Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I first read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury when I was a youth as assigned reading for English class. I was so deeply impressed it has remained among my very favorite books ever. It is a classic, for sure.

Unfortunately, to my mind, the movie of my youth wasn't nearly as amazing as the book. It's so difficult to capture the richness of a mental movie in one on film!

Art mimics life or is it the other way around? This is one of those books that seems to be penned by a prophet in some regards. I couldn't have imagines the flat televisions that span almost a whole wall or projection TVs of today. I didn't see it. Huxley did.

Though the soap operas that include the watcher are not entirely realized now, reality television does, in some ways, seem to be moving us in that direction.

Will there ever be firemen who destroy books with fire? Or communes where you're only real work and the reason for your existence is memorization and repetition of the literature one is responsible for remembering and then, one day, teaching to someone else? As for me, I hope not with great intensity.

Yet somehow, the movement from paper books to various digital formatted texts moves alone bit by bit… insidiously. If we stop paper book production, we will eventually lose something infinitely precious. Digital files are so very easy to destroy. So, too, are paper… but if enough people have the paper copies, some persist somewhere.

I really enjoyed reading this book as a youth and adult. My children will read it sooner than later. It is fully of valuable subjects for discussion.

Have you read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury? What did you think of it?