Fahrenheit 451

About the book

Book author: Ray Bradbury

The story is set in a fictional city in America. The protagonist is Guy Montag, a fireman, but not the conventional kind. His job is to destroy illegal commodities, i.e burning books. The totalitarian government fears the written word and have made it the ultimate contraband.

He starts to collect books he is supposed to burn, realises that the world he lives in is radically different from how people lived in the past. He starts asking questions, and has to run for his life.

Reflection and takeaways

* Spoiler warning *

My favourite part was when Guy realises that just because the rest of society accepts something, doesn’t mean you have to. He knows something is wrong, and he acts on it and starts asking questions. In our world, you can have dissenting opinions, but it is a heavy burden to carry. In some countries you are persecuted and killed. In my country (Sweden) you are of course allowed free speech, but you might be persecuted socially by exclusion.

Another interesting perspective: all form of entertainment in the story is massive TV screens broadcasted by said government. It’s a disaster. It’s controlling everyones minds, opinions and making everyone compliant and non-questioning. Personally, I can’t shake the similarity between most internet feeds, but slightly differently. Today, we have black-box algorithms controlling the broadcasts feeding us with stories that increases engagement and making most people crazy. I feel like state-sponsored media doesn’t bring up uncomfortable controversial topics that can “bite the hand that feeds”, and the alt-media is filter bubbles and filled with agenda. To quote Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, “Who’s driving?”.

With that said, it’s a good idea to diversify how you think and what you learn and not get it all from one source. It is the ultimate weapon against totalitarianism, or really, most bad things, and consequently what that fictional government feared the most. Books that form and explore ideas are the greatest threats. Then, form your opinions about the content by yourself, after digesting the great works of the past. Even though I don’t worship books to his level, I worship the idea of diversification after my stint in quantitative finance. So, read books. It’ll change your mind and your life.

Why did I pick it

I have a friend who is really into privacy and digital freedom, and he mentioned this book.

Verdict

It was an okay book. I have read better.

3.0/5.