Product Description

The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. The classic novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity. Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2292 in Books
• Published on: 1993-08-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television "family", imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbour Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.

Bradbury--the author of more than 500 short stories, novels, plays and poems--including The Martian Chroniclesand The Illustrated Man--is the winner of many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Readers aged 13 to 93 will be swept up in the harrowing suspense of Fahrenheit 451, and no doubt will join the hordes of Bradbury fans worldwide. --Neil Roseman

Review
'Another indispensible classic' The Times 'Fahrenheit 451 is the most skilfully drawn of all science fiction's conformist hells' Kingsley Amis 'Bradbury's is a very great and unusual talent' Christopher Isherwood 'Ray Bradbury has a powerful and mysterious imagination which would undoubtedly earn the respect of Edgar Allen Poe' Guardian 'It is impossible not to admire the vigour of his prose, similes and metaphors constantly cascading from his imagination' Spectator 'As a science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury has long been streets ahead of anyone else' Daily Telegraph 'No other writer uses language with greater originality and zest. he seems to be a American Dylan Thomas -- with dsicipline' Sunday Telegraph

About the Author
Ray Bradbury has published some 500 short stories, novels, plays and poems since his first story appeared in Weird Tales when he was twenty years old. Among his many famous works are 'Fahrenheit 451', 'The Illustrated Man' and 'The Martian Chronicles'.

Customer Reviews

A message that grows more important every day
It was a pleasure to burn. So begins, with this absolutely perfect opening line, Ray Bradbury’s celebrated exposition of the dangers of censorship. Everybody knows that Fahrenheit 451 is a novel about book-burning, but this story goes much deeper than those not having read it may suspect. Its message truly does become even more germane and prophetic with every passing day. The skeleton of the plot is rather basic, really. Guy Montag is a fireman whose job it is to burn books and the houses in which these dangerous manifestations of inane scribbling reside – usually hidden. Fahrenheit 451’s message is one that all people should be exposed to, and this novel is such a quick (but powerful) read that everyone really should read it. As horrible as it is to envision, I fear that this type of censorship could indeed happen here.

"Books ought to have a happy ending !"
Did you notice that nowadays writers and filmmakers tend to make no difference between Horror and Science-Fiction? 'Alien' is not SF but Horror, a very good horror-movie but not really SF. Real Science-Fiction plays not only in the future but in a society very different from ours and with people who have habits and a mentality which also are different from ours. Fahrenheit 451 is a very good example of that. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature that makes books burn and this is the problem we are dealing with (and no longer in the far future I'm afraid). Guy Montag is the hero of the novel. He's a fireman who burns books that are in peoples houses, usually because someone denounced them at the police. It's forbidden to read books because they make you think and therefore make you unhappy. (Clothes have only zippers and no buttons; buttons take to much time so you start thinking and once again this makes you unhappy.) But Montag is a lonely person who has no contact with his wife; she only watches TV from dawn till dusk. The irony is that all the measures which are taken by the government to protect people from being unhappy only make them more unhappy than before. As the story unfolds, Guy Montag starts wondering what books are all about and he starts meeting people who read books (without notifying his superiors). The novel ends in a peculiar way. A psychologist I know once said that all books ought to have a happy ending. I never asked her what would become of the books that don't have a happy ending because I'm afraid what she might answer.

"We went right on insulting the dead..."
I've been checking out some of the classics that I never gave a chance while in high school, now that I'm a much more aware and mature reader. "Fahrenheit 451" was something I always wanted to read but never got around to it. Well, I have finally read it and the time was very much well spent. Ray Bradbury offers a bleak and dim future where thinking for yourself is against the law.

Guy Montag's life had always been simple. He understood the order of things, and he understood the nature of his job. He was a fireman, and that entailed burning books and burning down the buildings that hid them. He never questioned it once and never felt guilty for what he was doing. Things take a different route when he meets a peculiar girl who asks the tough questions that he has never had to answer. And with those questions, he starts to think and wonder why things are the way they are. Ever since the meeting with this stranger, Montag is curious about the true nature of his job, leading to dangerous revelations that will put his very life in jeopardy.

Bradbury has created a magnificent piece of literature that attacks censorship and the numbing of society head on with no regrets and no remorse. He doesn't need to give us an exact year of this future, as that makes it all the more frightening. Even though this is a work of fiction, it seems so realistic and so possible that all of this could really happen to us. Think about it. We are now a "TV Generation" who spend a lot less time reading, people are trying to ban different types of books for different reasons, and anything that is deemed "unpleasant" is demanded to be "fixed" or "taken care of" so we can all feel happy and not deal with the pain and troubles of life. Bradbury captures all of this and does not give you a bitter rant about today's youth, but he uses all of that negative energy and creates something so profound and well established. It's no mistake that this fine novel has sold millions upon millions of copies and is forever deemed a classic.

The writing is simple to read and it is a short book. You will have to give it a few pages before you can really get into it all, but make sure that you stick with it. Once it gets moving, there's no stopping the pages. Bradbury is great with imagery and provides excellent descriptions--but never goes overboard with them. It's such a short read that you could most likely finish it in a day or two if you put the effort into it. Turn off that TV for just a few hours or so and pick this up! It definitely sticks in your head once it's all said and done, and you will be thinking about everything that has transpired in this book.

"Fahrenheit 451" is a tremendous work of fiction that is both thought-provoking and terrifying (in a subtle way). It really goes to show you how terrible things can get if censorship wins, and it really can happen if you think about it. If you haven't given this a read yet, I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy as soon as you can. This is a book that I know I will be re-reading again in the very near future. -Michael Crane