Rating: 
Summary: An important Classic!
Review: In "Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury writes of a world wherein the government has grown weary of trying to cater to every petulant differing opinion. Someone, we're told, decided that the masses argue endlessly because they read each other's ill-formed opinions. But if those opinions -- and all written material -- were removed from the culture, then everyone would have to get along and play nice. In place of the written words that are outlawed, the government institutes entertainment policies, whereby the ultimate lowest common denominator concept rules the day. You think soap operas are devoid of intellect? You ain't seen nuthin yet. This book is vitally important today as it was almost 40 years ago. It ought to be required reading by every high school student in the country. Also recommened: WILL@epicqwest.com by Tom Grimes, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
Rating:
Summary: Frightening
Review: I first read this book when I was a junior in high school, and I immediately loved it. Five years later, I decided to read it again, just to keep my memory refreshed.Wow, had I forgotten a lot. I mentioned I thought it was great the first time; the second, it was even better. It is easy reading, so I managed to get through it within a couple of days, and would've been able to read it in its entirety if I had had a whole Saturday to myself. As other books that I would group into this general genre (such as "1984" and "On the Beach"), it projects a frightening future in which firemen don't put fires out, they start them--in the homes of people who are reported to possess books. As a raging bibliophile, this is one of the most frightening scenarios I can imagine. Ray Bradbury is a masterful writer who commands your attention like few I have read before. He succinctly depicts the struggle of Guy Montag, the main character and a fireman, as he slowly begins to realize that perhaps his job is not as spectacular and wonderful as it once was. He lives in a climate of violence, where people driving run over pedestrians for sport, and wars come and go as frequently as the change in tides. And, most of all, it is a world where books are viewed as a waste of time, considering TV shows have been condensed to five minutes long and billboards are two hundred feet long so that drivers may see them as they drive by at breakneck speeds. Bradbury paints quite a grim picture of the future, along with his contemporaries, Nevil Shute and George Orwell, that seems frighteningly near. Haven't we heard the news stories about how the younger generation doesn't read? And Montag's wife, Mildred, interacts with her "family" on wall-sized TVs in the parlor...an interactive "reality" show that seems like it may be drawing closer by the second with the advent of all the reality shows in the past year. Rather than having her own life, Mildred seems to live her life in conjunction with these characters on the screens. Bradbury gives us an ominous warning about what may be in the future. We should definitely all pay close attention. This book is more pertinent than ever, and I hope they're continuing to teach it in the schools. It is important that we read these books, so that when things begin looking eerily familiar, we can stop it before it gets to this point.
Rating: 
Summary: Fahrenheit 451
Review: Fahrenheit 451 is a very strange and different book. I got the meaning of it, but it was hard to understand. This book is about the world in the future. The people in the future think education is not important and are addicted to T.V. One man, Guy Montag, starts to see things differently. He doesn't like how his life is and the people in it. He breaks free from the the life he has always lived and goes on an adventure to escape from what he's always known. I would say this book is for people ranging from teen to adult who enjoy reading sci-fi novels.
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Summary: Fahrenheit 451
Review: Fahrenheit 451 was a very strange and different book. I got the meaning out of it, but it was hard to understand. The book is about the world in the future. The people of the future believe education is a waste of time. They burn books and are addicted to T.V. One man, Guy Montag, starts to see things differently. He doesn't like how his life is and the people who are in it. He breaks free from the world he knows and goes on a rough adventure to escape what he's always known. I would say this book is meant for people who range from teen to adult and who enjoy reading sci-fi novels.
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Summary: The Cliff Notes Study Guide for
Review: One of the strengths of this Cliffs Notes look at Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" is the introductory section that puts the work in the context of not only the author's literary career but also the field of science fiction in general, the dystopian novel genre in particular, as well as the historical period in which it was written. Even if readers of the novel never go back and check out "The Fireman," the short story that Bradbury published in "Galaxy Science Fiction" in 1951 and then expanded into "Fahrenheit 451" two years later, or look at his treatment of similar themes in his1948 story "Pillar of Fire" or the "Usher II" story from his 1950 work "The Martian Chronicles," there is something to be said for giving readers a clear indication of how this particular topic, regarding the threat of censorship, is a recurring element in Bradbury's writings. The format of these little yellow and black striped books is pretty standard by this point. After the background material you are provided on the author the novel is introduced trough a brief synopsis, a list of the characters, and a character map that clearly establishes the key relationships between Guy Montag and the others. The Critical Commentaries looks at each of the three parts of "Fahrenheit 451" in terms of a summary, a specific commentary section, and a glossary. The last is particularly helpful given the proclivity of characters such as Beatty and Faber to drop literary references left and right. Montag, of course, recognizes none of them and most readers, unless they are well versed in the works of not only Shakespeare but also Bothwell, Pope and Sydney, will be equally in the dark. Each glossary is arranged chronologicaly, with the terms and phrases appearing in the same order they do in the novel. I find this section extremely useful for my own students reading this novel for our Science Fiction class. For more detailed analysis this Cliffs Notes volume provides detailed Character Analyses of Guy Montag, Captain Beatty, Clairsse McClellan, Professor Faber, Mildred Montag. Granger, and the Mechanical Hound (in contrast to the SparkNotes look at the same characters, this volume looks at more characters and spends considerably more time developing Montag). There are a pair of Critical Essays looking at the Major Themes of the Novel (dystopian fiction, the issue of censorship, and a comparison of the novel and film) as well as an Introduction to Bradbury's Fiction (which is where the novel's imagery is explored). The back of the volume contains a review section with some sample questions, some quotes to identify, essays questions, and practice projects. Of course, I always pick up these study guides so that when students, uh, "borrow" from them I can catch them red-handed and chastise them accordingly. However, if students realize that they can find ideas here that might be useful in their papers but keep in mind that they are going to have to make the arguments themselves, with appropriate textual support from the actual novel, then they can benefit from this study guide without going over the line and placing their grade in peril.
Rating:
Summary: Great concept
Review: The premises of Fahrenheit 451 are promising: the ever looming "this-could-happen" is enacted out in the form of Guy Montag and his little world where people desire only 4 screen televisions in their parlour, where advertising reigns supreme, etc. A vast majority of books are illegal because they inspire conflict (the Koran and the Bible, Wealth of Nations and The Communist Manifesto) with conflicting ideas. Who would want that? The human race might actually get somewhere. It's a fantastic concept, and should lead to a great book. However, I've read this three times and each time I get the same general feeling: this could have been so much better. So, read it, just for the sake of reading it, but don't expect a huge masterpiece.
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Summary: Bradbury's classic parable on the evils of censorship
Review: 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 any work that insures that beyond the point at which water freezes the only other recognizable number on the Fahrenheit scale is the point at which book paper starts to burn.
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Summary: A concise study guide for Bradbury's dystopian novel
Review: The SparkNotes were created by Harvard students, which means that these little black and blue books tend to be more streamlined than their yellow and black Cliffs Notes counterparts. In the case of Ray Bradbury's classic dystopian fable "Fahrenheit 451," the tradeoffs are fairly specific. You will not get a look at either the novel as an example of dystopian fiction or in the context of Bradbury's writing in the prolific period after World War II, but you will get a series of important quotations from the novel explained and a series of multiple-choice questions that will help test your knowledge. Even though this study guide was written by students for students, SparkNotes manages to avoid doing the work for the students. The summary sections are rather concise and both the analysis provided of various sections of the novel (each of the three parts of "Fahrenheit 451" is broken into at least two parts) as well as the sections establish key themes, motifs, and symbols, provide introductions to these key concepts rather than laying out entire analytical arguments. If you are a student you will find that this study guide points you in several profitable directions but still leaves doing the actual analysis and argumentation up to you. You will find analyses of the four main characters (Guy Montag, Mildred Montage, Captain Beatty, and Professor Faber) as well as a list offering a brief description of all the important characters, and then two major analytical sections. The first looks at the themes (censorship and knowledge versus ignorance), motifs (paradoxes, animal and natural imagery, religion), and key symbols (blood, "the hearth and the salamander," "the sieve and the sand," the phoenix, and mirrors). The second, as mentioned above, provides a summary and analysis of the three parts of the novels. In the back of this study guide you will find five important quotations explained, key facts, study questions and essay topics, and review and resource materials. Since I prefer to set up the idea of a dystopian novel as well as the evolution of this idea in Bradbury's writings myself for my students I do not especially mind that these elements are touched upon only briefly in the opening section looking at the context of "Fahrenheit 451." SparkNotes provides a concise study guide for Bradbury's classical science fiction novel, which is exactly what it promises to provide.
Rating:
Summary: More Like 3 1/2, But It's Worth Reading
Review: Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" has some very interesting ideas, but they get bungled in the execution. The book was written in the 1950's and takes place in the unspecified future. Books are now illegal and no one learns to read more than is absolutely necessary. The world is in a constant state of war, but drugs and mindless T.V. programs keep most people pacified. The main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman. But firemen no longer put out fires; they start them to burn books and the houses that harbor them. (Because there is no written history, very few people are aware that this was not always so.) Montag meets an intriguing teenage neighbor, Clarice, who challenges him to think and not conform to society. This leads him to reexamine his life, and his relationship with his dull and placid wife. Montag is also troubled by a conversation with an old man about a year earlier. Though he was sure this man was harboring books, he never turned him in. Finally, Montag steals one of the books he is supposed to burn. He dreams of collecting books and sharing them with everyone willing to listen. What's good in this book are the theoretical ideas: the sheer horror of the society being depicted (it's like a less complex "Brave New World"), and the image of thousands of people memorizing books so they can keep the words alive. Here we see that books are not paper and ink, but living words that start with one person but can touch everybody. This is what makes them so potentially dangerous. Although the book is very involving, and reads quickly, I was dissatisfied with some aspects of the plot. Montag's conversion was much too quick. If that was all it took, why weren't there millions of others like him? He doesn't come across as an unusually bright man. Also, I think the ending of the book is rushed. A minor complaint: The 50th anniversary Ballentine edition is riddled with typos, which should be unacceptable in a commemorative volume.
Rating:
Summary: Strong message and beautiful to read
Review: I was surprised by how much I liked this book. I had heard people talk of it forever and always put it in my mind as a book to read, but I didn't think that it would necessarily be an enjoyable read. I finally got around to reading it when I heard that Michael Moore's new movie is titled after this book. (Fahrenheit 9/11 The Temperature at Which Freedom Burns)
So about the book... It is not only a good story with a strong message regarding freedom of speech. It is beautifully written and very easy to read. The words flow, and each character is perfect in their contribution to the story. This book is pretty short. I think it is a must read for anyone. I'm not going to say more, because you have to read it for yourself!
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