Fahrenheit 451

Unabridged

Product Description

Nowadays firemen start fires. Fireman Guy Montag loves to rush to a fire and watch books burn up. Then he met a seventeen-year old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid, and a professor who told him of a future where people could think. And Guy Montag knew what he had to do....

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

Product Details

Title: Fahrenheit 451 (Unabridged)
Author: Ray Bradbury
Publisher: audible.com, Audio Download

Customer Reviews

A dash of cold water, please: Our book club recently decided to make every other book choice a "classic" book which, for one reason or another, none of us has read. Fahrenheit 451 was this month's choice. After plowing through Bradbury's self-aggrandizing Foreward AND Introduction, I was ready to be enthralled. No such luck. This had to be one of the most abysmal books of all time. I suspect there's… More reviews

Dated screed: I am frustrated by the sloppiness of this book. From what I understand, Bradbury sat in a library and wrote it in a few weeks, and it shows. Montag is introduced as a man happy in his job. The meeting with Clarisse blows his mind! But then Bradbury throws in numerous details indicating that his dissatisfaction has been mounting for some time. Although Montag is purportedly of a divided… More reviews

Prophetic, but Immature: This was one of my favorite books in high school, and reading it again had a certain charm, but my issue with it can be summed up in a small quote from an interview included in the final pages.
"DEL RAY: In the introduction to the recently published Bradbury: An Illustrated Life", a wonderful book which I have spent hours immersed in--
RAY BRADBURY: Isn't that… More reviews

A thrilling combination of 50's pulp sci-fi and reflective commentary: By my count, this'll be the 1,218th review for this book on amazon, so what could I possibly say that the other 1,217 haven't?
But for those few who dare dig this deep to read: I loved the book. I've read numerous novels and thrillers for fun, and also dabbled in more serious, non-fiction as well (check my profile if you… More reviews

Fahrenheit 451: A Novel: Excellent Service! Book came promptly, even faster than I ever expected! I never thought this one would be available in hardcover.
Many thanks.… More reviews