Reviews

'Another indispensible classic' The Times

'Fahrenheit 451 is the most skilfully drawn of all science fiction's conformist hells' Kingsley Amis

'Bradbury's is a very great and unusual talent' Christopher Isherwood

'Ray Bradbury has a powerful and mysterious imagination which would undoubtedly earn the respect of Edgar Allen Poe' Guardian

Product Description

The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

The classic novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity. Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock. 

Science Fiction Book Club hardcover with dust jacket, Nov. 2008, SFBC #1262421, ISBN: 9781607511663, 208 pages, cover at by Joseph Mugnaini. 8vo (8.5" x 5.75") Expansion of the short story "The Fireman". Filmed by Francois Truffaut. Winner, 1984 Prometheus Award, Hall of Fame Award. 1987 Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel (Place: 40). 1998 Locus Poll Award, All-Time Best SF Novel before 1990 (Place: 29). This edition is a reprint of a 1993 Simon and Schuster edition.