Rating: 
Summary: Fahrenheit 451
Review: Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is a important and influential book. When written in 1953 he didn't know he was going to predict today's society. Guy Montag, the protagonist, loved his work as a firefighter. He seemed to liked nothing better than to start a fire on a pile of books and watch the pages burn. Until, one day he meets his new neighbor Clarisse, a young girl to whom is educated about the world. They began talking and she asked Montag "Are you happy?". After returning home from meeting his new neighbor he looks at his wife, in bed and listening to "little seashells" in her ears which entertains her mind during the night, The author says "he wore his happiness like a mask and the girl had run off across the lawn with the mask and there was no way of going to knock on her door and ask for it back." he realizes that indeed he isn't happy. Montag realizes his wife has tried to overdose on sleeping pill and she is taking to the hospital and revived. To much for Montag to handle , he becomes observant . Montag and Clarisse begin meeting up everyday and walking to the subway together and sharing and talking about each other. When Clarisse one day disappears, Montag starts hiding books in his home. His wife Mildred does not agree and she turns him in. Forcing Montag to set fire to his own house. When Montag knew he was caught by his boss Captain Beatty he threw fire on them and fled to avoid arrest, Montag now a delinquent joined a group of scholars whom were outlawed because they kept the contents of books in their heads. I liked this novel because it is very honest, it shows how the society does not always change for the people, but the people can change for the society. You will never see a time or a place where everyone agrees with the same thing and this novel is a great interpretation of a two sided belief ( books vs. no books). The novel shows what censorship can do to a society, and the importance of free speech. People must learn to accept different views, whether they agree totally with them or not.
Rating: 
Summary: Pointless!
Review: Dear Reader,
This book was as pointless as it was boring. The basic message was "The world is doomed because no one reads and you are powerless to stop it. Your such a wimp that all you will do to protect your rights is cower in your stupid crappy corner realizing I was right as they burn this book. Then all your macho, idiotic, brainwashed peers will be happy and you will be dead or old and senile. I'm the only smart person left and you have no willpower, you big fat ugly jerk." The whole "utopia gone wrong" is pretty much hypocritical, anyway. If the whole world was doomed then their books wouldn't be published and their life's work would be demolished into their own execution, which would null thier point about people's inability to say what they believe.Sincerely,
Me
Rating:
Summary: Fahrenheit 451 - medium difficulty
Review: First off, I would like to tell you why I picked this book. I picked it because I like books that have the future in it. When I first looked at the headings for this book, I was really undecided, but when I went to amazon.com I fould out that this book took place in the future with the firefighter and his troubles. I thought, "Well Hey". Maybe I would actually be able to raed the book and see things differently and my thought was right. It was a book about a firefighter named Montag, who instead of putting fires out, he sets them. When I first found out I thought to myself, "well thats pointless, why would you set a fire and just let it burn like nothing happened?" But after I read on through the pages I found out that they dont just burn houses for no reason, they burn them because of books. If there are books in the house and they get a call, they will go and start the house on fire. One night Montag was setting a fire and an old lady was sitting there saying something. Montag tried to get the lady out of the house, but she wouldn't go. That made Montag thing, and me also, "why would you want to die in a fire?" Montag grabeed a book, hid it under his arm, and left. After that fire, Montag went home to his wife Mildred. (Theres something weird in the book, the walls are TVs and the TV characters on shows are "the Relatives"). When Montag got home, he hid the book under his pillow and he barely slept that night, and when he woke up in the morning, his wife Mildred was watching TV, or should I say talking to the relatives, and he told mildred he wasnt feeling well, and if the cheif comes and asks for him to tell him that he wasn't feeling well and would go to work. Mildred thought that it was unusual because Montag is never sick. Montag asked mildred to get him some advil and turn down the relatives. Mildred refused because she didnt believe Montag at all. the door monitor went off and it was the cheif, Montag told mildred to tell the chief "I dont know, I dont want to talk about anything" Mildred of course let him in and the chief had a clue that Montag had a book and that's why he didnt feel good. So the chief played it off the way I pictured it, was like this, "I know that the fire last night wasnt' so pleasant, but when people have books and they know it is against the law, but on the other hand if the fireman had the book for more than 24 hours, then we would have to burn his house". That made Montag kind of scared, after the chief left, he said I must tell you something Mildred, after he went and pulled 8 books from the light fixture in the hall, mildred didn't know what to do and went ballistic. But then she sat down to read a book or two thinking it would help, all of a sudden tthe phone rang and she answered. it was her friend and she told Montag she was going out with her friend and Montag wås shocked. But then Montag remembered, "I remember a guy a long time ago I was sitting in the park, he would carry a bible around, and he told me that if i ever needed help to call me and he handed me a card." Montag went dashing around the house finding the card. He finally found it and he called him, and his name was Faber.
For the rest of the story you must read the book. it is actually kind of interesting if you think about it. Maybe 60 years from now, maybe firefighters will acttually start fires instead of putting them out! As for me, the book was an okay book. I have read better but it was interesting.
Rating: 
Summary: An overrated Book
Review: I thought that Fahrenheit 451 was an ok book at best. I did think that the plot was very creative, but very far-fetched at the same time. While the fact that I am not a big fan of fiction books that stretch the truth may have some say in my decision, I was still disappointed with other things. I thought that the author did a poor job of mixing up his vocabulary as well as using very little detail to describe things. If the author wants to write a book about the future, he needs to do a good job of telling us what he wants or thinks it will be like. I had heard a lot of good things about this book and that is the reason I decided to read it. In the end I was very disappointed with the book and wouldn't recommend it to most people. There were some things in the book that I enjoyed though such as certain quotes. Here is one quote that I enjoyed: "Only the 'family' is people."(Page 84). I believe that this means that only people are real, books are not.
So in conclusion, I believe that those people who get into crazy future books may enjoy it, but I personally was disappointed. My expectations may have been too high, but either way its only my opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Holy Macaroni!
Review: Fahrenheit 451 is quite simply an amazing book. Ray Bradbury draws a picture of a futuristic society in which books are banned-all books. Then he uses creative, real-like characters to present it to you. Each and every character has his or her own uniqueness. The opening line-"It was a pleasure to burn" is a perfect way to start off a book about burning books. I especially enjoyed the character Clarisse McClellan. It was she who introduced Montag to a different kind of world; one in which he could look at everything with more then just his eyes. The part of the book in which Clarisse was letting raindrops fall into her mouth was quite amusing. When Clarisse and Montag part, Montag tilted his head backward and let the raindrops fall in his mouth. I really think the character Clarisse was a great addition to the novel. It helps the readers feel the words of the book all the way up to the surprising ending. The overall quality of this book is great. I would recommend this book to almost anyone. I do, however, think if you are not at all into futuristic, fictional books then this is not the one for you. I would give this novel four out of five stars.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbingly familiar society...
Review: Yes, I *do* read classics once in a while... :-) Our local library was sponsoring a program called "Everyone Reads" where a number of people all read the same book and have discussions about it. Fahrenheit 451 was the featured book, and I've been meaning to reread it anyway. You probably already know the storyline... Reading books is a banned activity, and firemen are not used to put out fires, but to burn down houses where books are being covertly hidden. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns, hence the title. The main character, Montag, starts to wonder why people would still risk having books, and ends up becoming a book hoarder himself. His house is burned down, and he flees before he can be arrested. He meets up with other readers in the countryside and decides to remember and preserve books rather than return to the city, which, by the way, just got anniliated by atomic warfare... This isn't so much a novel as a longer short story critiquing society's ever-decreasing attention span and lack of time spent actually thinking. Everything is based on entertainment, and ideas and concepts are spoonfed to the public in short, repeated soundbites. Sound disturbingly familiar? I found it amazing that, 50 years after having written the book, Bradbury's view of the future isn't that far removed from reality. We don't burn down houses with books, but we try to censor ideas and make everything "politically correct" so that no one is offended. This particular paperback edition is the 50th anniversary edition of the book, and features an interview with the writer at the end. He also expounds on what the characters in the book would say and do now if the book were to be expanded. Well worth reading (or reading again if you haven't done so lately).
Rating:
Summary: close, with a cigar
Review: Great book, it really is, just one problem, passive writting style, commonly using the words "was" and "had been" makes it harder to concentrate, plot wise, its the best, I recommend it, not that you would care
Rating: 
Summary: Bradbury weaves another classic
Review: A book to sit side by side with '1984' and 'Brave New World,' Bradbury's classic on censorship is less bleak in execution than 1984 and more focused than 'Brave New World,' resulting in a thoroughly readable tome that remains as relevant today as it was years ago. Not as good as '1984,' nor as overrated as 'Brave New World,' F451 is a pleasing mix of warning, cynicism, and pure future paranoia. Very nice. As always with Bradbury, expect a steady pacing to his prose with an almost melodic rhythm. Bradbury reads well, especially aloud, and rewards readers who allow themselves to sink into the pace of the book. You'll note, 9 out of 10 bad reviews of this book on Amazon come from disgruntled high school students who found Bradbury's phrasings too unwieldy or the story to be too "slow." (i.e., not action-packed enough). Not unexpected, and rather ironic, when looked at from a certain point of view, as these narrow-minded children would live quite well in Bradbury's fictional future. Bradbury's warnings ring true. Bradbury readers should pick this up without pause. Those who enjoy bleak stories of potential futures, too, should explore this important work.
Rating:
Summary: Fahrenheit 451
Review: I was truely amazed when I read this book, though it was intially published in 1950, an incrediable amount of topics are germane now in 2004. Censorship, political correctness, the sugar coating and commercilization of Jesus to fit the masses, and the role of media. The world Guy lives in is one in which he is bombarded with ads every day, conflicting ideas are dangerous, you must not be different and you can not offend anyone, the TV like "family" is on every day and is simply noise and it causes to divide and dumb intelligence, unlike TV where there is atleast some kind of plot to follow and stress your attention span it is simply there to absorb time. Jesus is reduced to a product salesman, pushing things that every faithful worshipper absolutely needs, does any of this sound whatsoever familiar? Though he does smack you over the head numerous times with symbolism (the hearth/salamander..) it all serves its purpose and the book is poignant in its relavancy today. Overall, this is a wonderful book and everyone should read it.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimate Fahrenheit 451 Review (nothing remains to be said)
Review: Well, it's not a bad book. Actually it should not be considered a book though, it is, rather, a short story. The ideas expressed are all very valable but there isn't much of a story and the science behind it laughable. Bradbury makes good points and argues well, it's just that if you're reading this book (or any book for that matter) it probably implies that you already like reading and value books pretty high. So Bradbury is preaching to the converted. This book makes a great reading list though, many names are dropped and books are quoted from. Instead of reading this book you should read any of the books mentioned in it. Or just as a reminder of why you love to read so much.
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