# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/21 "2001-08-24T13:08:05Z")
I read _Fahrenheit 451_ the summer after sixth grade, and was so fascinated that I read it all in one sitting, then read it a second time of the course of the next few days. It’s a great book for that age. I am already _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_, and so is my mother. My sister and I loved that book. My mother can also still do _Ted and Fred_ word-perfect from memory, even though I’m now 27 and my sister’s 24. ---
**Author:** ![thermalribbon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@thermalribbon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thermalribbon)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/22 "2001-08-24T13:16:43Z")
The Liner notes to Highway 61 Revisited ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/23 "2001-08-24T18:02:36Z")
I think I already am _Cannery Row_ (Stienbeck), _Gaudy Night_ (Sayers), and _Neuromancer_ (Gibson) so I think the next book would be _Cyrano de Bergerac_ (Rostand) unless plays don’t count, then I would be _Age of Innocence_ (Wharton). ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/24 "2001-08-24T19:50:00Z")
The amusing thing is that nobody wants to be _Farenheit 451_. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/25 "2001-08-24T21:16:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Danimal \* > \*\*The amusing thing is that nobody wants to be _Farenheit 451_. \*\* You missed the 3rd post. 🙂 Since Neuromancer and all the really important ones like 1984 are taken, I’d have to be either Citizen Of The Galaxy or Starship Troopers by Heinlein, or else the entire Hobbit/Lord Of The Rings collection. I hope my memory would be up to it. ---
**Author:** ![muppetsoup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aca169/32.png) [@muppetsoup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muppetsoup)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/26 "2001-08-24T21:37:51Z")
_The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul_ ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2001, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/27 "2001-08-24T21:38:31Z")
I would be _The Fireman’s Manual on How to Burn Books, With Handy Companion Texts for Trials and Demonstrations So That You Don’t Need To Burn Me for Practice_. Second choice would probably be _The Collected Works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky_ ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/28 "2001-08-25T03:49:36Z")
_The Grapes of Wrath_. I hope nobody said that already. ---
**Author:** ![khanada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3be4f8/32.png) [@khanada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/khanada)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/29 "2001-08-25T08:06:25Z")
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, maybe… ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/30 "2001-08-25T08:58:57Z")
I’d like to say _The Lord of the Rings_ (Tolkien), I really would (mainly because people in my family would lynch me if they read this thread and knew I didn’t :D), but I’ll have to go for either _The Martian Chronicles_, _S is for Space_, _R is for Rocket_ (all Bradbury), or _I, Robot_ (Asimov). _The October Country_ and _Dandelion Wine_ (both Bradbury) would be farther down my list. Those books made an impression on me growing up, the emotionalism of Bradbury and the rationalism of Asmiov, and I couldn’t bear to lose them. They can have my memories when they grep my cold, dead brain! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cougarfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/31 "2001-08-25T09:17:19Z")
the Earth’s Children series, by Jean M. Auel, or maybe The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. those are my favorite series and favorite book, respectively. oh yeah, and i think being in Xanth (whatever the series is called, by Piers Anthony) would be fun… wonder what my talent is 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/32 "2001-08-25T22:11:11Z")
_ **The Odyssey** _ by Homer (not in the original, though, I’ll leave that for someone else :D) ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/33 "2001-08-25T22:16:23Z")
I would be Candide and To Kill A Mockingbird. ---
**Author:** ![bagkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ab992/32.png) [@bagkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bagkitty)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/34 "2001-08-25T22:20:08Z")
Iain Bank’s “The Crowroad” – but I will have to work on my Scots accent. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/35 "2001-08-25T22:21:10Z")
_The Gulag Archipelago_ or maybe _The Kalevela_. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2001, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/36 "2001-08-25T23:05:39Z")
I’d be _The Great Gatsby_ and _Tender is the Night_. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/37 "2001-08-26T03:24:34Z")
_Green Eggs and Ham_ ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/38 "2001-08-26T04:32:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by brachyrhynchos \* > \*\*_The Gulag Archipelago_ or maybe _The Kalevela_. \*\* Your first title reminds me: _One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich_ (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, also the author of _The Gulag Archipelago_). I read that book once and loved it. I’ll have to get around to reading _Archipelago_, too. ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/39 "2001-08-26T04:33:27Z")
I’d shoot for the complete works of Lewis Carroll. Already have most of the poems down. But _Farenheit 451_ could never happen these days. Heck, there would have to be stuff like TV shows that showed wanted criminals in prime time, and encouraged citizens to turn them in… Um… I’m gonna go read. ---
**Author:** ![Medievalist2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@Medievalist2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medievalist2)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2001, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-fahrenheit-451-came-true/77689/40 "2001-08-26T06:58:38Z")
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