Fahrenheit 451

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Summary: Critical View
Review: Bradbury's view on the future is startling. He has made many correct predictions on how the future would develop. He helps to remind us that books and knowledge are what we crave and need to be happy.

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Summary: Bradbury's views on the future
Review: In Ray Bradbury's Fahenheit 451, we get to look at a futuristic world where books are banned and reading is prohibited. The narrator is a firefighter named Montag and unlike the firefighters of out modern society the firefighters of Montag's world start fires to burn books as opposed to extingushing fires to help citizens. Through the novel, we see how the government controls society by watching the citizens everymove and controlling what they may see or hear by using their own propaganda. This can be seen through Montag's wife, who is a drug using zombie addicted to watching government TV twenty four hours a day. Montag eventually becomes a victim when becomes interested in the books he is hired to destroy, steals them and hides them in his home. Through Montag's experiences we get a close look at how individuals in his world have no control of their destiny. However, when it seems most bleak and Montag is close to being discovered, Bradbury introduces some savior like characters. Fleeing from the law, Montag finally discovers the Book People living in the forest. These people memorize books and then they repeat the book to others so that books will live on forever in their memory even though they are being destroyed by the government. Although Bradbury builds a complex plot, the message is simple, when a society tries to control peoples basic freedoms so that they can manipulate them with their own propaganda, its time to start heading for the woods.

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Summary: A different way of looking at the world
Review: I never really enjoyed science fiction, but something about this book caught my eye. The story revolves around one lone fireman, Guy Montag, who, oddly enough, sets fire to books instead of putting them out. He lives in a world that doesn't like to see unhappiness and the real truth, so they destroy books and all that causes unhappiness. When he meets a girl who, unlike all of the others, "thinks," not only about life and the deeper meaning behind the events which happen in our daily lives, which we don't acknowledge because we are all so busy, he becomes obsessed with finding out the truth behind those books and behind life. Along the way, he meets Faber, the elderly man who guides him on his journey. There is a certain tragedy in this book, and although the events in this book don't happen in life verbatim, it is remarkably similar to events which happen in everyday life. This appeared to have been a spiritual experience, not only for the characters, but for the author Ray Bradley. The characters are so tortured inside, caught between what they are expected to do and what they know is right. This book made me think more about what life really is about. And, as demonstrated in this book so many times, you never know when your life is going to end, so as it says in the book: "Stuff your eyes with wonder. Live as if you'd drop dead in 10 seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day, every day, sleeping its life away."

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Summary: Fahrenheit
Review: This is perhaps the most thought provoking book I have ever read. Unfortunately, I missed this book in my earlier days of public education, but I have found a real treasure now. This book is very topical in the policitically-correct world in which we live. I find it hard to believe that so many of the fears that are expressed in Beatty's speech to Montag regarding why books or ideas were burned have come to fruition. In fact, the most stirring part of this edition is the coda where Bradbury's ideas about censorship are expressed in first-person. A must read for any would-be scholar.

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Summary: wonderful
Review: We were assigned to read this book in our English 9 class, and never before have I read something nearly as interesting as this. It was complex and never before thought of, written by an extraodinary author!

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Summary: Fahrenheit 451 is the best book I have ever read
Review: Fahrenheit 451 is a great book. I read it in my Language Arts class. Fahrenheit 451 is my absolute favorite book of all time. It has twists and turns. A terrific book to read for people of all ages.

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Summary: I like the complexity of this story!
Review: I liked how this book relates to the world we live in. The way it portrays the Government as an all powerful force that silences original thought through the burning of books and the voices of the authors. I pray that this fantasy never becomes a reality. But I fear that such a future isn't to far off !

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Summary: An undefined futuristic society
Review: I have read both The Martian Chronicles and Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (well, it was more like I was forced to read them in my 8th and 9th grade English classes), and all I can say is that Bradbury is one of the most overrated authors I have read. At least the Martian Chronicles was creative, had an emotional core, kept me captivated. The only thing creative about Farenheit 451 is its title. It paints a blurry picture of a simply boring civilization. I found myself not really caring what happened to Guy and Mildred and all the rest. There is no real prophetic vision as there is in say, Huxley's Brave New World, which gives a vivid depiction of a fully-fleshed out and interesting futuristic world, unlike Bradbury's, which is quite similar to any modern town that would exist when the book was written. Also unlike Brave New World, F451 isn't even very compelling, as censorship nowadays is much less of an issue than the genetic engineering and other issues Huxley raises. Overall, a thorougly unsatisfying and overhyped novel.

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Summary: Fahrenheit 451
Review: In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put fires out; they start them to burn books. In Bradbury's fictional world, it is better not to know or find out anything because if you know too much, you could be in danger. This book is closely related to the book 1984 by George Orwell because you can be put to death for simple things like writing in a diary. In Fahrenheit 451, you can have your house burned down and go to jail for the rest of your life if you are caught with books because reading for pleasure is against the law. The main character, Guy Montag, is a fireman who burns books for a living. He sees his wife sit at home everday with the "family" who is actually just a television that surrounds the walls, when he starts to question his life. Why are books burned? Why are they so destructive to society? He makes the decision to change his life, risk everything he's worked for and discover what it is that books contain. Montag starts secretly hiding books in his house and reading them at any opportunity he gets. He learns that there is a whole world inside of books that he never knew existed. He tries to tell his wife about this and how books are so important but instead of agreeing, she turns him in to the police. After this incident, Montag's house is burned down and he is confronted by the police chief, Captain Beatty, and has to decide what he is going to do. Although this book was published back in 1953, the idea of firemen getting paid for burning books seems very real. These ideas make you think that maybe someday this could happen. Fahrenheit 451 is a book for ages 13 and up. The incredible descriptions of books burning,along with houses and the mechanical dog are very realistic. I thought this book was good because of the descriptions, you felt like a part of the book and it made you want to keep reading. I would recommene this book to any and everyone.

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Summary: This Classic is Still Burning
Review: This classic dystopian novel must be read by anyone with a passion for literature. It reminds us in enormous sharp signs that books will only maintain an importance in our lives if we keep them actively alive by relating them to our present society. Montag is like many of us, going through every day life and responding to things in the correct way. When one day he receives a kind of wake up call. Revived to life he struggles with his moral sensibility over whether to abandon his home or remain in a life clustered in routine mindlessness. Clarisse is the beacon of hope in our lives. She is our belief that a common sense will prevail in the wake of senselessness. The depictions of our society as media-drenched placid reflections of ourselves is indeed accurate. In almost every creation Mr Bradbury made in this novel a direct parallel can be found in our society such as Montag's wife's television family where a popular computer game today is call The Sims where you create your own families. The statements he makes aren't much more complicated than that, but it is a powerful message indeed and a highly creative and entertaining story.