Back in July of this year, I listened to two Ray Bradbury novels. Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. Most of the books I listen to and read are non-fiction, but I do like to take a break and listen to something more relaxing and entertaining at times. Especially science fiction and many of the classics that I have missed over the years. So far it’s been very rewarding.
The writing and story of Fahrenheit 451 were really enjoyable, and the narration was excellent. The main character Guy Montag is a fireman, not tasked with saving people's homes, but instead with burning all books, which in this dystopian future are banned. Eventually, his world opens up and he starts to question his actions, his society, and the value of the knowledge he’s destroying.
When I am listening to books, if a phrase resonates with me, I will bookmark it and then later transcribe it into a document on my computer. The idea for this habit came from a few places. One is my desire to retain as much that is relevant to my life as possible and not just read or listen and forget everything. It’s interesting to me that I’m talking about trying to save this information from books, when at the end of Fahrenheit that is the overriding goal of the survivors, to remember literature.
Author Ryan Holiday is a big proponent of something called the commonplace book. He describes it as a “central resource or depository for ideas, quotes, anecdotes, observations, and information you come across during your life and didactic pursuits. The purpose of the book is to record and organize these gems for later use in your life, in your business, in your writing, speaking, or whatever it is that you do.” So now I bookmark my books and have started carrying around a pen and field notes memo book in my back pocket to make sure I remember and record all of my ideas and observations. I always think I will remember but I don’t. My phone would work but that’s not as fun. The trick is then coalescing all of those notes and ideas into something greater.
So let me share with you the quotes out of Fahrenheit 451 that I saved and why. All of them happen at the end of the book. The first one mainly because of my strong desire to buy land and live in the woods, much closer to nature than I ever have been. 24-7 forest bathing. This comes after Guy escapes the city into the country, maybe for the first time.
“The more he breathed the land in, the more he was filled up with all the details of the land. He was not empty, there was more than enough here to fill him, there would always be more than enough.”
These last two quotes are somewhat related in my mind. The ideas of living a full life with gratitude, making a positive difference, legacy, being the change you want to see, and your life contributing to a better world.
“Stuff your eyes with wonder. Live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories”
“He shaped the world. He did things to the world. The world was bankrupted by ten million fine actions the night he passed on.”
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