Fahrenheit 451

Sometimes, oftentimes, I am way behind the curve. Fahrenheit 451 is a book I have been aware of for over 40 years, but never cracked a cover, until recently. A fictional novel researched and written by Ray Bradbury, in the forties, published by Simon & Schuster in 1951.
This is a science fiction story focused on a futuristic society, centrally manipulated by a government which controls the information citizens receive, and destroys the information, namely books, that citizens could use to generate thought. Individualism is denied by removing the triggers that incite creativity.
The central character is a man named Montag, his occupation is firefighter. In this world the people are addicted to television and listen to insipid dialog constantly with earbuds. News is controlled by the government and sprinkled in to television entertainment in bite sized sanity bits. All books other than trade magazine are outlawed and Montag's occupation as a firefighter is different from what we know in that the risk of fire to property is zero, firemen exist to burn books that citizens have hidden away from the government. The people have been lead to be ignorant by a government that needs them to be malleable.
As the protagonist, this fireman is called out with a team to the homes of reported book owners, the books are found and burned, the citizens jailed or exterminated. Montag develops a conscience, in curiosity sneaks away some books for reading, including a Bible, which by this time has become a rare thing. The fire chief discovers Montag's secret obsession and conducts a raid of his home, Montag's wife betrays here husband reveals the library. The books are burned on the front lawn, and in a confrontation, Montag, in defense of himself, burns the fire chief to death. Montag goes on the lam from the government. The government uses television to inform citizens of the fugitive in the city street, whipping up support. The search becomes the biggest thing happening in the city. Montag manages to escape the city and get to the country where he joins up with a group of men who roam the countryside. These men have each memorized particular books, shedding the physical books, they roam the country on defunct railroad tracks, sharing their knowledge with the like-minded and waiting for a revolution and then the next Renaissance. The government, to save face in their failed search, kills another man on television, after intentionally misidentifying him as Montag the fugitive. 
Fahrenheit 451 predicted parts of what we now recognize as common culture, such as, the rejection of great works of literature, supplanting religion, a preoccupation with television, personal ear-to-ear communication, and a deceptive government keeping is people ignorant to make the matter of control simple.

In short I loved the book,Fahrenheit 451, the temperature at which book paper catches fire and burns.