First Encounters of Bradbury

On a breezy autumn day a comfy chair sits near a sunny window awaiting someone to curl up to their favorite book, although on this particular day the wall of flashing lights calls to those who would rather not. This unfortunately has become a reality for most…

 

Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451, is correct in believing some will fall prey to censorship, while others protest its travesties. Perhaps only those who value literature, as he would see how underutilized authors can become. His fear of a society of robotic thought is creeping its way into reality. His intention was to bring an entertaining fiction that could enlighten those in a time of powerful beliefs being pushed on a people. His use of characters that represented technology was a way to foreworn an inevitable future if one is careless with their knowledge.  

 While television and the Internet have surely become societies’ source of entertaining knowledge, it certainly has become a silk screen to which clouds ones ability to think critically. The main concern is whether newer generations will have access to and an appreciation for the creative written word. It will be up to those who hold its value to become those who ‘remember’.

In today’s world of the environmentally conscious, books may not be burned but recycled. What would Bradbury think of his prized possessions (books) as art? We have already been introduced to a futuristic way of burning books and it is better known as an eBook. While this new form will encourage those tech junkies to read something other than a tweet, it merely feeds their need for the latest and greatest THING. While we are certainly not headed towards mass book burnings as WWII or China’s Qin Dynasty, the tangible book is slowly becoming barbaric.

 As long as this country remains founded on free speech, then there is no great threat to the form of writing. The only threat may be that one becomes more familiar with a gadget to bind their favorite literature than the old fashioned paperback. These eBooks as there better known do carry a lot of buzz about its ability to hold a memory of over twenty literary works. Now for an avid reader who may like to dabble in many a genre at one time, or a traveler this would be the best invention known to man. With all this said, censorship and edit become the biggest fear of those who love to write and read. These will become the modern day book burning if allowed, it is important to keep our minds fresh on what we allow our brains to process and how, keep critical thinking alive and kicking!

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them. ~Ray Bradbury

An interview with Ray Bradbury...