Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0345342968 Global Overview for this book
Registered by catsalive of Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on 2/29/2016
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by catsalive from Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Monday, February 29, 2016
cover:
The terrifyingly prophetic novel of a post-literate future.

It was a pleasure to burn. ...
... The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden.


Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires. And he enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed with flames ... never questioned anything until he met a seventee-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then Guy met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. And Guy Montag suddenly realised what he had to do...

Guy Montag is a fireman whose 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 dystopian 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, decades on from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

Journal Entry 2 by catsalive at Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Monday, February 29, 2016
Read 4 May, 2015

A fast, enjoyable, emotive read. I'm sure it was a sensation in the 50s & really worrying in the 60s. For me, it faded a bit into all the other dystopian, post-apocalypta that I've read over the years, but it was still worth the effort.

I kept thinking what an idiot Montag was as he let his pride & anger overcome sense, but if he hadn't done it he wouldn't have survived the war. I also kept wondering when this war was going to manifest & blow all their worries to smithereens - I got my answer.

I know I would go insane if I had to watch tele all the time just to get through the day. There's not much I can stand to watch. I hate all these so-called reality shows that clutter the airwaves.

As for censorship, well, it's always with us, particularly in America where some people are still trying to get evolution banned & creationism added to curricula. There are always people wanting to give people no education, limit information & keep the masses downtrodden & believing what they're told - religion is always there when the censorship cards are handed out. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

Written in the 1950s, this is just as horrifying and relevant today - there's always someone wanting censorship. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. I intend to read it again before I let it go.

Journal Entry 3 by catsalive at Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Thursday, April 7, 2016
I've just finished this for the second time, before I send it on to someone else. I'm glad I re-read it as I picked up on more, & enjoyed it more, this time. How prophetic it is. I highly recommend reading the Afterword & Coda, where Bradbury talks about the sweet irony of his own books - and particularly 451 - being cut about & censored. This being the 50th anniversary edition, there's also a good interview with Bradbury at the end.

I must see Truffaut's 1966 movie, even tough it doesn't stay close enough to the story for Bradbury's liking. 'It's a good movie...", but how can in be Fahrenheit 451 without Clarisse, Faber & the Mechanical Hound. I see his point. There has been much talk of a remake that will stick to the storyline, first mooted in the mid-90s by Mel Gibson, but it has been put on the backburner a couple of times. I do hope it comes to fruition in the not too distant future.

Journal Entry 4 by catsalive at Book a Month Offer, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases on Thursday, April 7, 2016

Released 7 yrs ago (4/7/2016 UTC) at Book a Month Offer, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Maenade for the Book a Month offer.

Journal Entry 5 by wingMaenadewing at Wedding, Berlin Germany on Thursday, April 28, 2016
I found this book in my mailbox today. Thank you! I'm very curious about it as I only know the film. Looking forward to reading it.

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