Book review: 451 Fahrenheit by Ray Bradbury

This is a rather short book from Ray Bradbury. I had never heard about it, but it seems quite popular. It's in the line of 1984 by George Orwell.

The novel is taking place in a dystopian future where the state "enslave" their citizens by destroying knowledge and promoting a hedonic lifestyle.

The protagonist is a fireman. However, in this future, the firemen don't put fires down. Their jobs is to burn books. Owning books is forbidden. In this world, knowledge is evil and ignorance is bliss. Citizens numbs themselves by watching TV shows without any meaning. They wear portable audio devices (i.e. earbuds!) pouring endless ads in their ears around the clock. Then, they take pills to get to sleep. They don't think for themselves - they don't even remember much about who they are.

The book was written in 1953 (!), and it gave me an eerie feeling of similarity with some of what is happening in the current world. We put convenience and pleasure at the top of our priorities to the detriment of the pursuit of harder, more tenuous but also more rewarding activities.

It reminds me of the current mindset around LLMs. We celebrate ignorance: "Look, I don't even know how to do X, yet I made Y. How great!".

The Greek had a word for this, Amathia, which means "willful ignorance". I believe it is a very slippery slope.

I won't spoil the end of the book; however after the last few pages we can only wonder if this ignorance was worldwide, or if the protagonists lived in an ignorance prison which prevented them from seeking a better way to live.

I highly enjoyed the book. I am especially impressed with the creativity of the writer, and how 73 years later it is still relevant.