uclasonya: "I just wonder what I can do about it."

You just did!!!!!!!
Now continue.......

I'm currently doing this book at school too and am quite enjoying it The parallels between his dystopian society and our own are astonishing (and quite scary)!

I think it's kind of funny how this book is hailed as amazing for prophecying "the future" when actually it was written about the present day when Ray wrote it. I bet you anything that other than some of the technology (which might have been a little hard to fathom) this book could've made perfect sence 200 years ago.

(I just like to think that society really hasn't changed as much as we'd like to think it has)

[This message has been edited by groon (edited 05-11-2004).]

Reading this book didn't exactly get the wheels turning in my head, but I did begin to wonder about the prospect of something like that actually happening.
From what I got out of it, the reason the burnings started was people taking offense to what the books "said".
And now, with everybody preaching about tolerence and equality, the future portrayed in Fahrenheit doesn't seem too far off.

I just finished F451 and loved it! The whole book was filled with metaphors! The writing was just increadable and it really inspired me in my own writings. The book scared me a little because what Ray Bradbury has writen as a fiction is becoming reality. Meeting Ray Bradbury, and talking to him about the world and about writing, would just be SO neat!

Are you going to be in the Los Angeles area on Saturday, July 10? If so, here's your chance not only to meet Ray, but to get a signed copy of his brand new book, THE CAT'S PAJAMAS:

http://www.mysteryandimagination.com/




[This message has been edited by Richard (edited 06-17-2004).]

New Bradbury book what?

Fahrenheit 451 was probably the most terrifying book I've ever read in my life! I'm a voracious reader (well over 100 books a year) and the thought of my books being burned!! Sacrilege!!! I can't remember when I first read the book; it was probably in grade school, so you're talking a good long time ago, but it still sticks in my memory. Then again, I love all of Mr. Bradbury's books - I think he's an American treasure!!!

100 books a year is voracious? Try 400...
Cheers, Translator

I never got over 60 a year. What I have learned is that I need to slow down so I can:

(1) Enjoy the language
(2) Think through and reflect on the arguments and claims.

There is definitely speed reading, but I don't believe in speed thinking. This is not a slam. I admire persons who read a lot. I just have to chew the cud when I read.

Translator

I really enjoy reading, but how can you possibly read so many books? That's more than 1 a day. They must either be very very thin books, you don't sleep more than 2 hours, some of those books have lots and lots and lots of pictures in them, or you took one of those extra fast reading dynamic courses. Or you read so fast you hardly remember even the titles. Do you remember all the titles, at least the titles?
Tell us.

Supposedly the judges of the Newbery and Caldecott Awards read 300-400 a year.

But those awards are for childrens books. Since most of those are fairly short, we could all read several in a day if that was our job. (I've often regretted having to go to work when I'm in the grips of a really great novel. Oh if only the mortgage could pay itself so I could sit on my patio surrounded by all my flowers and read the day away!!)

Translator,
I COULD read close to a book a day, IF it REALLY gets me interested. Also, I'm pretty picky about what I'll read (contrary to what many of my friends think!), so it can get difficult to find books that grab my attention. Besides which, I wasn't making this a contest of who reads the most books, it was just a comment I tossed out there to indicate my horror at the thought of book burnings.....and I still think I'd have to burn with my books, rather than go without! I don't even do audiobooks; it's just not the same!

Well, I counted, really, 350 at my peak some years ago. I never went up to 400 (i kinda overstated for the heck of it all). Some were shorter, some longer, but all were definitely literature. It wasn't speed reading, but I did end up sleeping less than 7 hours a day. I'm not bragging, just pointing out that 100 a year, although voracious, isn't that uncommon.

Cheers, Translator

(if you're asking why I had so much free time, I was kinda wounded at the time and spent basically a year in bed).

[This message has been edited by Translator (edited 06-22-2004).]