Fahrenheit 451 in The Challenge Factory

From the Bookshelf of The Challenge Factory…

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury

Start date: August 1, 2024

Finish date: August 15, 2024

Discussion: Archived-A Year of Banned Books

Discussion leader: Erica

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 28 topics — 212 comments total

Archived-A Year of Banned Books

This topic has been closed to new comments.

* Reading List
By Erica , Quality Control Supervisor · 1 post · 96 views

last updated Dec 12, 2023 04:05PM

* A Year of Banned Books Info
By Erica , Quality Control Supervisor · 1 post · 122 views

last updated Dec 12, 2023 03:53PM

showing 10 of 34 topics view all »

What Members Thought

May 04, 2011 Bev rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction, science-fiction, classic-lit, award-winner, mount-tbr-2020, dystopian

Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury is story of a dystopian future that is every book lover's nightmare. Guy Montag is a fireman--but not the kind children we have all known have always dreamed about being when they grow up. Firemen in Montag's world don't put out fires--they start them and they mostly start them wherever there are books, because in this world books have been outlawed and any that are found are burned.
Up till now, Montag has been pretty happy as a fireman--but encounters with Fahrenheit 451 (1953) by Ray Bradbury is story of a dystopian future that is every book lover's nightmare. Guy Montag is a fireman--but not the kind children we have all known have always dreamed about being when they grow up. Firemen in Montag's world don't put out fires--they start them and they mostly start them wherever there are books, because in this world books have been outlawed and any that are found are burned.
Up till now, Montag has been pretty happy as a fireman--but encounters with Clarisse, his seventeen year-old neighbor, and their discussions about simple pleasures, his wife's suicide attempt, and a book-burning that results in the self-immolation of an elderly book hoarder all contribute to a growing set of doubts about his chosen profession. It isn't long before he's hoarding books and finds himself on the wrong end of a Mechanical Hound (a robot used to track bookish lawbreakers) hunt.

It's been a long time since I read this the first time--back when I was haunting Mason's Rare & Used Book Store in my hometown and spending all my hard-earned lawn-mowing money on classic science fiction...Bradbury, Asimov, Ellison, Silverberg, Tiptree and the like. I read Fahrenheit then because I wanted to read all of Bradbury that I could get my hands on after my first sip of his Dandelion Wine collection. And was absolutely amazed by it. I was surprised that it never got assigned in school (neither high school nor college).

This reading seems very timely in an age when social media takes up so much of our time, when there are literally thousands of television programs available at any one time, and when I regularly see articles stating the percentage of people who say they haven't even read one book in the last year. Books are such an important part of my life and have been since I learned to read. I can't even imagine what it would be like to live in a world where owning books...any books, not just certain banned books...was illegal. An incredible (if bleak) vision of the future by a SF master.

First posted on my blog . ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 06, 2013 Diana S rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: in-a-day, read-in-2015, classics, science-fiction, read-in-2024, dystopia, my-5-stars-books

I read the 60th anniversary edition this time (red cover). It's a fantastic book. I enjoyed it more this time then last time. Truly a classic 馃 I'm giving it 猸愨瓙猸愨瓙猸� this time (last time it was 猸愨瓙猸愨瓙). ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

May 12, 2011 Chels M. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 濒颈产谤辞蝉-谤别蝉别帽补诲辞蝉, favoritos

Datos:
T铆tulo original: Fahrenheit 451.
T铆tulo al espa帽ol: Fahrenheit 451.
Autor: Ray Bradbury.
G茅nero: Distop铆a.
Editorial: DeBolsillo.
N潞 de p谩ginas: 175.
ISBN: 978-84-9793-005-5

Historia:
Corto pero intenso.
Fahrenheit 451 nos sit煤a en un mundo en el que no querr铆as vivir.
Han suprimido una parte vital de la cultura, la lectura. Est谩 prohibido leer. Leer hace que haya gente informada, culta, mientras que otros no lo son. Para evitar diferencias 鈥搚 para evitar que la gente piense, claro- se ide贸 la fig ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 16, 2013 Alina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, challenges-2013

It was OK. Interesting take on what the future (1990's) might be like from the 1950's standpoint. Government is trying to take over way too much as it is so book wasn't that far off in my opinion. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 14, 2014 Jirrine rated it it was ok · review of another edition

More reviews on

I have known about Fahrenheit 451 for a long time, as it is mentioned on most classic lists as a must read. To be honest I had no clue what it was about. When I picked it up at the library I was surprised how short it was, just a 160 pages. I finished it a couple of days ago and I still have difficulties actually formulating how I feel about this book. I am going to try anyway.

The first thing I really struggled with was the use of language. Ray Bradb More reviews on

I have known about Fahrenheit 451 for a long time, as it is mentioned on most classic lists as a must read. To be honest I had no clue what it was about. When I picked it up at the library I was surprised how short it was, just a 160 pages. I finished it a couple of days ago and I still have difficulties actually formulating how I feel about this book. I am going to try anyway.

The first thing I really struggled with was the use of language. Ray Bradbury has just a really wordy way of writing. I have the feeling that I had to dig for the essence of his words by finding out which things happened in the here and now and which sentences where just thoughts of the main character, Montag. With every page I hoped to get more clarity but at times it only got murkier and more confusing. It already started with one of the first scenes, when Montag finds his wife in their bedroom. I was so confused as to whether she was dead or alive, she could have been a robot the way Bradbury described her. Now that I have finished I am still not sure. She felt so detached from this world, which is undoubtedly how Bradbury wanted to portray her but it was confusing at times.

From the beginning it was clear that books where the main enemy of Montag鈥檚 society. Over the course of the book you get information about why books pose a threat and how books changed the function of firemen. I wanted to know more though. I had no idea how this society actually functioned. Captain Beady is the highest ranking member of Montag鈥檚 society I encountered but then nothing. No mention of the government, and why things happen. There is also a war going on, evidenced by the bombers that fly over but again I had no clue what this war was about. I feel that there is a message in this book but it felt like I got glimpses of that message rather than actually grasping it. I needed more pages to understand what was really going on.

For now I am going to settle for 2 stars because there is more to this book than I am able to get from it right now, but I know something is there. I want to read this book again in some time and see what I get from it then. ...more

Like · see review