Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Wow. Want a book to really make you think and possibly start worrying about our future, then this is the book to read.  Another one of those books from the classroom that Blake wanted me to read with him.  What really makes this book believable is that Ray Bradbury wrote this in the early 1950's and much of what he thought and predicted can be seen today.  That's over 60 years later.  The book is divided into three sections instead of chapters so there is no stopping points or segment breaks which is nice to just keep your thoughts on the one idea instead of many subjects.

So the first section you are introduced to Montag and the life he lives as a fireman.  However, being a fireman means that you burn books and houses that held books.  Anyone found with one is arrested.  No one really remembers the past and what it was really like and they do not care.  No one really knows eachother or interacts with one another.  The world is in chaos and no one cares.  After seeing a woman burn herself alive with her books, Montag starts to really question his life.  He doesn't know his wife, nor does he seem to care about her anymore.  She has been sucked into the life of imediate gratification and entertainment.  Her 'family' consists of 3 tv walls that she even says makes her laugh and she makes them laugh.  It's who she only cares about.  Even going to bed she puts in headphones to keep in contact with everyone.  Intellegence and individual thoughts are crushed.

What makes it scary is that you can see this happening today.  Everyone comes home from school/work and is glued to an electronic device.  Even today, the power went out for an hour and I kept finding myself being drawn to the computer since I wanted to check emails and facebook, which I had already checked a couple times today.  I didn't know what to do at first without any connection to the world.  A sad, but true commercial I saw of a teenager saying her parents have no friends while she has 350 on facebook sums it up pretty good as well.  Are these really your friends?

Another part of this book talks about how minority groups caused the main reason for the start of burning books.  Groups kept getting offended of what each book talked about.  Not just racial groups, but religious, intellectual, etc...  Any group of people with similarities started saying everything was unfair for them since the majority did not comply.  The fire chief put it pretty clear when he said that their job is to make the minority population happy no matter what.  Do we not see this happening today?

We learn that it is not necessarily books that make all the difference.  There are three things everyone needs.  1. Quality Information, 2. Leisure to digest it, and 3. The right to carry out actions based on what you learn from the interaction of the first two.  Society in this book are missing these and struggling to survive.  People kill each other with no thought and commit suicide.  It is accepted an part of life.  One lady mentions she will never have children since it limits her fun while another says she puts her kids in schhol for ten days and the 3 days in the month they are home she puts them in front of the tv.  It is all about the individual.

To see what happens to Montag in this environment pick up this book and read it.  It has been a while since I have read a book that really makes me think and analyze life.