Fahrenheit 451

If someone asked me what my favorite book was, I would more than likely say Fahrenheit 451. No book I have ever read can compare to the structure and symbolism of this book. Well, to put it as horribly as possible, since there is no way I can even come close to describing it perfectly, Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which books burn, and this book is all about censorship. Government control doesn't quite cover it, but it's a book written in the early half of the twentieth century, and it describes life today better then life of that time. The major fact is, the predictions in the book are amazing, because almost every single one has come true. Who knows, maybe we'll all have televisions for walls someday soon...

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian fiction novel by Ray Bradbury.
It is set in a world in which the reading of books is banned and critical thought is suppressed; the central character, Guy Montag, is employed as a "fireman" (which, in this case, means "book burner"). 451 degrees Fahrenheit (about 233°C) is stated as "the temperature at which book-paper catches fire, and burns ...". It was originally published as a shorter novella, The Fireman, in the February 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction. A film adaptation, by François Truffaut, was released in 1966, and another is anticipated. In addition to the movies, there have been at least two BBC Radio 4 dramatizations, both of which follow the book very closely.

The novel reflects several major concerns of the time of its writing: what Bradbury has called "the thought-destroying force" of censorship in the 1950s; the book-burnings in Nazi Germany starting in 1933; Stalin's suppression of authors and books in the Soviet Union; and the horrible consequences of an explosion of a nuclear weapon. "I meant all kinds of tyrannies anywhere in the world at any time, right, left, or middle," Bradbury has said.

One particularly ironic circumstance is that, unbeknownst to Bradbury, his publisher released a censored edition in 1967 that eliminated the words "damn" and "hell" for distribution to schools. Later editions with all words restored include a "Coda" from the author describing this event and further thoughts on censorship and "well-meaning" revisionism.

Bradbury has written that the entirety of his novel was written in the basement of the UCLA library on a pay typewriter. His original intention in writing Fahrenheit 451 was to show his great love for books and libraries. He has often referred to Montag as an allusion to himself.