Note: I reviewed this in conjunction with The Martian Chronicles.

Two things are surprising about these two classics: they are still relevant almost fifty years later; and the older I get, the more meaning they have for me. I first read these novels as a teenager, but my second reading has revealed nuances that I missed before, and I suspect that I’ll find even more in my third and fourth readings. And reading two novels that deal in separate (but connected) ways with the destruction of the world still, on the cusp of the millennium, has relevance to the problems we face today: censorship; environmental destruction; racial prejudice; short-sightedness in terms of how what we do today will affect the generations that come after us. Anyone familiar with Bradbury knows that his writing is poetical, yet spare – saying quite a lot in only a few pages. I hold these two short novels up with Something Wicked This Way Comes as Bradbury’s triple punch – three books that will have a lasting impact on the people who read them.

It only fueled my love for Anti-Utopian fiction.

Although for some reason I read it in Grade 7. Grade 7? Come on… a tad heavy don’t you think for 13 year olds?Although I remember loving Bradbury after that, I’ll be re-reading it again; somehow I think I might get more out of it 20 years later :)

I read this book at a young age, it changed my view of everything.

Another book that blew my world open. Just an amazing thing. Read this if you haven’t already, it just makes your mind run wild.

The thing that I took away from this book which I wasn’t aware of going in is that the book burning was just a side-show. The real reason there weren’t any books anymore (in the open) is that people just stopped reading. A mindless virtual reality, much like TV today, took care of everyone’s needs and killed their curiosity. Also, an intense athletics and action-based culture made sure no one had the leisure to think or examine life.

read this in the early 1990s.

I loved this book when I first read it (around age 13).

Keeping us thinking.

Dig this book. Everyone should read it. In the vein of 1984.

This was the first full length novel I read by Mr. Bradbury and it made me fall in love with his unique and wonderful style. This is a story that everyone should read at least once, a cautionary tale of what the future could hold.

I’m generally not into “science fiction” but this isn’t your typical science fiction. Bradbury painted such a vivid image of a world without books that it sent chills up my spine. What’s even scarier, though, is that I see this world starting to come to life in the US, thanks to a shoddy piece of legislation passed after the recent terrorist attacks. Did you know the government can go to any library and demand to see a list of everyone who’s checked out a certain book?

I guess it’s not that bad…as long as none of us want to learn anything about the religion of Islam.

Listened to this about halfway through Don Quixote for a break. The performance is very stiff, but perhaps it befits the text. I found it a bit dull.

Audiobook—This year’s Hugo nominees included the best novel for 1953—a list that read like a Who’s Who of sci-fi classics. So, I’m listening to Farenheit 451 on tape during my commute around town. It’s just one of those books that gets more and more meaningful each time I read it.

Because I love books so much, this is the most frightening dystopia I can think of.