New Special Edition Of ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Must Be Heated To Be Read

The newest edition of the book Fahrenheit 451 is going to be out soon, and ironically, it must be heated up to be read.

For those who haven’t read the book Fahrenheit 451, it’s coming highly recommended.  It tells the story of a dystopian society in which books are outlawed and burned by firemen to prevent citizens from reading them. It follows one fireman’s journey of following orders and questioning authority. Ray Bradbury’s iconic book was originally published in 1953 and will leave a permanent reminder tucked away in the mind as to why free speech should never, under any circumstances, be culled. Simon and Schuster’s website says this is what the book is about:

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden.

Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television “family.” But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television.

When Mildred attempts suicide and Clarisse suddenly disappears, Montag begins to question everything he has ever known. He starts hiding books in his home, and when his pilfering is discovered, the fireman has to run for his life.

Even more amazing, the new special edition of the book coming out soon, and it must be heated up in order to be read.  It’s a truly astonishing feat when thinking about it. The title Fahrenheit 451 actually refers to the temperature at which paper will catch on fire and burn, and if you didn’t know that before, it’s likely seared into your mind now.

According to Gizmodo, Jo Frenken shared this video to Instagram showing a prototype copy of the book, which was developed by the Charles Nypels Lab at the Netherlands-based Jan van Eyck Academie. The research institute is known for its experiments in materials and media. The pages of the book appear completely blacked-out, much like a redacted CIA file, (can anyone say “censorship?”) as you flip through them. But when heat is applied to the pages using the flame from a lighter (in this case) the heat-activated ink disappears and the underlying text is revealed.

This week our colleagues from Super Terrain are working in the Lab as a last stop on their all-over-Europe printing adventures. They showed us this remarkable book they made "Fahrenheit 451". — @superterrain #printingadventures #heatsensitive #fire #experimental #artistsbook #allblack #screenprint

A post shared by Jo Frenken (@charlesnypelslab) on Sep 12, 2017 at 6:27am PDT

Super Terrain has declared that they will apparently be making this unique version of Fahrenheit 451 available for purchase sometime in 2018. But Gizmodo recommends maybe grabbing a hair dryer to read it. An actual open flame is probably a bit too risky.