In a future totalitarian state where books are banned and destroyed by the government, Guy Montag, a fireman in charge of burning books, meets a revolutionary schoolteacher who dares to read and a girl who tells him of a past when people did not live in fear.

A book burner in a future fascist state finds out books are a vital part of a culture he never knew. He clandestinely pursues reading, until he is betrayed. Since the late 1940s, Ray Bradbury has been revered for his works of science fiction and fantasy. With more than 4 million copies in print, Fahrenheit 451 -- originally published in 1953 -- remains his most acclaimed work. Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which book paper burns. Fahrenheit 451 is a short novel set in the (perhaps near) future when "firemen" burn books forbidden by the totalitarian "brave new world" regime. The hero, according to Mr. Bradbury, is "a book burner who suddenly discovers that books are flesh and blood ideas and cry out silently when put to the torch." -- Publisher description.

In Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires but start them--to burn books. It's a time when trivial information is valued and true knowledge perceived as dangerous and subversive. Guy Montag is a fireman with a wife who's goading him to work harder so they could afford another television set. When Montag befriends their neighbor Clarisse, whose love for books and knowledge is contrasted to the Montags' mindless existence, Clarisse suddenly disappears. As a result, Guy begins to hide her books. When his wife turns him in, Guy is ordered to hand them over. Refusing, he runs away, joining an outlawed group of intellectuals who store the contents of the books in their heads, waiting for the time the society will want to think again.

In a society in which books are outlawed, Montag, a regimented fireman in charge of burning the forbidden volumes, meets a revolutionary school teacher who dares to read. Suddenly he finds himself a hunted fugitive, forced to choose not only between two women, but between personal safety and intellectual freedom.

In Bradbury's futuristic novel, the knowledge gained from books is forbidden, and television replaces deep thought with vapid and menial information. Firefighter Guy Montag is assigned to locate, confiscate, and burn books. He is content with his life and job until he discovers the valuable knowledge found within books. Now, Guy must decide to either continue his stale existence or abscond with his newfound knowledge.

In a future totalitarian state where books are banned and destroyed by the government, Guy Montag, a fireman in charge of burning books, meets a revolutionary schoolteacher who dares to read and a girl who tells him of a past when people did not live in fear.

The system was simple. Everyone understood it. Books were for burning, along with the houses in which they were hidden. Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires, and he enjoys his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames. He never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid and a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do.

In a future totalitarian state where books are banned and destroyed by the government, Guy Montag, a fireman in charge of burning books, meets a revolutionary schoolteacher who dares to read and a girl who tells him of a past when people did not live in fear.

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family." But when he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn't live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.