Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns.

It's Guy Montag's job to know these things: he's a fireman and he burns books for a living. He loves his job doing this service for the public, but he is not happy. As his life unravels he begins to question all his beliefs.

Ray Bradbury's cult classic was first published in 1953 but it imagines a world very like 2017, in which sophisticated mass media are used to pacify and control people; love is a commodity; attention spans are short and police hunts are live entertainment.

Poetic, dazzling and shocking: Ray Bradbury's vision of the future has become terrifyingly familiar.

Abridged by Sara Davies and read by Alex Jennings.
Music: 'Stitch' from the album Bella by PT-1, on Bandcamp.

Part of BBC Radio 4's 'Dangerous Visions' season. Show less