# If Fahrenheit 451 came true **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2001, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689 "2001-08-23T06:53:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/1 "2001-08-23T06:53:09Z")
Which book would you be? ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/2 "2001-08-23T07:17:07Z")
I’m pretty sure I’d be one of the _Far Side_ collections. ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/3 "2001-08-23T10:50:42Z")
_Fahrenheit 451_ (grins, sees angry glares, backs away with hands in the air.) ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/4 "2001-08-23T11:51:12Z")
_1984_ ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/5 "2001-08-23T12:52:21Z")
_Dune_. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/6 "2001-08-23T13:07:08Z")
_Of Mice and Men_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/7 "2001-08-23T13:18:41Z")
Staroamer’s Fate. 😉 Well, OK. Maybe Ken Grimwood’s “Replay” or James Morrow’s “Towing Jehovah.” ---
**Author:** ![Spoonbender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spoonbender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoonbender)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/8 "2001-08-23T13:59:05Z")
_The Catcher in the Rye_. Or, if that was already taken… _Bright Lights, Big City_. ---
**Author:** ![pestie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e5b9ba/32.png) [@pestie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pestie)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/9 "2001-08-23T16:29:15Z")
Catch-22. ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/10 "2001-08-23T16:32:41Z")
Robert Heinlein, _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/11 "2001-08-23T20:06:49Z")
What would I be?! I already AM the CTA, Metra, and Amtrak maps! 😃 Seriously, anyone in the office who wants to go anywhere by rail that they’re not familiar with, they come to me. Of course, it only encourages them that I can give the right answer about 99% of the time. 🙂 My “real” book answer: John Stith’s “Manhattan Transfer”, a great sci-fi novel about aliens stealing the entire island of Manhattan and how the occupants of the island cope with the situation and (I don’t think this is giving away too much) eventually triumph. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/12 "2001-08-23T20:28:25Z")
Oooh, ooh, dibbies on _Stranger in a Strange Land._ Except that I don’t have a very good memory. I should probably pick a shorter one. _Podkayne of Mars_, then. I don’t think it’s too bad to double up on _Catcher in the Rye_, **Spoonbender.** What if the other _Catcher_ gets hit by a bus? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/13 "2001-08-23T21:00:38Z")
_Justine_ by the Marquis De Sade ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/14 "2001-08-23T21:06:04Z")
There is a famous collection of prophecies published in 1555 known as ‘Centuries’. I can’t remember the author’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/15 "2001-08-23T21:51:45Z")
“Brave New World” OR “Prufrock and Other Observations” ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/16 "2001-08-24T02:52:11Z")
kaloshnikov, you’re a man after my own heart. The second book my gifted fifth graders will be reading this year is Fahrenheit 451, following which they are each required to become a living book. They each memorize a children’s book, word for word, until they can recite it perfectly without aid, and then get to tell their stories to the 1st and 2nd grade classes. I routinely have students memorizing the more advanced Dr. Seuss books (_Horton Hears a Who_ and _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ are the most popular). Last year, a pair of girls did _The 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins_. Track down enough of my former students from the past few years, and we pretty much have Dr. Seuss covered. They also become living poems, memorizing and reciting a poem before the class every three weeks. I would be a collection of Robert Frost poems. ---
**Author:** ![stormy652](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@stormy652](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stormy652)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/17 "2001-08-24T03:26:45Z")
Holy crap! I just read Fahrenheit 451 last (sophomore) year in high school! Kids are getting smarter and smarter…But then again I was reading Stephen King in 5th grade. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/18 "2001-08-24T03:44:59Z")
I would be [Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book.](http://www.banned-width.com/shel/works/abz/abz.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chocobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@Chocobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chocobo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/19 "2001-08-24T05:20:39Z")
I’d be the all the Calvin and Hobbes collections. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Stewart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dave\_Stewart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Stewart)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/20 "2001-08-24T10:53:34Z")
Neuromancer, perhaps… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689.md?page=2)