is considered a crime. Firemen are now used to destroy books. Guy Montag is one of those firemen. After meeting a neighbor, Clarisse McClellan, he is left wondering about his world and what it has come to. Upon Clarisse's death, Montag considers books and what is going on. He starts stealing and reading books. Montag says in part 1, "There must be something in books, things we can't imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don't stay for nothing." Turned in by his wife, Mildred, Montag finds himself having to destroy his house and getting arrested. He manages to escape by murdering his chief. While hiding from the police, Montag meets a group of men hiding for the same reason. In the end, Montag leaves his city as it is being bombed and a war has begun.

Fahrenheit 451 teaches us that we need to realize the value of books, reading, and thinking. Also, it's showing us the dangers of electronics. Every day some new technology comes along and people tend to rely on it way too much. This book is trying to tell us that we should realize and understand how addicting electronics can be, and that we need to always value books, reading, and learning.

Fahrenheit 451 is very good and I really enjoyed reading it. It was very suspenseful and you always wanted to keep reading to find out what happens next. It isn't a very hard book to read, and it also isn't very long. It only has a couple flaws. It felt very rushed in the beginning, and it didn't give a good description of the characters. However, people should read this book because not only is it a very interesting story, but it also cautions us about the future. I give it 4 stars out of 5. If you enjoy this story, some other books like it are: "1984" by George Orwell, "A Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, and "The Caves of Steel" by Isaac Asimov.

Fahrenheit 451 has great messages about how we should consider the dangers of electronics and TV. Other messages include how valuable books, reading, and thinking really are. I definitely think that others should read it as well. I can't wait to try reading other books that are similar to this one.

This book could keep one's brain entertained for a year! Or, you could just read it for pleasure and skip all the amazing metaphorical writing. I think it's one of the best I've ever read. We're doing it with a group of high school boys and they are really enjoying it. There is SO much to talk about, historical parallels with the Nazi regime, the reformation, the dumbing down of society. This book is a conversation starter! LOVE it!

This is the first time I've read through Fahrenheit 451, and I really enjoyed it. I find it interesting that there are many similarities between Ray Bradbury's vision of the future when he wrote it in the early 50s, and where we are today, both technologically and societally.

Though much of the description of daily life doesn't translate as well for today's audiences, I gave this book is a 4-star rating because it is so beautifully written. I had forgotten how beautiful Bradbury's prose is, and I am glad to pick it up once again.

I recently picked this book up after remembering it vaguely from my 7th grade days. It is astounding how relatable this 1950s novel is to today's world, how close we really are to this books unfortunate vision of our future. Fahrenheit 451 delivers on all cylinders a story of questioning and emotion. A time when nothing really matters and all information is hackney. I recommend this book for anyone who loves works such as Orwell's 1984 or Huxley's Brave New World. Truly, this will take you on a ride you are not soon to forget and turn the engine in your brain in ways you didn't know it could.

Ray Bradbury wrote beyond his years and this book is a classic. I read it in high school, then my daughter read it, so I had to re-read. There are so many levels of meaning in this book that re-reading it at an older age made me realize how naive my perceptions of it were and how maturing changes how we view an opinion. :)

This book is infuriating! Bradbury created a future where books are burned to keep society in peace. Peace meaning controlled. My friend, this will put you thinking. But it isn't a nice invitation to reflection. It is rather an uncomfortable provocation! You will have no option but do a vigorous shake on your view about the importance of books.

I had read this book in high school. Bradbury was my favorite author in high school and college and I have read most of his work. However, now that I'm an adult with many years distance from the first read of the book, I thought I would re-read it. Wow, sometimes great literature is wasted on the youth, there is so much to understand in this book and so much of the future predicted in it that I just didn't appreciate while young. It just gets better.

I never read this in high school. Finally got around to it in my mid 60s! Very haunting because it seems we are on the road to the place described in this book. A must read for anyone who loves reading!

I have always meant to read "Fahrenheit 451" but had never managed to get around to it. In a world where time is scarce, I neglected this classic work by Ray Bradbury. I regret this situation very much. "Fahrenheit 451" is a modern classic that deserves to be read. The individual is poorer for not having done so.

If the novel has any message, it is that censorship is a very great danger. In the extreme case, we have the official authorisation of book burning. Books contain evil thoughts and encourage individuals to think for themselves. If books are removed from society then the power to control the individual is that much greater.

Although written more than fifty years ago, "Fahrenheit 451" still resonates today. Yes, the evils of the Soviet Union and its satellites are no longer with us and the cold war has been left to the dustbin of history. However, whenever given the chance, governments of all colours just love to seek control through censorship. Even in the west, governments hanker for greater control as a means of stemming the growth of terrorism or whatever else they deem to be a danger to them. As citizens, we should always question any attempt to increase the power of government over what the population can read or watch or listen. We must always be vigilant.

Ray Bradbury is a man of great prescience. "Fahrenheit 451" can legitimately be compared with the master works of George Orwell. This is true praise as Orwell rests in the pantheon of the geniuses and Bradbury deserves his place in the sun just as much.

Bradbury demonstrates literary expression that leaves indelible marks on your brain as reader witnesses the oppression of an authoritarian regime. Timely but old fashioned in its setting. Brilliant writing.

Never read this before and have always wanted to. Got to this point and noticed the page numbers jumped from 18 to 47. Am I just dumb and this is how the book was written, or am I actually missing pages? Any help would be much appreciated.

There is a reason that Fahrenheit 451 is considered a classic.. it is one of those books that we can identify with during any era we have lived in, and our current era is no different. Less and less people are reading "real" books and more and more people reading and giving credence to trash magazines and internet blogs.

I always felt that F451 and 1984 were set if not in the same universe, then maybe universes right next door to each other for they tell similar yet both separately important stories. This book is a cautionary read on society gone wrong, and is one I consider a must read for any reader.

[This review is for the paperback "50th Anniversary Edition" of the novel, which contains special additional essays and an interview which enrich the experience of reading the novel.]

I'm not going to recount the plot details since this book should be a part of every book lover's lexicon. (If you have been off of the planet for the past half-century or so, this is a parable, set in the not-too-distant future, about book-burning. But the novel is really about what makes a person an individual. It postulates what people might be willing to give up in order to have "peace of mind," and poses material enough for hours of stimulating debate about the real value of independent thought and its importance to society.)

This review is simply a friendly nudge for those of you out there who have already read this book once, perhaps when you were quite young, and have not re-visited it. I urge you to do so as soon as possible.

I just re-read this incredible novel for the first time in thirty years. I picked it up because my teenage daughter is reading it as an assignment for an English class. I read it in high school, too, and I recall that I enjoyed it. But for some reason I had never re-read it. Bad move on my part. I got so much more out of the book now that I am older and have been in the world for awhile. The novel has aged beautifully. Actually, its insights, in light of our computer age and the changes which are being wrought in publishing and in the education of our children, are astoundingly relevant. This is a novel so current in its political and social re-imaginings that it could have been published last year.

I love Bradbury's books. He is a master story teller. His The Illustrated Man sits on my nightstand bookshelf right beside a copy of Ring Lardner's short stories, Ring Around the Bases: The Complete Baseball Stories of Ring Lardner and a copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short storys, The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald-- just in case I need to re-read a wonderful short story or two before sleep comes.

But as I said, I had not re-read this particular book in a long time. Not only did this futuristic masterpiece affect me completely differently when I read it again after such a long lapse of time, but I found so many nuances in the book which are just not present in the movie Fahrenheit 451 (wonderful as the movie is.) I had forgotten how mesmerizing Bradbury's prose is. I had also forgotten that this novel won the National Book Award. It's a treasure, and a novel to be savored periodically throughout one's life.

I especially like this edition which mentions on the cover that it was released as the "50th Anniversary Edition." Not only does it contain Bradbury's 1979 Coda and 1983 Afterword, but there is an illuminating interview with the author where he discusses his own views about how the book has held up to the passing of the years, his approach to writing in general, how he views the "future" we are now living which he imagined in the early 1950s, and even what he considers the weaknesses of the movie version of his book.

This is great American literature. Please re-read early and often.

The world is ruled by a warring totalitarian regime that outlaws reading and the spreading of knowledge, but the sad thing is that people stopped growing and learning on their own long before.

Guy Montag  is a firefighter who is hired to burn books, but one day, after seeing how the government deals with free thinking people, he just can't do it anymore. 

Many of the professorial drifters in the Fahrenheit 451 world are like the folks of today who cherish free thought and expression and reading, they are alone.

Reading this book made me view the world differently - once again. The warnings it offers are poignant; Bradbury's style is straightforward; the importance of literature clear. In this age of digital media to soothe and escape, it is this book that stands in the face of that, bravely, and warns of a time of no books at all. Love this book!

Fahrenheit 451 will forever be remembered as a classic. Its message given through "firemen" burning all free speech and all the now sheep-like people just being entertained through wall sized televisions that are too fast for anybody watching to think. They just accept the information given without thinking about it. It is an excellent read with a deeper meaning that you can think about for days after reading.

This has always been one of my favorite books after reading it when I was young, and it never gets old to read. Bradbury did a great job building a world that is fairly easy to visualize with the technology of today, making it even a more enjoyable story,

This book gives the scenario of what our future could be like if we continue to ignore our precious resources in the classics and even modern literarure.

It gives a courageous effort of a few to balk the system that has come to pass thru' neglect and heedlessness of the finer things in life.

I rcommend this book to all hgh school students which is a wakeup call to give heed to what is currently going on and the will to fight for the freedoms we want to enjoy in the future.

A world where the population is subdued by entertainment and wealth and shielding them from the truth? although 1984 gets a lot of props for the future which we should avoid, at least the people in that world could use their minds. Farenheit 451 is the true danger of the world we live in.

I started writing sci fi because of this book. Actually had the honor of seeing Ray Bradbury speak- LIVE - (yea, I know, it was eons ago) - but I hadn't read anything he had written before that speech. I got a copy of this book shoved into my chest just after that speech, and couldn't put it down. A marvelous read. And a must read for anyone who wants to understand how things can go wrong in society, and to get a glimpse of the cleverness of the human spirit. I'd say this is a must read for everyone!

This novel is Ray Bradbury's 1984 (Signet Classics) or Brave New World (P.S.). It speaks of a society which has rotted underneath through a loss of one of the most important devices ever created by man: the book. In this modern day "burst culture" of Blackberry's, Wi-Fi, 24/7 TV, and countless mindless entertainment outlets this book could not be more relevant. The story is a short read about a fireman living in a world where his job is not to save but to destroy. He burns books and by doing so destroys ideas. Today as the library becomes more antiquated, and reading and writing skills become increasing less sharpened by the education system, the story reminds us of the dangers in letting such fundamental skills going uncultured in the next generation. This book should be required reading for all students in elementary or middle school, for (like other Bradbury tales)it stretches the imagination beyond the status quo.

Because I have been working with a 9th grade kid, I had to revisit this book that I read when I was about this child's age. Ray Bradbury is a great author, and the themes of technology, free thought, and social bonds are just as relevant today as it was in the 1950's. The world created is the world we currently live in, where technology has taken over everything. Ironically, this book is downloaded on my first generation Kindle, which my student was even amazed that things like mine even existed.

Reading this book made me view the world differently - once again. The warnings it offers are poignant; Bradbury's style is straightforward; the importance of literature clear. In this age of digital media to soothe and escape, it is this book that stands in the face of that, bravely, and warns of a time of no books at all. Love this book!

Fahrenheit 451 will forever be remembered as a classic. Its message given through "firemen" burning all free speech and all the now sheep-like people just being entertained through wall sized televisions that are too fast for anybody watching to think. They just accept the information given without thinking about it. It is an excellent read with a deeper meaning that you can think about for days after reading.

This book gives the scenario of what our future could be like if we continue to ignore our precious resources in the classics and even modern literarure.

It gives a courageous effort of a few to balk the system that has come to pass thru' neglect and heedlessness of the finer things in life.

I rcommend this book to all hgh school students which is a wakeup call to give heed to what is currently going on and the will to fight for the freedoms we want to enjoy in the future.

A world where the population is subdued by entertainment and wealth and shielding them from the truth? although 1984 gets a lot of props for the future which we should avoid, at least the people in that world could use their minds. Farenheit 451 is the true danger of the world we live in.

I started writing sci fi because of this book. Actually had the honor of seeing Ray Bradbury speak- LIVE - (yea, I know, it was eons ago) - but I hadn't read anything he had written before that speech. I got a copy of this book shoved into my chest just after that speech, and couldn't put it down. A marvelous read. And a must read for anyone who wants to understand how things can go wrong in society, and to get a glimpse of the cleverness of the human spirit. I'd say this is a must read for everyone!

This novel is Ray Bradbury's 1984 (Signet Classics) or Brave New World (P.S.). It speaks of a society which has rotted underneath through a loss of one of the most important devices ever created by man: the book. In this modern day "burst culture" of Blackberry's, Wi-Fi, 24/7 TV, and countless mindless entertainment outlets this book could not be more relevant. The story is a short read about a fireman living in a world where his job is not to save but to destroy. He burns books and by doing so destroys ideas. Today as the library becomes more antiquated, and reading and writing skills become increasing less sharpened by the education system, the story reminds us of the dangers in letting such fundamental skills going uncultured in the next generation. This book should be required reading for all students in elementary or middle school, for (like other Bradbury tales)it stretches the imagination beyond the status quo.

Because I have been working with a 9th grade kid, I had to revisit this book that I read when I was about this child's age. Ray Bradbury is a great author, and the themes of technology, free thought, and social bonds are just as relevant today as it was in the 1950's. The world created is the world we currently live in, where technology has taken over everything. Ironically, this book is downloaded on my first generation Kindle, which my student was even amazed that things like mine even existed.

Fahrenheit 451 is set in a world where books have been outlawed. The tale revolves around Guy Montag, a fireman, who in this world are tasked with burning books and starting fires in place of putting them out. After meeting a fascinating teenager called Clarisse he is introduced to a new way of thinking, one that changes his entire view of the world.

I am embarrassed to admit that until recently I had never heard of Fahrenheit 451, although I had heard of the author Ray Bradbury before. How I discovered this novel was after reading and thoroughly enjoying Reader of Acheron by Walter Rhein. I noticed in several of the reviews for the Reader of Acheron how favorably Walter Rhein’s novel was being compared to Fahrenheit 451. The main reason why I bring this up is because if it hadn’t been for the Internet or the store, where I could read such reviews at a moment’s whim I never would have discovered this book. In other words I discovered Fahrenheit 451 because of the advancements in technology we enjoy today.

This is interesting to me because Fahrenheit 451 deals with the dangers of technology or rather the dangers of over reliance of technology. It is amazing to me how some of the points made in a book written over 50 years ago are still relevant today. I remember reading the part where a seashell radio is introduced and in my head it looked exactly like a blue tooth earpiece. Another part where Guy is talking to his wife about putting in a 4th TV wall instantly conjured up images of the How I Met Your Mother episode, where Lily discovers that one of Barney’s walls is actually a television.

But this also lead me to thinking about the cast of characters in How I Met Your Mother and I realized, all the characters were well read. Marshall was a lawyer and so by default had to spend years with his head in a book in order to pass the bar. Ted was an architect and often showed affection for classic novels and poems. Lily was a schoolteacher, you have to be well read by default for that occupation, the same goes for the journalist Robin. Barney clearly enjoyed reading, he wrote the Bro Code and the Playbook. I mean sure they may not have been great literary works, but clearly he valued the power of books.

Okay so why have I spent a paragraph talking about How I Met Your Mother on a review for this book? Because this book came out decades before I was born, I didn’t grow up in the 50’s or the 60’s and therefore have never really experienced what the world was like back then. I only have the modern day to compare “the future” that this book represents. Haven’t we all watched a sci-fi movie born out of the 70’s and 80’s, ones that represent those decades’ vision of what the 2000’s were going to be like? Haven’t we at times shook our heads at some of the claims that were made now decades ago?

Well I didn’t shake my head at most of the predications that Ray Bradbury made and to me that was a little startling. I mean yes you can nit pick the small pieces that show it is a product of its time, such as the fact there were no employed women or that wages were criminally low (by today’s standard). But just the notion that this decades’ old story still has specific relevance today is quite impressive.

But what really made this story for me was a certain revelation that occurred three-fifths into the book. Basically Guy Montag is talking to a former professor about why books are considered so dangerous in this world and why they were burned. The reason is more than simply the information that the books hold, it also has to do with the necessity of books. Sad to say in the most practical of terms a person can live without a book, it can be done with the wonders of technology. But how many people in this day and age can live without their mobile phone? Their tablet? The Internet?

While of course Bradbury had no way of knowing about these specific advances his point is made clear. You can turn off a television, a computer, a radio, a phone, but you can’t turn off a book. Once you have sat down and read it, there’s no way of turning it off, even if you close the book the information is in your mind, those once written words have become thought. That is why books were banned, because they couldn’t be controlled with a flick of a switch and therefore were considered dangerous, because there was no guarantee that all those thoughts would be happy or pleasant ones. The consequences for Fahrenheit 451’s world are that it may be a world of safety, of practicality but of rare beauty. With no reason to think for one’s self, to question why things are the way they are, to explore those shades of gray, there is nothing to dream about.

I cannot think of a more beautiful way to describe the greatness of books, I had never in my whole life thought about it like that. When I had read that part of the story all of my argumentative notions about technology being solely responsible for people not reading were wiped away. Look, I don’t know if that was the author’s intent, to catch the reader off guard like that, but frankly I don’t care, because to me the way that point was made and built towards was absolutely brilliant.

Yes it still deals with being weary about the wonders of technology and yes that is a theme that all classic sci-fi deals with. But Fahrenheit 451 IS a classic novel and after having read it I can see why. I know now why this is still read in schools, I know now why it is still considered relevant. It got me thinking, it made me want to discuss the implications it made. But most importantly it made me aware of the power of choice.

Technology was never the sole culprit, as I said in the first paragraph of this review, I discovered this book because of technology, heck I am reading it on an e-reader! The problem was that people willingly closed themselves off to different ways of thinking, all in the name of severe “safety” and it showed me the dangers of doing that. But the most important part of all of this for me was that I CHOSE to read it, I forgot about my prior connotations regarding this book and because of that I have a way of looking at things that frankly I didn’t before. Fahrenheit 451 taught me a valuable life lesson and to me that shows why this book deserves to be considered a classic.

"A little learning is a dangerous thing...shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again." - Alexander Pope

Curiosity and learning were foreign concepts to Montag, a book-burning fireman. But that was before Clarisse, before the books. No longer able to stay blissfully ignorant of the wrongs of the society around him and the misery of the people so engrossed in their technology, he begins his journey for knowledge. But how far is he willing to go?
Ray Bradbury sobers us with the world he creates, leaving us to wonder - could our future be heading down the same path? With odd and many sided characters, such as Mildred who calls television actors her family during the day and downs sleeping pills at night, the book refuses to be put down.
In his book, Bradbury proves that knowledge lives on long after it is created; even when the source is gone, things can still be remembered and often still ring true.
Within a single novel, hard to find in this day and age, a story that transcends time is found, one where you hope and worry for the protagonist. Is there any chance of success against government as a whole and is rebellion and knowledge worth it? That's for you to decide after reading this book. For we are taught that, though knowledge sobers us, we must be sober to be ourselves.
With an unpredictable ending and realism not found in most books today, you will regret it if you miss this book. But wait until you are ready to decipher it, because symbolism is found everywhere, from salamanders to people.