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Welcome back to the book club. I'm Michael Knowles. The book this month is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and I'm very pleased to say that my guest is a man who may have written more books than he has read, but he has read this book. That would be the one and only Adam Carolla. Adam, thank you for coming on the show. It's a pleasure to be here. I want you to know this is a tall order for me because of my disability. But so what you asked me to do, which is read a book and then come here and talk about it, is like saying to a fat guy, "We're playing softball." And he got He has all those thoughts rush to his mind about being picked last in junior high and being made fun of and running the wrong way to third base after
bunting, you know. So I was immediately struck by a lot of insecurities. When I was like 30, someone just went, "You need to be tested for dyslexia." And I'm like, "I don't know how to read cuz I know read, but I don't think I have a disease." And they're like, "You've got to get tested." And I got tested and they were like, "You don't have dyslexia." And I was disappointed because I wanted a title to hang on my disability. And yet it was because you know what's left? You're dumb. That's all that's left. You just can't read. Yes, you just Yes. diagnosed you, sir. You can't read. Yes. So but because I didn't learn to read growing up and I didn't I stayed away from it my whole life. I just hid from it.
Your real disability was that you went to public school in Southern California. No, my real disability is I went to a hippie school in Southern California, sort of Billy Jack days, like early 70s, where there was no fundamentals of reading or any of any language skills, we threw dirt clouds and made stuff out of clay, and then at some point I got dropped off into the LA Unified School District in the fifth grade, but by then I didn't know how to read at all. I didn't have any of the foundational building blocks of reading, and now I was in public school, and I just pretended I knew how to read, but I didn't. And because LA Unified was sort of they we had they had sort of a tacit agreement with the students like we
won't ask, you won't tell. It's like whatever gay guys had in the military in the '80s, you know what I mean? Like don't ask, don't tell. Like you can't read, fine. Don't talk to us, we won't talk to you, and we'll just sort of warehouse you, push you through to the next level, and we'll get paid. So I was able to sort of make it all the way through, and then at some point I got into radio, and they would hand you a script, you know, the dude it's a live read or whatever. Or I got into TV, and they'd go it's all on the prompter, it's all on the prompter. Don't worry about it, we got it on the prompter. Don't worry about it. I'm not going to be able to get through this thing. And so I got
thrust back into having to learn how to read. So you are not only an enjoyer of this book, you are in some ways kind of the subject cuz the book is about a society that doesn't have books anymore. Right. And that burns books actually. I call it Utopia. I'd like to be the mayor of that society. Really, yeah. I would preside over every bonfire. of the firemen over here. I Do you Usually on the show we do a 1-minute summary from the guest. Well, let's see. 1953, uh I think that's when Ray wrote it. Um, it's got the dystopian thing, you know, we've we've seen that theme a few times. Um, it's a future I don't it's unclear what year it is. It's just the future. It has lots of
though it's kind of interesting which is like the book, he wrote it in 1953. So, there's like even though it's the future, there's a lot of 1953 in it. It I mean, in the sense that like if you watch cowboy movies from the '50s, the guys had pomade in their hair, you know, and it's like I don't think old-timey guys in like 1851 had Elvis's hair. So, like it does feel kind of '50s in it, but also I think futuristic. Putatively, the date I could be confusing this with another dystopian novel I was just reading, but I think it's like 2021 or 2022. I think it's somewhere around our own time. Uh, which didn't it didn't totally uh didn't totally turn out that way. Though,
uh you know, you kind of make the point, we don't really read anymore. And so, the I guess the short version of the summary is there's this guy, his name's Guy Montag. Yes. And he's a fireman. But not a fireman. But he's not This is the big hook. You read the opening pages, you say, "Oh, he's a fireman." But then, Right. what he really he goes to people's houses to set fires to their books. Yeah. And so, he's got this horrible wife Mildred who's completely frivolous and just watches TV all day. They have no kids, they have no family. It's just they have an imaginary family on the screens. Uh, they really interesting moment, they have these little
seashells, which are just AirPods. So, he does predict AirPods. Yeah, that's predict AirPods. constant blaring music. And uh, eventually though, they the firemen get dragged out on a call, and they light a woman's library on fire, and she sets herself on fire with it. But, I also thought his writing it was so granular and so specific I don't want to say unnecessary, but like every detail was woven in to the text, and I was kind of thinking about it as a guy who writes comedy books, you're sort of being specific, but you're sort of getting to the joke, or you're wanting
to kind of get to the joke all the time. And his descript like he in this book, you couldn't just shake a guy's hand. His hand had to be weathered and cold as if he'd been on a ranch his whole life. It's like, I just shake the guy's hand and move on to the next thought, would you, please? Would it be two paragraphs on this guy's hand? I share some of your criticism about this cuz this is one of these books that you're supposed to read in ninth grade. I didn't. This is the first time I was reading It'd be hard to stay with in the ninth grade.
Well, you know, I was mentioning to a buddy I said, "We're doing Fahrenheit 451 on the show this week." He's very smart, very educated. And he said, "You know, I don't think it's a great book." I said, "Well, thanks for it. That's great." And I got this is my first week ahead of me. And so, in the story, he meets a young girl, Clarisse, and she kind of shakes him out of his rut, makes him a little more self-conscious, and he, you know, be begins to question his life. His wife is basically, uh, zonked out. She's, you know, suicidal, but she's on happy pills all the time, and, you know, By the way, the wife's name, someone will look it up.
Mildred. Okay. If you're making a movie, if you're writing a book about the future, don't give the guy's wife a name from 1877. You know what I mean? Like there's nobody named Mildred. Anyone know anyone named Mildred under the age of 90? Answer, no. Mildred is not a futuristic name. That's one of my critiques of the book. The other Mildred. The other So, to fast-forward to the end, eventually he turns against the this totalitarian government and he is saving books and he finds an old professor in poverty and he says they're going to print books and he says, "Oh, there's
some old academics down the river. You just got to run away." He mounts this amazing escape. He kills the bad guy, his fire chief Beatty, and he makes it down there and the old, you know, a war sets off, the bomb destroys the whole civilization. They have to figure out how to rebuild. Okay. My chief criticism is not just Mildred and it's not just the weathered handshake. It's that this to me it's kind of a liberal fantasy, lowercase L. This was a screed against McCarthy, Joseph McCarthy, the House Committee on Un-American Activities. It's kind of like a lib book.
Yeah. Well, the thing about McCarthyism, which is and no one really brings up is communism is bad and gets a lot of people killed and we don't want that here or maybe New York wants it, but we as a nation I don't usually reject communism. And McCarthyism was in a reaction to communism, which is horrible in the middle of the Cold War in Russia. I think we, you know, I think we understand how that turned out and how Russia and I No one's a big fan of Russia and there were people here that were trying to export that here. So, somebody went, "I We should figure who these went, I we should figure who these people are and stop this. And then we look at it and everyone in Hollywood looks at it as like, oh dear lord. But
by the way, these same people are like, unless you get vaccinated for COVID, we'd like you out on the street, we'd like your business closed down. And if you wander onto the beach during lockdowns, we'd like you arrested. Like Yeah. Okay, well that didn't exist, but communism did exist and was evil. Yes. So, why are you constantly waving that in front of our face? McCarthyism, it was a an overreaction to an evil, but it's based on something. I love Adam. I love so much that the this is like the most contrarian opinion on Fahrenheit 451. And I thought, ah man, I hope this isn't going to be too far away. I love that you're on the same page with this. It's it's kind of Let's burn that page we're on.
Whatever page we're on. Light it up. Someone get me a Cuban. And I'm not talking about a cigar. I want a Cuban national right here. Uh look, I totally agree with all that. Uh however, there is a an interesting observation you make that I think is totally salient about human nature. Namely, he says, you know, this totalitarian state. This is Beatty, the fire chief, explaining to the protagonist, Montag.
Says, you think it's this totalitarian state went around took everyone's books, set people on fire, all the rest. That's not really how it went down. The way it went down after the Civil War and you know, the parties gaining all this power, people kind of gave up their books on their own. We didn't we the totalitarian government didn't actually have to rob the people. They gave it up themselves because they wanted to be frivolous and trivial and not think about anything serious. Right. Yeah, no, we're well, I back to COVID, I learned that we will do the bidding of the government. Like they don't They don't have enough The government
the city and whomever, local law enforcement, whatever. They don't have enough to enforce whatever it is they want to enforce if we don't self-enforce, you know what I mean? So when the government says we're locking down or whatever, if they say, "Look, we're locking the beaches down during COVID." If everyone just goes to the beach, then they stand back and watch. Yes. But if I go to the beach and some Karen is yelling at me when I'm getting out of my car, then we're self-policing Yes. this stuff, which we will easily do, which I didn't know because it's so un-American. I didn't know how easily we'd slide into that and how many people would support that. And I learned it during COVID. I was like, "Oh my god, what happened?"
It was very dystopian in many ways. And even the end of the book is a dramatization of what you're describing about, you know, look, if we all just go on the beach, they can't actually stop us because the protagonist, Montag, he does get away. They've got these steam-powered dog, you know, chasing him down, this super scent-powered or scent-driven dog that should be able to get him anywhere. Well, he outfoxes him. His human ingenuity actually outfoxes even the great machine and the totalitarian government. And what does the government do?
The government, once they lose him, the government pretends and broadcasts as if they caught him. And they pin it on some innocent guy, they frame him, they get their image on TV, they placate the public, the state wins in the end. And to your other point, they let him get away. And they let him be with all the other weirdos who like the books, who just aren't a real threat to the state. It's not ideal, but you know, they memorize the books, they keep them in their heads, and the state goes on and carries on. I That rang very true. Yeah, it's also thinking his name was Guy. And I wonder if they named him I wonder if Ray Bradbury named him Guy cuz he just meant guy. Like just a guy. Like all guys. Like what he was trying to capture.
Cuz Mildred that's a name. You know, but he didn't name him Steve or Bob, he named him Guy. And maybe he used that as a sort of universal "Hey guy." Well, there are great allusions uh throughout the you know, his name Mont- I read his name Montag as referring to Montague like uh in Romeo and Juliet. Um and then there's uh Dover Beach by uh Matthew Arnold, a great this they just print part of the poem, a beautiful poem about the sea of faith, you know, receding. And so it's One thing I really liked about the book is it you get to live the experience that of this society in as much as you look around and you say, "Oh,
you know, I actually haven't read that Matthew Arnold poem. I actually don't know the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay or William Faulkner or Walt Whitman. Blessed are you if you don't know the poetry of Walt Whitman." And you know, all of these allusions at one point the big enforcer, the fire chief, uh he outsmarts the our poor protagonist. And he says, "You know, a little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep or never taste the Pierian spring." Very famous line. And he's really using it on me. He says, "You've read a few books and it's driven you completely insane. You used to be complacent and maybe not really happy,
but at least complacent. And now that you're reading books, you're you're having thoughts, you're having disagreements." There's a big blow-up where the husband just thinks that his wife's friends are so frivolous and ridiculous. Then he just starts screaming at them. Some men might resonate with this situation. Uh you know, and he says, "Well, you know, what's it all for?" You know, why and that was obviously the argument of the totalitarian states that who needs the strife? Who needs this worry? Just sit, drive fast, let the pretty pictures on the wall lull you, take some drugs, and you'll be just fine. Uh it you can see the works of art, you know, the texts being used to undermine the reading of texts. And you do get a little bit
lost. You get the professor guy's in Montag's ear. He's saying, "Don't let him fool you. Don't let him trick Don't you let him use his Jedi mind tricks on you, you know." Uh But the book it's supposed to be this clear morality tale written by a left-winger against McCarthy or something. But it's a little more ambiguous than that. Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting a lot of studies and messages, especially like in creative endeavors, but mostly in movies, I've noticed they have a like a theme and the theme is supposed to be one thing, but to me a lot of it is they
hurt their own point with lots of other messages and I'll I'll explain cuz I know that's muddy, but um my synopsis of our society is it started falling apart about the time the movie Little Miss Sunshine came out. And Little Miss Sunshine was a darling of the industry. It was like they loved it and it got nominated for everything and they looked at it as a great film and a great message. But if you look at Little Miss Sunshine the you got a grandpa who's a junkie essentially pervert junkie Yeah. that. been thrown out of retirement homes for molesting elderly women, essentially, who's teaching his chubby 9-year-old granddaughter to just shake her ass like a basically. And so, she has no skill set. She's going to a competition where people play
the piano and spin a baton, and she just like does like Chris Farley dancing, you know what I mean? So, she has no skill set because she hasn't practiced. She hasn't done it. And we're supposed to be rooting for her over the one who plays Beethoven on a harp. You know what I mean? Who's practiced since she was three. So, I What That Okay, that's one message. The other one So, the protagonist is a junkie perverted grandfather. Like, he's literally doing rails in the bathroom of the hotel while she's practicing her dance in the next room, and is a pervert. Okay, that's him. Then you got Steve Carell's character, who is a gay professor who tried to commit suicide because his partner dumped him for a younger dude. And then you got sort of the
free to be you and me mom, who's always defending them. And then you have Greg Kinnear's character. Yeah. Greg Kinnear's character is the heel of the movie, but he's just the dad who's working real hard trying to keep the whole thing together. Yeah. And he's the actually, he's the heel in the movie, but he's the only one who has it together. He's the one who pays taxes. He's the one who keeps the lights on at the house. Gas in the car. Right. And he's saying at the beginning the eight or nine-year-old daughter is saying to the gay character, "Why are you wearing gauze on your wrist?" cuz he tried to commit suicide.
Oh, by the way, Steve Carell's character wears gauze on each wrist and then wears a long-sleeve shirt and rolls the sleeves up and then tries to hide his wrist. Okay, just pull the stupid sleeve down and then no one would ask you about the gauze on your wrist, but okay. So, he is at the table and Olive, the daughter, saying, "What happened here, wrist?" And the dad, the heel, Yeah. is saying, "No, no, no. Not at the table." Like I don't want to hear about the gay guy tried to kill himself with an 8-year-old. Like he does not suitable for that. And everyone is looking at him going, "What? The truth is for all." You know, and he's going, "No, I don't think it's appropriate that we talk about this." Okay, later on, Yeah.
about middle act three, they're at the diner and they're eating breakfast and she orders ice cream for breakfast and he goes, "Olive, look, if you're going to a beauty pageant where people are in their, you know, in their bathing suits, you don't want to eat ice cream for And they're all looking at him going, "What are you talking about?" And he goes, "I'm just telling her the truth." And now they're all pissed off. So, gay guy coming out with the suicide, that's appropriate for the table. Truth about nutrition on the way to a bikini competition for a fat kid, not. He's the heel, but he's really dying America. He's dad saying, "Hey daughter, don't eat this stuff and hate crazies.
This is not how we do it." Keep it to yourself. And he is the butt of the joke and so, the filmmakers are trying to make this point where it's like, "Isn't he the idiot?" Yeah. And the answer is no, he's the only sane one. And by the way, if the country was inhabited by these people, we'd have no country. Yeah. Yeah, and it is currently inhabited by all those people. sometimes they try to make a point and they make the opposite Yes. point.
Yeah. I was still wondering how that was going to come back. Yes, no, you That's That's right. John Cusack's 2012 I can do as well. Cuz they built arks for the end of the world. See that one? Yeah, no, I didn't actually. I Here's our point. The end of the world was coming. Yeah. And uh Cusack was a divorced dad and uh the flooding was going to come and just take over the Earth. And so up in the Himalayas or something they had these giant modern arks. And all the rich people who paid for the arks
at some point their beepers started going off going, "Oh, it's time." And they all started going up to Himalayas and getting on these three giant arks so they could survive the flood. And then, of course, all the poor people started showing up going, "Why aren't we getting on the ark?" And they're making this point and I'm like with the other guys the whole I'm with the evil guy who says keep the poor people off the ark. Because A, they're dumb, we don't want them procreating. And then B, they didn't pay for the ark. These guys paid for the ark. And then C, if they all get on there is no ark. So, Adam watches the movie, says, "Yeah, I keep the poor people off the ark." Absolutely. And then Adam reads Fahrenheit 451 says, "Hey, get me Hand
me one of those flamethrowers. This is a great idea." one of those steam-powered dogs. I definitely want one of the dogs. I Okay, there's one point before we close in this epic book which now I think everyone has to read now. It's It's It's got a lot of verbage in it. Like it is rich. It's rich in old-timey ladies' names for short names. I didn't When I was like, is this how all books are written? Cuz I didn't know there was so much description in every movement, you know. This could be a monologue from the book. This is like when Montag encounters whatever Tennyson or Thoreau or something. He says, "Is this or he's
reading the Bible? Really the Bible is the kind of the main point. It's what the book ends on. He says, you know, "Is this What is this? What am I encountering?" You know, he does he doesn't even know how to make sense of it, which is why he goes to the Professor Faber. But there is this point even as I disagree with sort of the hook of it and the polemical aspect of it. There is this point at the very end. They say, "Yeah, the hoi polloi, they don't want to read. They're frivolous. Maybe there's a way to help them, but it's going to take a while." So, it's it's not a super like democratic message at the end. But there
handful of remnant of people who have the But they don't even have the books, actually, because it's too dangerous to hold on to the books. They're going to get hassled by the cops. So, they get rid of the books. The books are just up here. They say, you know, "This guy's Ecclesiastes and this guy is Hamlet or and they just keep it in And that point I think was really brilliant because there's a monologue in here where I guess it's Faber talking to Montag and he says "You talk about books like they're magical things. They're not. They're just It's paper. It's a technology. You can have really good movies. You can have really good any kind of work of art. Uh What matters though is how it touches you, you know,
how it molds your brain, how it affects how you see the world. And so when the remnant at the end put the books put the works into their bodies so that they can recite them. So, it's really affected them. That's really what it's about. You know, and the whole reason to read like dusty old books is it is not really anything practical. It's might not help you make any more money or anything. It's to make sense of your leisure time, to make your freedom, to just develop your experience of the world and to enrich it and to bring it into three dimensions. And I think he makes that point really beautifully at the end, even if there's this uh ambiguous conclusion, which is, you know, maybe that's not going to be for
everybody. Maybe some of those people are not getting on the ark cuz Adam is kicking them off the ark. I don't think he literally said that, but that's the broad want a coked-up pedophile grandfather on that ark? I know I'm taking two movies and making one out of it, but would you want that guy running around your ark with your daughter? promiscuous child on the No. She was the least talented person in the talent show. She didn't do anything. But we're supposed to celebrate her cuz she's fat and she doesn't know how to dance. That's That was the beginning of the decline of Western civilization.
But despite the decline, everyone should read this book. Yes. Back to the book. 60-second summary. Guy Montag is a fireman. And you think that means he puts out fires. No, no, he sets fires. He lights books on fire because this totalitarian state, ever since the Civil War, has gone around to fireproof the houses. The houses aren't going to burn down, but they got to go in and burn the libraries cuz no one's allowed to read. Everyone just has earbuds in all the time and they're just getting blared with music and violence and sensations and they don't ever cultivate their minds in any way. They don't have opinions about anything.
They do their work. It's unthinking. Eventually, he becomes self-conscious and he seeks out books and he comes to blows with his boss and he uh seeks out a professor to teach him. And he has an a climatic fleeing scene from the totalitarian state and everything goes up in flames. How was that? Excellent summary. Adam, thank you very much for coming on the Book Club. Everyone else, go read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. We'll see you next month on the Book Club. Thank you so much for watching this episode of The Book Club on PragerU. PragerU is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, so we rely on donations from viewers like you to keep this content on the air. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution
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