Read Fahrenheit 451 last week. Small book. Big story. Very interesting. Got it for $1 from Heavenly treasures, our local "used stuff" shop. Short book, but very good. Montag is a fireman, and in this world, firemen start fires, whenever someone has been found with a book. Books are outlawed, and people are fed a steady diet of television, in the form of in-home "parlors" where the walls are interactive screens allowing the people to communicate with each other, much like a webcam and monitor allows us to do today.
The main focus is that books inspire you to THINK, whereas television just feeds you bullkrap as entertainment. The government wants everyone to be happy as a first priority, and to tune out of real life and daily affairs, much as it does nowadays (Monday Night Football, anyone?).
Here are some of the parts that really stood out to me:
- Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of non-combustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.
- I hope I've clarified things. The important thing for you to remember, Montag, is we're the Happiness Boys, the Dixie Duo, you and I and the others. We stand against the small tide of those who want to make everyone unhappy with conflicting theory and thought. We have our fingers in the dike. Hold steady. Don't let the torrent of melancholy and drear philosophy drown our world. We depend on you. I don't think you realize how important you are, to our happy world as it stands now.
7 out of 10.
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