Another classic I haven’t read before, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a paperback that, like The War of the Worlds by HG Wells, I picked up in bookshop attracted by its distinctive cover. I’m so pleased I did. Eerily prophetic, first published in 1952, in the post-war American consumer boom, Bradbury is uncannily far-sighted. Guy Montag is a fireman who doesn’t put out fires, he lights them. In this world, houses have been fireproofed to such an extent that they are inflammable. People don’t read books any more, they’re the enemy. Fiction, fact, non-fiction, history, religious works, imagination, all must be destroyed. If the fire service receives a tip-off that a person is in possession of books, the firemen burn the house, the books and sometimes the guilty book-owner.
We see this world through Montag’s observations of his daily life and home. The ‘televisors’ that project entertainment programmes onto the walls of his house’s ‘parlour,’ a diet of sugar-crystal and saccharine combined with advertisements. Montag’s wife, Mildred, lives her life indoors, driven by a timetable of programmes with her ‘family’ – the characters in regular programming that replaces relationships with real people – their artificial likes and love hearts become more important than everyday talk with her husband.
There are echoes of Orwell’s 1984 but the politics are different, Big Brother surveillance and political messages replaced by constant advertisements, ear worms, enticements to buy things, things made elsewhere in countries unknown to Montag. ‘Denham’s Dentifrice, Denham’s Dandy Dental Detergent, Denham’s Dentifrice Dentifrice Dentifrice, one two, one two three, one two, one two three.’ It is an intellectually and emotionally stunting life. People’s curiosity has disappeared.
Until one day, Montag has a brief encounter with a young neighbour, Clarisse McClellan, a strange young girl who sees the world differently. So the next time he attends a fire, he is horrified at what he is doing. He hides a book in his jacket and takes it home. Fearing discovery, of bringing harm to his wife, their home and way of life, he doesn’t hesitate to step over the line. Meanwhile war, according to the ‘seashell radio’ which fits in his ear, is coming.
There is a hinterland of rebels, secretive people who still believe in freedom of thought, who live in fear of discovery, who believe books are not the problem but the solution. Books can be intriguing, challenging, disturbing, exciting. They invite imagination, exploration, curiosity. But in the world of Fahrenheit 451, life is superficial. People live a routine without stopping to look at the sky, listening to birdsong, watching the clouds change shape. It’s the difference between looking at a flower’s beauty then forgetting it, and looking at a flower, seeing its beauty, drawing it, writing a poem about it, studying its biology, sowing seeds, noticing other plants and their role in the natural world.
Thought-provoking. Sad. A must read.
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If you like this, try:-
‘The War of the Worlds’ by HG Wells
‘In Ark’ by Lisa Devaney
‘Dark Earth’ by Rebecca Stott

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COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-