Fahrenheit 451 was chosen last year as the official "Peoria Reads" book in Peoria, Ill. Each year the city adopts 1 book, then plans multiple discussions, educational events, movies, and author participation (when available) to enhance that years choice.

The fact that this science fiction book was written in the early 50's, and began as a weekly chapter is amazing.

Fahrenheit 451 is about a Fireman: written in the early 50's, it predicts that TV will begin to take over our lives with "Life size television sets that take up the entire wall of a living area."

The political powers-to-be have decided that reading books would hurt the mass as everyone would then be able to form their own opinion of things. The fireman, who are no longer needed to fight house fires due to to modern building materials, are responsible for going to homes and burning them down if books are found which have not been destroyed as ordered by the local authorities. In addition, the people who have horded these books are jailed or killed themselves.

This book is short, but the contents leave the reader shaking to the core, wondering if another "dark ages" can suddenly appear in our society. The ability of Bradbury
to write a "science fiction" book in the 50's which has multiple truth in it for today's world is uncanny. The book leaves many items to be discussed in a bookclub.

One of the best books about books of all time. Prescient, insightful to the human condition and yet uplifting. Brilliant for discussion. Read it! Also worth trying: The Book Thief, The Shadow of the Wind.

Classic. One of my favorites.

I cannot believe I haven’t read this book before. It deserves its “classic” status and should be read by all. This book is scary. Really. Scary. It is similar to 1984 -– a picture of what society could become if we let it.

Montag is a fireman who doesn’t put out fires, he starts them. He burns books and the houses that contain them. His wife Mildred watches and listens to “the wall” all day, basically a huge screen TV. Almost all of the city dwellers are TV zombies, and then when they’re not watching “the wall”, to make themselves feel better they go out and ride their cars at dangerously high speeds. Most are on any number of pills.

Montag doesn’t notice anything is wrong with his life until he meets 17 year-old Clarisse, his next door neighbor. She is different. She notices things he doesn’t notice. Her family actually talks to each other. She is happy and asks him if he is. He says he is, but later at home admits to himself he isn’t. He starts to question himself why, and from there he changes his life completely.

A quote that stood out because of its resemblance to today:

“I’m afraid of children my own age. they kill each other. Did it always use to be that way? My uncle says no. Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks. I’m afraid of them and they don’t like me because I’m afraid. My uncle says his grandfather remembered when children didn’t kill each other. But that was a long time ago when they had things different. They believed in responsibility, my uncle says. Do you know, I’m responsible. I was spanked when I needed it, years ago. And I do all the shopping and housecleaning by hand."

A world where all people do is watch TV and become progressively more violent. A world where books and ideas are “dangerous”. A world where “happiness” is supreme, but no one is happy. A very scary world indeed.

I've read this at least ten times since it was assigned reading in eighth grade. Imagine a future where all books are burned and each wall of a room is a TV screen. Scary how close we may be coming.

Like many other dystopian books written years ago, this one seems to have changed since the year it was written which means it is even more poignant and prophetic ow.

This is not a great novel. The story, the characters, and the future world Mr. Bradbury created are lacking in depth. "Fahrenheit 451" would have been better as an allegorical short story. Nevertheless, the book is prescient in many ways. It is also a shocking example of a world where restrictions on freedom of expression have spiraled out of control. Today, school versions of classics are being edited to remove anything that might be offensive to anyone. This as good as putting a match to them and burning them. Censorship of language that some find offensive is the torching of the ability to think freely. Political correctness is a form of mind control. Societal pressure to be inoffensive to everyone will lead to a world of numb brained people that all think alike. Individuality and conflicting points of view will cease to exist for fear of hurting anyone's feelings.