A few hours ago I finished reading Fahrenheit 451, it was hard for me because I rarely read books, but it was worth it, and oh, I felt like I read about our time, people in this novel are like people are now. People watch TV shows, movies, anime created by people and at least think a little, but it happens that people do not think at all and also watch only created by AI and their consumer soul is happy? or even better communicate with AI as a friend and not only, they are, in my opinion, similar to the wife of the main character of the novel; Maybe they will even face a similar fate?
I would say many more things, but I would be glad if you say.
I know it’s not a good idea to compare fiction with reality, but it’s hard not to compare this book with reality, don’t those who have read it agree?
Honestly, I didn’t expect this book to look like it was going to describe the future very accurately, I thought it was just about people refusing to think. I even recognized myself a little in this book.
Yeah it’s a great book, A brave new world is another good classic dystopian book you might like. Similarish to 1984 but maybe slightly less known
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I read it around 20 years ago or so, I found it very visionary and very much more akin to our reality than 1984. Scary.
I can’t recommend trying to read 1984 to you enough. It’s not always an easy read, but if you enjoyed 451 I think you’ll like 1984.
A brave new world and clockwork orange are in the same vein as well.
I read it 25 years ago in high school. I remember being horrified by the author’s depiction of what is now modern-day streaming. It basically sucked the soul out of the protagonist’s wife. Seems that was a bit overblown, looking back
A lot of people focus on the censorship and you could definitely argue that being the central theme, but bradbury himself said he was trying to highlight the dangers of mass media.
Yeah you can think about AI and the current events and compare with F451. It’s been almost a decade since I read it but personally, I’d say Brave New World had me thinking more about the present and future than F451. Maybe we’re in the middle of the distopian trilogy - 1984/F451/BNW
Yeah totally agree. I really liked 451 and 1984 but I thought the most thought provoking of the 3 was brave new world
I like the idea, and might get back into it (restarting), but previous time I started it I was thrown off by the overuse of metaphors. Maybe it’s just an introduction-thing, but I found it very cumbersome to always have to read “The thing was X, like and Y that had undergone Z” instead of just “the thing was worn and green”.
Yes, I know that writers should show rather than tell, but when the reader has to spend most of the reading time parsing metaphors that could’ve instead just been a factual statement, it becomes a very cumbersome read.
But I will give it another go. I like the sci-fi classics, and I suspect I’d like this one too
I liked it, didn’t love it.
The whole central image of it, setting fire to books, and the way they go about it, just felt too direct to me. Still, it weaves a good story and the ideas resonate well enough.
AI companies are buying up rare and out of print books, scanning them to feed into the data centers, then literally shredding and burning the books, so those companies become the only source of the text of those books.
It’s not exactly the same thing but it is our reality’s parallel.
It’s been too long for me to remember specifics but I remember not liking it very much.
But I really enjoyed his Martian Chronicles. It’s a collection of short stories about Mars and its colonisation. Some stories have similar themes as Fahrenheit 451.
It’s one of my favorites, athough it’s been a while since I read it.
Earler today I found out about short story Bradbury wrote called ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ that hits close to home as well. A musician I follow released a recording of it that is really good, although you can read it for yourself it you want to as well.
I very much enjoy F451. It’s ultimately a book of hope, about breaking free from the chains of societal/governmental control and seeking knowledge and truth in literature. The context in which it was written (the McCarthy Era) is paralleled by current events, and the book becomes ever more relevant. History doesn’t repeat, but it sure does rhyme.
Hope? >!A nuke drops at the end and everyone dies!<
I got futility from the last page.
It’s been well over a decade since my last read, so… shit haha
I’m a big sci-fi fan, but… Man, I know I am a minority in this, but to me F451 was pretty bad. I had to really force myself to finish it despite being such a thin book. Everywhere I look I see almost everyone praises it like it’s the best book ever written, deep, thoughtful, etc. And I’m sitting here thinking: Have I read the same book?
Edit: I wasn’t forced to read the book (like in school), I wanted to read it to see why the hype. And got disappointed. While there were books from similar era with similar reviews that I really enjoyed - like e. g. Clarke’s Rama or Pohl’s Gateway.
Yeah, I agree. It wasn’t exactly subtle in it’s messaging, and the story felt like just an excuse to display dystopian ideas
I’d compare it to 1984, which was similar in that the ideas communicated were the main point, but it also had a strong narrative that much better communicated the human experience of those ideas
It was a quick read - pretty sure I burned through it in a weekend. Message was right up front, poignant, and unmistakable. Most importantly, it’s not “heady” literature. It’s written in a clear, accessible way, which is a good way to make sure your message reaches the widest audience possible.
It was the only school-assigned book that i ever enjoyed
I have been a huge Bradbury fan since childhood. I have read and watched everything he has touched. However now that I’m older I see elitism in Fahrenheit from Bradbury’s prejudice against all media except books.
People can dissociate from the world into books just like any other media.
