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Books : Fahrenheit 451 (Unabridged) |
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List Price: $19.95Amazon.com's Price: $10.48 You Save: $9.47 (47%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Audio Download
Label: audible.com
Manufacturer: audible.com
Publisher: audible.com
Studio: audible.com
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Editorial Review:
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.
Amazon.com Review:
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, 'Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.'
Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television 'family,' imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.
Bradbury--the author of more than 500 short stories, novels, plays, and poems, including The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man--is the winner of many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Readers ages 13 to 93 will be swept up in the harrowing suspense of Fahrenheit 451, and no doubt will join the hordes of Bradbury fans worldwide. --Neil Roseman
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - An easy read with much beneath the surface...
While a good read with strong themes, I struggle to grasp why this book is considered such a "classic" by so many. I'll admit - I am no one to judge what a "classic" is, but it would be nice if someone could explain it to me - as there are other books out there that drive at similar points but are considered far less noteworthy.
That being said, there were some strong themes running through this book that seem very prophetic - the book was written in the 1950s, and I caught myself more ... Read More
Rating:  - Burn it!
I'm no advocate of book burning, but burn this book! It was terribly disappointing--lots of hype over a cheesy science-fiction novel. There are two major problems with it. One is poor language usage--lousy descriptive word choices, lousy metaphors and similes that make inappropriate comparisons--and two, not enough attention paid to societal problems that give rise to things like book burning in the first place: the threat of the individual to the group; government control over the sheep-like masses; ... Read More
Rating:  - The power of writing and learning to love to read
When I first encountered this book at the age of 13, I was more accustomed to 'choose your own adventure' books or pulp science fiction. I'd never heard of Bradbury, but realized as I fought through the first few chapters that I was in over my head. I stuck it out however, and when I was done, my life had changed forever. Since then I have read this book many times, and it is always with a particular fondness because this is the book that taught me to read. To read as more than someone who desires nothing ... Read More
Rating: - If you like to think for yourself, you'll want to read this book
This book blows my mind. It says so many things that I've been believing for years (and that's before I read it) about human nature: the tendency of the masses to follow and do what they're told; how easily humans waste their capacity for critical thinking; the difference between pleasure and true joy; the true meaning of freedom. Many people don't search for a deeper meaning to life than what tradition gives them, and that's okay; it's their choice. But when those people assume that everyone is that way, ... Read More
Rating: - Science Fiction Masked In A Glaze Of Poetic Impulse
If ever there is a formula for the perfect novel, 451 has the ingredients. It would be one part science fiction masked in a glaze of poetic impulse, settled on a bed of classic literature soaking up the juices of vast philosophical thought. The burning of books is a horror to any who love the written word and our freedom to dream. It would be our worst nightmare for society to regress to a state of anti-intellectualism so staunch that ideas themselves have become the enemy. Ray Bradbury not only captures our ... Read More
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