It was a super quick read (I actually finished it several days ago) and really interesting. It definitely got me in the mood for utopian/dystopian fiction. [As a side note, I took an upper level literature course in my senior year of college titled "Utopian Fiction" which was extremely interesting (and taught by possibly my favorite professor [possibly, because we all know I can't pick favorites] and after that course, the books we read, and the intense discussion we had, I will never be able to separate utopia from dystopia because they are not at all mutually exclusive.]
Alas, if you haven't read this, I highly suggest it. 1: It's not a time suck. 2: It immediately draws you in. 3: It makes you reevaluate the society we live in now, where society could be headed, but more importantly how you are living your life.
The book in it's entirety started out as a short story that Bradbury wrote in the late 1940s, which developed into a novella, which developed into the book [the first US copy was printed in 1953], which later developed into a million other medias. The only reason I'm sharing that is to point out that this whole concept was basically developed in the late-1940s!! I cannot believe how how everything Bradbury describes is still so fitting (or even more so) to this day and age. It just blew my mind, and, as I said earlier, made me think more consciously about how we are living nowadays. Without getting on a soapbox here, there's way too much that people take for granted. Definitely in most recent history, but especially now. Most shocking, infuriating, and dismal is how often people take knowledge for granted. Books! Read books! They're amazing! Think! Think for yourself! Take advantage of the resources all around you and be open to learning and thinking and creating your own thoughts and opinions! You can learn, you can experience, you can travel - all within a book. [Key theme song to Reading Rainbow]
"Do you know why books [...] are so important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores. It has features This book can go under the microscope. You'd find life under the glass, streaming past in infinite profusion. The more pores, the more truthfully recorded details of life per square inch you can get on a sheet of paper, the more "literary" you are. [...] Telling detail. Fresh detail. The good writers touch life often. The mediocre ones run a quick hand over her. The bad ones rape her and leave her for the flies."
Read it; it's delightful.
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