Fahrenheit 451

It has been a long time since I last posted on here. I think now is the right time to try and start posting again. I have always been a avid book reader and my aim is to write down my thoughts and respond to each book on my blog. 

"There was a silly damn bird called a phoenix before Christ, every few hundred years he build a pyre and burnt himself up, he sprang out of the ashes, he got himself born all over, and it looks like we're doing the same thing, over and over, but we've got one damn thing the phoenix never had. We know the damn silly things we've done for a thousand years and as long as we know that and always have it around where we can see it someday we'll stop making the goddamn funeral pyres and jumping in the middle of them. 

Fahrenheit 451 is a book I have been meaning to read for a while. I have finally done so and I must say it was an extremely enjoyable book. A dystopian novel written by american author Ray Bradbury, the book is centered on the main character Guy Montag. His job as a fireman is to destroy books - the discord of all unhappiness in society. 

This story is one of a future with no thought and no questioning, i.e. why do we do things, what is that or whats the story behind that. Society in general becoming bland and emotionless with people unable to think for themselves. Everything 100 miles an hour and instantly explained on a television. Books and anything intellectual have become the source of all evil and the story itself focuses on the idea of book burning in suppressing dissenting ideas. With that the history of the past gone and people unable to question things and unable to learn from past mistakes. 

This book is very symbolic in my opinion of where society could be heading and the author has some very interesting ideas about the way we live. The quote above is a perfect description for me. We forget and make the same mistakes, rather then learn from them. Books and ideas are the counterweight to that. Books in particular hold such strong power i.e. history of the past, lessons of the past and imagination - the ability to use your mind to transport yourself to another fictional world. People aren't meant to be glued to the tv like zombies, but living real lives and not forgetting about real things - family, relationships..

This world created by Ray Bradbury, is a world lacking in colour and emotion, until the main character opens his eyes and opens his mind to the world around him.“Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.” 

This book is a fantastic read and I would urge anyone to read it. It certainly challenged the way I think.