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"The Big Read | Fahrenheit 451." //The Big Read | National Endowment for the Arts//. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .


 * 1) born on August 22, 1920, in Waukegan, Illinois
 * 2) The Bradbury family drove across the country to Los Angeles in 1934
 * 3) After a rejection notice from the pulp magazine Weird Tales, he sent his short story "Homecoming" to Mademoiselle. There it was spotted by a young editorial assistant named Truman Capote
 * 4) But the most significant event for Bradbury in 1947 was surely the beginning of his long marriage to Marguerite McClure.
 * 5) They had met the previous April in Fowler Brothers Bookstore, where she worked—and where at first she had him pegged for a shoplifter: "Once I figured out that he wasn't stealing books, that was it. I fell for him.
 * 6) In 1950, Bradbury's second book, The Martian Chronicles**,** took the form of linked stories about the colonization of the red planet. As always in his writing, technology took a back seat to the human stories.
 * 7) Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 on a rental typewriter in the basement of UCLA's Lawrence Clark Powell Library
 * 8) He had taken refuge from a small house filled with the distractions of two young children.
 * 9) The book came out to rapturous reviews. To this day it sells at least 50,000 copies a year
 * 10) In 2004, Bradbury received the National Medal of Arts, a presidential award administered by the National Endowment for the Arts.
 * 11) He accepted a citation recognizing "his gift for language, his insights into the human condition, and his commitment to the freedom of the individual."
 * 12) " The book wrote itself in nine days, because the library told me to do it."
 * 13) The origin of the books being burned in the story was originally from Hitler
 * 14) Hitler was burning books in the streets of Berlin when Bradbury was 15
 * 15) Then along the way he learned about the libraries in Alexandria burning five thousand years ago
 * 16) If it could happen in Alexandria, if it could happen in Berlin, maybe it could happen somewhere up ahead, and his heroes would be killed
 * 17) "If I can convince people to stop doing what they're doing and go to the library and be sensible, without pontificating and without being self-conscious, that's fine. I can teach people to really know they're alive."
 * 18) In an interview Bradbury was asked, "Did you think of this book from the beginning being about the growth, the transformation of Montag's character?"
 * 19) "Everything just has to happen because it has to happen. The wonderful irony of the book is that Montag is educated by a teenager. She doesn't know what she is doing. She is a bit of a romantic sap, and she wanders through the world. She's really alive though, you see. That is what is attractive about her. And Montag is attracted to her romantic sappiness.
 * 20) he was also asked "What do you think the turning point is in this novel, in terms of making Montag come into his new life?"
 * 21) he replied, "when Mrs. Hudson is willing to burn with her books. That's the turning point, when it's all over and she's willing to die with her loved ones, with her dogs, with her cats, with her books."
 * 22) Bradbury says we should read books, "because we are trying to solve the mystery of our loves, no matter what kind you have. Quite often there's an end to it and you have to find a new love. We move from novel to novel."

"About Ray Bradbury." //Ray Bradbury//. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .


 * 1) "PEOPLE are afraid of fantasy," says Ray Bradbury.
 * 2) People are walking around the streets with phones to their heads talking to someone ten feet away.
 * 3) People are walking around the streets with phones to their heads talking to someone ten feet away.
 * 4) We're surrounded by technology and the problems created by technology, and science fiction isn't important?
 * 5) Bradbury's fascination with literature began early."I was born a collector of metaphors," he says. "Metaphors are the center of life. I'm deeply influenced by Greek mythology, Roman mythology.
 * 6) "In high school I would go through a magazine called Coronet, looking for photographs by Karsh and Stieiglitz. I'd cut them out and write poems about them."
 * 7) In 1950, he began work on Fahrenheit 451's futuristic tale about a society in which literacy is outlawed, books are forbidden, and learning is kept alive by an underground movement.
 * 8) He finished the first draft in nine days.
 * 9) The result was a story that predicts many current technologies, including touch pad entry locks, home viewing systems and disquietingly pervasive video surveillance.
 * 10) Bradbury, however, treats his prescience lightly. "I've never set out to predict. I just write what later seems to evolve and be true."
 * 11) In 1956, though he had no screenwriting credits, Bradbury says he was approached by John Huston to write the screenplay for an adaptation of Moby Dick.
 * 12) A second encounter with the entertainment industry came in 1961 when Bradbury was hired by MGM to write the narration for Orson Welles to speak in King of Kings.
 * 13) At the age of 78 he still travels and lectures extensively.
 * 14) He also serves as a consultant, having collaborated, for example, in the design of a pavilion in the Epcot Center at Walt Disney World.
 * 15) But his primary occupation is exactly what it has been for more than 50 years. "I never know from day to day which of my books I'll be working on," he says

"Ray Bradbury's Predictions in Fahrenheit 451." //Get Essays, Research Papers, Term Papers & College Essays Here//. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .


 * 1) As we all know, Ray Bradbury, Author of Fahrenheit 451, made many predictions as to what this day and age would be like
 * 2) He was right in many cases including speed, entertainment, and the mindlessness of people.
 * 3) He predicted that nobody would speak more than a couple of words at a time to a certain person.
 * 4) That makes the people seem mindless because they don't talk or ask questions.
 * 5) Ray also predicted that people would drive by places so fast that the y don't even know what they passed.
 * 6) One of the final things that Bradbury talks about in his book is entertainment, slowly but surely, people are starting to stay indoors and do such activities so they don't have to go outside.
 * 7) Being obsessed with entertainment, which is probably the most obvious aspect of this book, is very important in our world and Montag's made up society.
 * 8) The characters rarely have friends, and if they do, they just go over each other's houses to watch television
 * 9) Bradbury makes this clear when Mildred says to Montag, "I went to Helen's last night" (50). He replies by saying, "Couldn't you get the shows in your own parlor" (50). She says, "Sure, but it's nice visiting" (50).
 * 10) In that statement she clarifies that the only reason she goes over friend's houses is to watch television, not to talk, eat, or go outside and have a good time
 * 11) An example of someone who is not obsessed with entertainment is Clarisse, the 17 year old girl who is "different" from everyone else because she enjoyed life.
 * 12) She enjoyed smelling flowers, walking in the rain, and getting into deep conversations with people.

"Ray Bradbury - Fun Facts, Questions, Answers, Information." //Fun Trivia Quizzes - World's Largest Trivia and Quiz Site!// Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .


 * 1) His father was a linesman for the Waukegan Bureau of Power and Light
 * 2) He says he still writes every day
 * 3) Bradbury's formal education ended when he graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1938
 * 4) but he says the public library was his higher education during the day, and his typewriter, at night.
 * 5) he didn't make it to college, so the library became his meeting place with people like G.K. Chesterton and Shaw and the rest of that fabulous group who inhabited the stacks.
 * 6) "My dream was to one day walk into the library and see one of my books leaning against one of theirs."
 * 7) From 1938-1942 He worked selling newspapers on the street by day and continued writing at night.
 * 8) Ray Bradbury was married to Maggie, the lady he called his muse, until her death on Nov. 24, 2003. His 2004 story collection, "The Cat's Pajama's", is dedicated to Maggie.
 * 9) Ray and Maggie Bradbury had four daughters - Susan, Ramona, Bettina, and Alexandria.
 * 10) Mr. Bradbury has talked of what a positive influence women have been in his life - mother, wife, and daughters
 * 11) He says women seem to appreciate his writing
 * 12) From 1985 to 1992, Bradbury hosted //The Ray Bradbury Theater //, a serial television show based on his short stories.
 * 13) Although mostly associated with science fiction and the macabre, Bradbury has written family-oriented material like //The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit //.
 * 14) despite its box office success and the political firestorm it instigated, the film //Fahrenheit 9/11 //angered Bradbury because director Michael Moore appropriated the title of Bradbury’s classic //Fahrenheit 451 // without asking permission.
 * 15) Bradbury became a member of the now-famous Clifton Cafeteria’s Science Fiction club, which included other notable writers such as Robert Heinlein.

"Life in the 1950’s – The Fifties - Fifties History." //Fifties Sixties Fashion, TV, Movies, Hair, Food, Cars, 50's 60's Facts and History about 1950's and 1960's - Clip Art and Information//. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. .


 * 1) Life in the 1950's was simple. Some say it was the best time in American History
 * 2) The wars and the depression were a distant memory and the country was feeling good about itself.
 * 3) Most Americans trusted the government and believed in politicians. Society was experiencing growth, economically and socially, and new ideas of prosperity and success for families and the country as a whole were taking shape.
 * 4) Jobs were mainly industrial and agricultural
 * 5) Most men worked in blue-collar jobs and there was an increase in the need for secretarial work, which allowed for some women to work outside of the home.
 * 6) Television was becoming more and more a part of everyday life
 * 7) More families had televisions in their homes and AM radio was also becoming more popular, along with the advent of 45 records, jukeboxes, and eventually albums.
 * 8) Music was expanding the sound of rock and roll was creeping into the mainstream with the help of radio and television and teenagers were experiencing more independence and freedom than what their parents had as teenagers.
 * 9) Women were still obligated to the status of housewife and men were the main breadwinners in the family
 * 10) Children, including teenagers, were to be seen and not heard but by the mid-1950’s, that was becoming more difficult because of newfound freedoms, rock and roll music, and other outlets teenagers had available to them
 * 11) Guys started wearing their hair longer with sideburns and slicked back with grease.
 * 12) They also wore jeans and leather jackets (with the collar turned up to be “cool”) and the girls wore ponytails, poodle skirts, pedal pushers, and scarves.
 * 13) People went out more instead of staying inside and watching tv
 * 14) They went to bowling alleys
 * 15) Little girls had barbies
 * 16) Mr. potato heads were popular
 * 17) People also read alot, books like charlottes web, and Dr. Seuss's the cat and the hat were popular at the time.