Fahrenheit 451 [Hardcover]

Ray Bradbury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2003

Reviews

'Another indispensible classic' The Times

'Fahrenheit 451 is the most skilfully drawn of all science fiction's conformist hells' Kingsley Amis

'Bradbury's is a very great and unusual talent' Christopher Isherwood

'Ray Bradbury has a powerful and mysterious imagination which would undoubtedly earn the respect of Edgar Allen Poe' Guardian

Product Description

The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

The classic novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity. Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock. 

Science Fiction Book Club hardcover with dust jacket, Nov. 2008, SFBC #1262421, ISBN: 9781607511663, 208 pages, cover at by Joseph Mugnaini. 8vo (8.5" x 5.75") Expansion of the short story "The Fireman". Filmed by Francois Truffaut. Winner, 1984 Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award. 1987 Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel (Place: 40). 1998 Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 (Place: 29). This edition is a reprint of a 1993 Simon and Schuster edition. 

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster, Inc. ( September 23, 2003 ) (2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1607511665
• ISBN-13: 978-1607511663
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #554,865 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Dystopian cautionary tale, February 22, 2012

By 

Dr. Bojan Tunguz (Indiana, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fahrenheit 451 (Hardcover)

Fahrenheit 451 is one of the most famous works of science fiction, and with "Brave New World" and "1984" represents one of the most memorable and haunting dystopias. In a future world, books are banned and firemen actually set fires instead of extinguishing them. The state exercises a form of social control through controlling what sort of information people have access to. It turns out that not all books are banned, only those that we would today consider "great works" - Plato, Shakespeare, The Bible, Darwin, etc. For me one of the biggest surprises about Fahrenheit 451 was the rationale that was offered for the burning of those books. In a nutshell, they offended politically correct sensibilities and the authorities felt that they would undermine the social cohesion. This expunging of the classics from the culture has an uncanny resonance with the attempts over past few decades to expunge them from the undergraduate liberal arts curriculum. And rationale is also similar: these books are not "diverse" enough and may offend the sensibilities of an ever-increasing list of "minorities." It is hard not to wonder if a milder, softer version of dystopian future that Bradbury was worried about in the early 1950s has not in fact arrived.

Bradbury's writing and ideas are somewhere between those of George Orwell and Philip K. Dick. His style is very engaging, and even poetic. His writing is at its best when one of his characters engages in a prolonged monolog. However, the plot development could use some improvement. There is very little in terms of transition from one scene to the next, and most scenes are overly compressed. It is very hard to follow the plot developments at times. Nonetheless, Bradbury is a wonderful stylist and unlike much of science fiction this book is a pleasure to read on a purely literally level as well as for its sweeping ideas.

As a last note, I found it incredibly ironic that I read this book on Kindle. Based on this alone I am fairly optimistic that reading and great books will not only survive but in fact thrive well into the 21st century.