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Fahrenheit 451
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Jan 2017: Fahrenheit 451
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Trelawn
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rated it 4 stars
Dec 27, 2016 10:55AM
I'm on quite the roll : ) I hope to start this in the next few days. Most people who have read this speak of Bradbury's foresight in detailing the rise of censorship and the decline of print books. I am looking forward to reading this and discovering for myself what makes this so popular across generations of readers.
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The reasons seem a bit tenuous. It seems it offended some religious sensibilities. The frequent use of the words "hell" and "damn" upset some as well as the burning of the Bible in the story. Some people objected to it purely on the grounds that it went against their religious beliefs.
i have it on order from the library. it's due 20th jan so i'll be a bit late joining the discussion.
Better late than never Margo : )
I read this book about five years ago when I was in high school, I remember hating it. My taste is always changing in books so I'm excited to re-read this novel, maybe I'll like it this time around. Here's to hoping :D
I must say that I've actually enjoyed a Bradbury book yet. This one sounds interesting but I have always found his ideas interesting, it's just that the execution of them never goes as well as I hoped! Approaching this one with an open mind ;-)
I hope to get this just after New Year as an e-audiobook from the library. I haven't read Bradbury at all so I am looking forward to reading this.
You must the person ahead of me in the queue Bookworm lol
Which Bradbury books have you read Margo. I loved Illustrated Man and Something Wicked.
The Illustrated Man and The Halloween Tree and the best of what I've read - probably 3.5 stars. I really didn't like the Martian Chronicles. i have Something Wickedb on my shelve and I don't think I have read it - sometimes when I pick up a book it comes back to me that I have actually read it!. I keep getting sucked in by the descriptions. I have always intended to have a go at Fahrenheit 451 as the blurb does appeal to me ;-)
I will try to get through it as quick as I can so that you can have it, Margo. Although it does say that it is 45 hours long!?! I will have a look in our physical library when they reopen.
OK, I thought 45 hours was a bit much - I don't know where I dreamt that up from! It is 5 hours which is a bit more realistic!
I've never read Bradbury. Don't be shocked. There are a lot of books I haven't read that everyone else has read lol.
I've never read any Bradbury either Sherry
Bookworm with Kids wrote: "OK, I thought 45 hours was a bit much - I don't know where I dreamt that up from! It is 5 hours which is a bit more realistic!"LOL bookworm, you scared me there! 5 hours seems much more reasonable :-)
Don't rush it, I have plenty to read - santy was good to me!
Hello¡I will read in my iPad :) I've never read any Bradbury. It's special atarte the year with him.
I'm not sure I read this or not but if I did it was way back in high school so I'll be reading it . I have the copy that Kara read when she was in school :)
I just started it today. Liking the style so far
May have to do a reread. A few questions from Trelawn on the book elude me so its not as fresh in my mind as I thought.
Just looking back on Geli's comment its interesting to see people reading this in ebook format. Its had an interesting history in that regards, with Bradbury refusing to allow the book in electronic format for a long time, pointing out the obvious irony of one of the themes of the book being the dumbing down of things in digitalform.
Bradbury himself described ebooks as " smelling of burnt petrol".
The book only became properly available in the last year of his life .
I still think its shouldn't be an ebook. The author didn't widn it and it goes against a huge portion of what the book is about.
Just an interesting topic to throw out while people read the book.
I don't have the book yet but I'm ill disposed towards a book that puts down reading in any format. Anything that attracts people to the joys of reading has to be a good thing! Not to mention people like myself to whom any format other than digital is pretty much indecipherable ;-)
Its more about the dangers of centralised control of digital format. The idea that someone like Amazon can pull , edit or censor books on any of their devices would pretty much fulfil a lot of what Bradbury worried about.
Its the fear that such a situation can lead to the gradual dumbing down of books as well alongside other media. Not so much a comment on digital format itself but what it could lead to.Sorry for the split post. Goodreads is acting odd today
I am nearly finished and the book certainly raises a lot of questions and makes you think about modern society and the way we receive knowledge and how we communicate and interact with each other. Bradbury raises the issue of the quality of our interactions versus the quantity. A concept that has certainly set me thinking over the past few days
His idea of the three components of what makes books magic is so simple but brilliant. I'll hold off discussing that til the spoiler thread is open but I wanted to post as a reminder to myself.
Companies like Amazon are a bit scary with tenticles everywhere. They certainly control my reading by offering deals on certain books. And they that control reading matter, to a certain extent, control thinking. But really it is the media moguls who have the greatest impacts on public opinion. They shape our thinking through the inform they feed us. But then again, You only have to at social media to see that unfiltered information flow is a double edged sword. Look at all the misinformation that was published electronically during the recent US elections.
I finished this book a few hours ago and after pondering it for a while I have a thought for those about to read it. People frequently remark on the prophetic nature of Fahrenheit 451 and how forward looking Bradbury was. While I agree this is true, it might be worth considering the work as a product of it's time. Written in the 1950s it was most likely influenced by McCarthyism and censorship of intellectuals, academics and artistes. What does it say about our modern society that the story reflects that repressive and anxious period while also closely mirroring our own?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahre.... This is the wiki page for Fahrenheit 451 which is interesting in general but in particular the historical context section is very interesting. It discusses some of the things that influenced Bradbury's thoughts on censorship and book burning. Things like Mc Carthyism, Nazi book burning and Stalin's purges. It brought home to him the fragility of books and their susceptibility to authoritarian whims. It also mentions Bradbury's fear of mass media affecting people reading literature. Interesting stuff.
He definitely had a certain level of Paranoia about it all. Fahrenheit 451 is interesting in contrast to some of Bradburys other stuff. A lot of his work looks back with nostalgia and warmth at small town America, when he is looking forward here its with fear and paranoia.
Quite the interesting shift in his writing .
When you look at some of the times he lived through it's not exactly surprising.
I'm really glad I'm reading this even though it's giving me anxiety
It certainly makes you think Colleen. My mind was racing for a day or two after reading it.
while it feels very prophetic whilst reading it, I think every generation has a certain level of censorship and media/social media etc pulling people from literature. that's what will make this book timeless
That's very true Seraphina. Every generation has a new fad or technology that threatens to take away from the readership. As Paul said, I think Bradbury had a sense of paranoia that brings this story to a new level that makes us all feel a little bit of his fear.
Thankfully my copy is due from the library tomorrow. It's such a pain to be reliant on audio. It's only a 5 hour book so I should have it finished in 2 - 3 days. Can't wait to see the spoiler thread ;-)
Hope you enjoy it Margo
I'm dubious - I've never really enjoyed Bradbury yet. This one sounds great but so did the other 3 I read. Maybe this will be the One ;-)
Should get a lot of listening in today as I'm bringing my son and his friends to GameJam in tip. Love to listen and drive!
Paul wrote: "Poor Tipp"Poor me - trapped in a car with a bunch with a bunch of nerds spouting machine code lol
To you maybe Mr app designer ;-pAh well , he's leaving for France on 30th so I won't be doing taxi for 6 months :(
Enjoy it while you can
I enjoyed this book. It is not very long, although I can see why in the past I may have picked it up and put it down again in libraries or bookshops over the years. I think the main character is unappealing to the reader. this changes as the book goes on. Also, the mid section is a bit different from what went before in the book and it jolts the reader ( 0r me anyway) a bit. In the afterword written by the author we are told that the story started as a long short story. That explains a lot for me. I liked it anyway: definitely a good book.
Thomas wrote: "I enjoyed this book. It is not very long, although I can see why in the past I may have picked it up and put it down again in libraries or bookshops over the years. I think the main character is un..."Unfortunately there was no afterword in the audiobook. It's always interesting to hear how the work developed.
Thomas why go across to the spoiler thread to see what the group thought
