Fahrenheit 451

Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	Ray Bradbury

Wow, this book is scary. It was written back in 1953 but it feels like it's happening today. This book follows Guy Montag, a fireman, only in the future, firemen don't put out fires, they start them. This book sucks you in so that you feel like you're going through all the things Montag goes through, and he goes through some mind-bending changes as he wakes up to how dead people have become in real life (it has a lot in common with "The Matrix" in that way).

Bradbury deals with teen violence, war, shallow entertainment and "info-tainment," the speed of modern life, consumerism, commercialism, sound-bite politics, endless and unjustified war, divorce, fascism, alienation and a million other things that we struggle with here in the 21st century. It really is frightening how prophetic he was- how much we've become like the world of the future he describes. Wide-screen High Definition, interactive TVs, iPods, well, except that everybody drives VW Beetles instead of SUVs!

The strongest message, I believe, is not so much against censorship, as it is Bradbury's scathing indictment of our society as consumers- we want to be pacified and entertained, we don't like anything that challenges us or makes us reflect on what is really meaningful. Who gives a crap about genocide in Darfur or social injustice, or political corruption when poor rich actresses are being forced into rehab?!

Of course, if you've never heard anything about this book before, I may as well tell you that it mainly deals with censorship and reading. It's short, fast paced and exciting. Hope you're not afraid of robot spider dogs with hypodermic needles filled with poison, or of fire!

I encourage EVERYONE to buy a copy and read this book. Our society depends on it.