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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345342966
ISBN: 0345342968
Label: Ballantine Books
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: April 01, 2008
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: August 12, 1987
Studio: Ballantine Books
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com 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 neighbor 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 Chronicles and The Illustrated Man--is the winner of many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Readers ages 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
Product Description:
Nowadays firemen start fires. Fireman Guy Montag loves to rush to a fire and watch books burn up. Then he met a seventeen-year old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid, and a professor who told him of a future where people could think. And Guy Montag knew what he had to do....
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
Fahrenheit 451 is a cautionary tale set in a world where books are banned. Named after the temperature at which paper catches fire and burns, the book tells the story of one extraordinary week in the life of Guy Montag, a "fireman" whose job it is to burn the houses of those harbouring books. Until one day he begins to think that his job is not as worthwhile as his society would make him think. This single act of questioning leads to a chain of events. By the book's end, the world that Montag once knew will never be the same again.
Part fable, part thriller, Fahrenheit 451 is a fascinating and provocative read.
Rating: -
Fahrenheit 451 sees the future of the world, and it hates what it sees. People have become apathetic and worthless. No one cares about morality or the search for truth. Everyone is a mindless drone.
As mentioned by other reviewers, the story is in many ways prophetic. It's fascinating how the author predicts modern technologies like projection TVs (the TV parlor), iPods (ear thimbles), and even Bluetooth headsets (Faber's "green bullet").
My favorite part of the story is Beatty's lecture in Montag's house, just before he leaves. Through Beatty's character, Bradbury warns of out-of-control government growth and the brainwashing and indoctrination of children. We'd be wise to heed this warning.
This book is a fairly easy read because it's short, but it provides plenty of food for thought.
Rating:  -
This is one of the very best book to add to your collection. You can keep on reading this book over and over again. The setting which takes place in the future is a sure way for sci-fi fans. Also, the standards for 7th graders in the U.S. can meet their standards by reading this book.
An essay of this book can be found at:
[...]
Rating: -
Guy Montag is a fireman, however in this book, firemen do not put out fires, instead they burn books. Set in a future time, it is illegal to read or own books. Farenheit 451 is the temperature it takes for a page in a book to catch fire.
One night, walking home from work, Montag meets his new neighbor, a 17 year old girl named Clarisse McClellan. Clarisse is a free thinking spirit, who surprises him with her genuine curiosity about life, she questions things instead of just accepting blind answers. She and Montag become friends and she talks to him about the past, when firefighters actually fought fires instead of burning books.
When Montag goes home that night, he finds his wife, Mildred, has overdosed on sleeping pills. He calls the medics and Mildred is saved. But Montag begins to begins to question his own way of life and his happiness.
One night while on call, Montag arrives at a womans house to burn her books. The woman refuses to leave, and instead dies that night in her burning home. Montag is greatly distressed over this and begins to have second thoughts about his way of life. While he was at the womans home, he grabbed a book to sneak out with him. It turns out Montag has been collecting and hiding books in his house for some time. He tells his wife this and shows her his collection, but she is so brainwashed that she doesn't care about the books and wants him to burn them too. So he decides to look up a retired English professor who he knows has books stashed in his house, a man named Faber. He hopes Faber can answer some of his questions.
I read Farenheit 451 without knowing anything about it, I just knew that Ray Bradbury wrote it and that it is considered a modern classic. So when I went to my local library and stumbled upon this book, I grabbed it off the shelf and figured i'd give it a go. I am so glad I did, it is a great read. I was hooked from page one. The storyline was really good, I found it to be creepy the way society was brainwashed and how they lived in an oppressed world without books. I liked Montag very much. It's almost like he was sleeping all that time, then finally woke up and snapped out of it.
Mildred creeped me out, especially the way she spoke, it was very disjointed, she makes offhand remarks, almost like she's drugged.
I think most off all, I enjoyed this one so much because I like books that are about books.
Rating: -
This book was in great shape for a used book. This was a great price for my son's school project.
Thank you
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