vacation reading

Over vacation, I read two books, both of them considered "classics."

"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury.

"The Stranger" by Albert Camus.

Let me talk about the first one today.

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel that presents a future American society in which the masses are hedonistic and central thought through reading is outlawed and banned.

The central character, Guy Montag, is employed as a "fireman" (which, in this future, means "bookburner"). The number "451" refers to the temperature at which book paper combusts.

Anyone caught reading or possessing illegal books is, at minimum, confined to a mental hospital while the books are burned by the fireman.

But it is the undercurrent theme that really strikes me as well - it being as current as anything I have read that describes 2010.

Guy's wife, Mildred, is obsessed with watching television that is three sided (it is mounted on three sides of the wall). She watches a family on the T.V. most of the day - interacting with them as well. What it reminds me of is all of the "reality T.V." that you see on T.V.

No time for books. No time for thought. No time for reflexion. Don't forget that Bradbury wrote this novel in 1959!

How prophetic he has turned out to be!

Our lives are filled with google, facebook, twitter, myspace, T.V., movies, texting, on and on it goes.

Where do we find time to stop and think? To reflect?

Information and knowledge has replaced ideas and points of view.

Has the media overtaken our ability to think?