Fahrenheit 451: The Temperature at Which Book Paper Catches Fire, and Burns

by Ray Bradbury

Book Overview

Nearly seventy years after its original publication, Ray Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 stands as a classic of world literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. Today its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345342968
• ISBN13: 9780345342966
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Adored, will be reading again

I always ignore the foreword/final thoughts so no comments there. I read this book in school as a kid and loved it. As an adult, especially with the world's current climate, I'm glad I got the chance to give it a fresh read, with fresh eyes. Once again, I was transported to a world eerily similar to now. If you like books with strong political themes, and would rather burn than never read another book, read Fahrenheit 451.

Very bad customer care- Wrong version shipped. Can’t even touch this book. Disgusting

I’ve ordered and pay for a “very good” version. What I received is way to far from acceptable - different edition where EVERY single page (!!!!!) has enormous amount of notes, marks, highlights etc. I wouldn’t get this book for free if I had to! I’m getting printed versions to enjoy reading, this one I can’t even start looking at it ((( VERY disappointed with the service received. All the expectations went down the drain because of someone’s messed up.

People who doodle in books and write notes in them are annoying.

The book is scribbled with side notes, annotations and highlights. Looks as if someone did it for school or a project. I don’t understand why used books aren’t checked for some kind of quality. Book is unreadable.

Wow-- must read

Eye opening. Will make you see the world in a different light. Highly recommend for adults and YA.

In tatters

I have yet to read this book and am still looking forward to it, but I didn’t realize the “good” condition meant it was actually in tatters with writing entirely throughout the book, including some of the pictures colored in with ink. Disappointing.

I got a completely different book!

I ordered Fahrenheit 451 and got “Designing Your Work Life” by Bill Burnett. How that happened is beyond me, but all I know is that I want the right book or my money back.

LOTS of Sharpie

I have no issues with getting a book that is marked up with pencil or highlighted, BUT this book has sharpie all in it. There is so much that has bled through the pages that I cannot even read the typed words in some spots. Please, If you want to scribble out markings either don't sell the book or don't use a sharpie.

Must Have For Your Collection

I bought the book because it’s one of those books that are supposed to mean something special. It’s a nice creative story with a few shocks, not the best or the worst story but the author did try to tell something meaningful about different topics. The author speaks about it more in detail in his afterwards if you have that part in your version of the book.Bought the book very good condition only the dust jacket had a small tear other then that 10/10 condition.

A book that, ironically, might end up getting burned up some day.

It is illegal to read books. There is a holocaust of printed materials as homes that hide them are burnt along with them. Books like Whitman, Dante, and Faulkner, even the Bible. Anything that’s printed is being burned. Yet without books, we lose our history. Without books, we lose table fellowship. In a society that has become totally enchanted with the vain self-indulgence of television, sports, and anything else that doesn’t require us to think, they have become totally disenchanted from the world and its kaleidoscope of ideas printed in books. A fireman named Guy Montag who makes his living burning books and houses meets a young, eccentric woman named Clarisse who, unbeknownst to him, introduces him to the beautiful world of books—its curiosities and humble joys. As Montag questions the way things are—the monotony of his own life and profession, the beauty of the ordinary—the reader is left to wonder: what might happen if WE continue to overindulge ourselves with television and forget to enjoy reading? We’ve already started erasing history by destroying statues. Books are not far behind. Just as the history of firemen was rewritten, we also seek to rewrite history (e.g., the movie “The Woman King”). Furthermore, are we truly socialising by gathering around a TV? Where’s the thoughtful conversation? People don’t talk about anything in the world of ‘Fahrenheit 451.’ They just stand on subways and not talk. So do we. We stare at our phones and don’t talk. Where’s the independent thought instead of believing what the TV tells us to believe? ‘Fahrenheit 451’ stands as a warning against times I’m afraid we’re already slipping into. If we keep going down this road Bradbury warned us about, it makes one wonder if ‘Fahrenheit 451’ will be burned at 451°F to silence its prophetic warning, along with the other two books in the dystopian trilogy: ‘1984’ and ‘Brave New World.’ I didn’t plan on finishing this in one day, but it was a quick, easy, and fun read.

A Classic

This book will make you think on so many levels. What does it mean to be fully human? Is it really a gift when we all think, feel and believe the same? Would censorship really help us all get on the same page as books went up in flames?

Well worth a read

There is something enduring about Fahrenheit 451. Written in the '50s and considered mandatory reading across schools in America, Ray Bradbury hit a certain chord with his audience. Like all good sci-fi, Bradbury takes a rather simple concept and turns to the extreme. The concept, in this case, is "what if books were banned and firemen were tasked with burning them?" Though most readers see this as an allegory about censorship, Bradbury wrote this novel to discuss the evils of television. People on either side will continue to debate on the true purpose of this book and how far off Bradbury actually was. But that's the magic with Fahrenheit 451. Controversy and its many themes keep it well alive. Though I may disagree with Bradbury's intended theme and some of his creative choices, this book is well worth a read. Though I must warn: I, too, found Bradbury's extensive usage of similes a bit frustrating at times. 3.5/5. Rounded up to 4/5 for cultural impact because I'm a nice guy.

Loved it!

I thought this book was very good! I got caught into it right away!!!

Read This Book

Nothing has ever flipped my world view on its head so hard before. Def a necessary read.

Great Book!

Engrossing. Keeps the pages turning.

Tbh

I’m not gonna write a review any better than anyone else already has for this very popular and decently aged book. But my 5 stars still stands. I feel like it’s a necessary read for most everyone

Unacceptable quality from seller.

Pages are either torn out or are scribbled with a sharpie. Unacceptable that somebody would do this to a book.

Good Book on Censorship

This book is a great, albeit short, story of a new type of "fireman" who sees beyond the societal veil about what he is actually doing. If you enjoy dystopian future novels that deal with censorship, you will like this book.

Terrible.

I order a book that was “good” and I got one with a torn cover and it’s completely written on

Can't Get Into It

I've been reading a lot of dystopia novels lately, and this is by far my least favorite. I'm not connecting with any of the characters and I don't find the writing very good. It's a short book and I am struggling to get through a page of it at a time.

Collective loss of memory, history, and the outside world

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a story of a society that has been changed to a dystopia. High authorities try to regulate life to make people happy. To achieve this happiness, firemen (which has been redefined) burn books to people don't know what the past was like. The city is a dystopia in a utopia. Guy Montag, firemen who finds out that he isn't happy once he has multiple conversations with a spontaneous adolescent girl named Clarisse. Clarisse doesn't thrive in the dystopia like everyone else. She does not accept that books are bad. She late affects the train of thought for Montag. Mildred, Montag's wife is happy with her life. She accepts the thought of books being bad. She agrees that destroying books brings happiness. She spends most of her time watching T.V. all day. Faber is an old man who enjoys books, but he is terrified of the firemen. He's a smart coward. Captain Beatty reads books from time to time, but he doesn't believe anything he reads. The common theme for the book the collective loss of memory, history, and the outside world in a society will result in an easy psychological manipulation of mankind by a government ultimately leading to dehumanization of the people. This is the theme because they are erasing history in an effort to achieve happiness. The common characteristics used in the book are relying on physical and somewhat psychological torture to maintain order. They threaten to burn books and houses if you're caught with books. The society the government runs thought to be an utopia but is far from it, the government basically runs and controls everything. Fahrenheit 451 really unfolds when Montag begins to take books for himself. His wife is terrified that he wants to keep the books. She is afraid that her house will be burned by the firemen, but Montag is a fireman, but does this make him able to read books? Things become more interesting when he is caught with a plethora of books in his home. Deon, Carlos, Juan, Cody (12th grade)

Fahrenheit 451 Audiobook

I bought this for my English 10 class and we used it to begin our reading. It matches the novel perfectly and allowed us to stop and discuss often!

farenheit 451- a readers response

I think that this book was an intriguing account of what a possible future society might be like. this book, though very difficult to follow or understand at times, was one i enjoyed very much. I do not suggest this book to someone who does not agree with cursing. If you are easily offended by the d-word, G-D, or h-e-l-l then this book probably is not for you, also if you have difficulty reading such as following the flow of words then this book is not going to make it any easier on you. Speaking of being difficult to read, the end of this book is a pain, it leaves you hanging, wanting to read more but you cant because there isnt a sequel and it the book ends on a very tense moment that does not have time to cool off with.

Bradbury's classic parable on the evils of censorship

I am teaching "Fahrenheit 451" as the example of a dsytopian novel in my Science Fiction class, although it is certainly one of the most atypical of that particular type of narrative discourse. Compared to such heavy weight examples as George Orwell's "1984," Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World," Yevgeny Zamiatin's "We," Ray Bradbury's imaginative meditation on censorship seems like light reading. But the delicious irony of a world in which firemen start fires remains postent and the idea of people memorizing books so they will be preserved for future generations is compelling. Of course, there have been more documented cases of "book burning," albeit in less literal forms, since "Fahrenheit 451" was first published in 1953, so an argument can be made that while all the public debate was over how close we were the Orwellian future envisioned in "1984," it is Bradbury's little parable that may well be more realistic (especially in terms of the effects of television). The novel is based on a short story, "The Fireman," that Bradbury published in "Galaxy Science Fiction" in 1951 and then expanded into "Fahrenheit 451" two years later. However, those who have studied Bradbury's writings caw trace key elements back to a 1948 story "Pillar of Fire" and the "Usher II" story from his 1950 work "The Martian Chronicles." Beyond that, there is the historical record of the Nazis burning books in 1933. The story is of a future world in which everyone understands that books are for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montage is a fireman who has been happy in his work for ten years, but suddenly finds himself asking questions when he meets a teenage girl and an old professor. "Fahrenheit 451" is not only about censorship, but also about the inherent tension in advanced societies between knowledge and ignorance. Reading this novel again I am reminded about Pat Paulsen's editorial on the old "Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" (a series well acquainted with the perils of censorship) about how we might enjoy freedom of speech in this country but we do not enjoy freedom of hearing because "there is always the danger of something being said." Censorship, in practical terms, is the effort of those who do not want others to hear what they find offensive, for whatever reasons, basically because it leads to people thinking thoughts they do not want them to be thinking. Through the rambling diatribes of Captain Beatty, Bradbury makes this point quite clear to his readers. Even though this is essentially a novella, Bradbury's work retains the charm of a short story. The recurring use of animal imagery throughout the story, the use of the mythic ideas of the salamander and the phoenix, make "Fahrenheit 451" more poetic than any other dystopian work. Even if it is predominantly a one note argument regarding censorship, it is impossible to deny that Bradbury makes a clear and convincing case for his position. Besides, there is something to be said for

Fiction? Really?

"Fahrenheit 451" is a simply great book. Yes, it's quite distressing and unpleasant to read - because what Bradbury describes is much closer to truth than we'd like it to be. And that is precisely what makes the reality of the book so alike our own - it's more pleasant not to think about such things, and therefore one can merely say the book doesn't suit one's taste and go 'get entertained' in front of the TV.The disturbing thing about the book is that, unlike many other books that deal with the distant future, "Fahrenheit 451" (written in 1953) hasn't been proved wrong simply by time itself. Not at all. Actually, what is shocking to realize is that we've come quite close to the society Bradbury writes about. Perhaps books haven't been banned yet, but it is indeed the entertainment industry that controls people's minds, the political correctness has reached ridiculous levels, there are ads everywhere and now we even have Segways so that we don't have to walk anywhere... And, of course, we can get a thousand page long classics shortened to a hundred pages - or, better yet, simply watch the movie.The book also has other qualities besides making one think (which is, judging by some other reviews, one of its biggest downsides). One cannot but admire the brilliant way Bradbury uses absurd and creates a completely surreal feeling by using the methods of expressionism to describe the feelings and thoughts of the main character. Bradbury sure had things to write about - and that can be proved by even something as simple as the fact I've spent the last half an hour writing a review on the Internet rather than reading a good book or looking at the world...