Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)

Guy Montag is a fireman. But in this dystopian future, his job is not to quench fires but start them. Books are the target; they were banned years prior as people learned to embrace entertainment and happiness over thought, differing viewpoints, and reality. But is Guy happy? Does he have real relationships? Is he really alive? His struggle grows as he comes across people who seem to be different—who have real conversations, an awareness of the world, and may even be hiding books to enjoy in secret. Is all Guy knows a lie? And if so, how could he possibly live in a society that has embraced it?

Unsettling in its portrayal (made moreso by how close we are to its fulfillment), this was a sobering but powerful read. We're not burning books today . . . but in many cases, we are ignoring them. We are an entertainment- and happiness-obsessed culture. We've lost the ability (and desire) to have thoughtful discussions with others of differing viewpoints. We don't like having our views challenged. "Fall in line, be kind, be happy, be entertained" seem to be prevailing messages of the day. And this book, chillingly, predicts it to be so (it was written 70 years ago). It mirrors the fears of Huxley's Brave New World and Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death.

The protagonist at one point asks "Where do we go from here? Would books help us?" The answer from a former professor: Only if we have three things. "Number one . . .[is] quality of information. Number two: leisure to digest it. And number three: the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction of the first two." Indeed.

Neil Gaiman penned an outstanding introduction to the version I read, with helpful thoughts on the book in particular and fiction in general. You can find that here.

Rating: A