Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Paperback Description:
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
Average Customer Rating:
One of the Most Amazing Novels of the 20th Century
I sat down to read this book a bit listlessly. I was reading it, not for pleasure, but for school. We had to pick a novel to read, and Fahrenheit 451 is the one my mom suggested. As soon as I'd finished the first two or three pages, I was hooked. Fahrenheit 451 had perpetual tension at every turn. I could never wait to find out what would happen next.
Ray Bradbury wove a vision of a future civilization that burned books and the houses in which they were hidden. As The New York Times put it, "Bradbury's account of this insane world, which bears many alarming resemblances to our own, is fascinating." And they are absolutely right. Of all the characters in the book, the one I saw most clearly was Guy Montag, a fireman whose job it was to start fires. Guy is the main character in this story. He agonizes over what life to choose: the ignorant one as a fireman or the life on the run. In the end, he must make a choice.
Fahrenheit 451 is one of the most provocative and interesting books I've ever read. All things accounted for; I would say that this novel is one of the most amazing novels of the twentieth century.
Warning Against Evils of Censorship
Although not as profound as George Orwell's "1984", "Fahrenheit 451" still stands as a prophetic warning against the evils of censorship, and controlling the masses through ignorance.
The little lost in profundity by comparison to "1984" is more than made up in readability. Whereas "1984" took me two days to complete, I read through "Fahrenheit 451" in an afternoon. Additionally "1984" ends with an feeling of hopelessness, whereas 451 ends with some degree of optimism for the future.
Overall, 451 still stands out as one of a limited number of dystopian stories whose message remains as vital today as when it was published.
Fahrenheit 451
The book Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury was in the Science Fiction section and was located in the future. Guy Montag was a fireman, but in the future they do not put out fires, they they start them. Guy is trying to figure out his hard and confusing life in the future. When he meets a girl named Clarisse McClellan who changes everything and gives him a new point of view of the world.
What I like most about this book was the setting and the time, the future makes you wonder about what you're living in now and what might happen in the future. What I didn't like about the book was that it was a little hard and confusing at times for my age reading.
My favorite charater in this book was Clarisse McCellan because she has such a different mind than everyone else and sees things in different perspectives. A paragraph that meant something to me was on page 37 and said "Books bombarded his shoulders, his arms, his upturned face. A book lit, almost obediently, like a white pigeon, in his hands, wings fluttering. In the dim light, a page flung open and it was like a snow feather, the words delicately painted thereon." It meant something to me beacause all of these books around him makes him wonder about his job, life, and Clarisse and what she had said.
I would tell someone about this book that it is great but to read it at a good reading level. So it's not too hard or confusing to read. The only question I have after reading this is, in some ways is Beatty the villan of Station 451? My strongest reason for recommending this book is that it describes each pararaph beautifully and has a great plot.
Can't find the book you're looking for? Then try Google.
DVD's
Fahrenheit 451 
