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Widely (and rightly) considered a classic, Bradbury looked to what he thought a near-future might look like if people's penchant for pleasure and distraction won out over thoughtfulness and inquisitiveness on a wide scale. It's not a case of an oppressive, totalitarian government imposing ignorance on the population so much as a population craving it, in the form of absorption in visual and audio entertainment and fun parks. While government mandate slowly swung in behind the popular movement, it did not start it, nor does it impose it against the will of any significant number of its citizens. These same citizens are so involved in themselves, their entertainments, and their virtual "families" that they don't notice real death and tragedy when it comes calling, they barely notice as their nation hurtles toward war, even if it means a family member has been called up and deployed, so little real human contact remains.
Bradbury's prose is concise and moving, with pithy quotable punches in the gut every here and there. He tells a moving story and keeps it moving, too. There are a few explanatory monologues here and there, but they are plain spoken and none are the length of those found in 1984 or Atlas Shrugged, for instance. While the story certainly has its dark moments, it has you chuckling (at least ironically) from time to time, and finds a way to end on an up note. However, in Bradbury's almost headlong rush through the story, he seems to leave some threads hanging and certainly leaves a number of questions unanswered in the minds of readers. I think this was a deliberate choice, but will be frustrating for some readers, nonetheless.
Following the novel, this Kindle version includes notes about the writing of the book, reviews of it, and some treatment of a movie adaption as well. These are all interesting, but none are essential to the reading of the book itself.
This may not qualify for my must-read-right-now list, but it really is a book you should get around to sooner than later. It remains relevant, even if the worst of what Bradbury feared has not (yet?) come to pass. In our culture of the social media echo chamber, we are perhaps only one small step away from what he envisioned, and perhaps that small step is not enough to prevent many of the same ills he prophesied...? Let's hope not. A very good read indeed!