“We're having some rough waters, no need to worry,” said the captain trying to relax the passengers, but I knew the real problem. The powers of the Bermuda Triangle were awakening on us. Its angry waves were only results of its madness due to our trespassing into its territory. Soon, the ship actually started to sink. In reality, this was a slow and gradual process, but in my mind, it was faster than a cheetah. Above me, on the 5th floor, I heard screaming and shouting. Through my peripheral vision, I saw something that caught my eye. I peered through the window, only to spot something that was seen in the imaginations of the most creative of men; thousands of undead soldiers leaping out of old war ships with swords and guns.

The soldiers were rapidly advancing on the cruise, but this was only a minor problem compared to what I witnessed next. A huge, basilisk-like sea dragon blasted through the water and with its fang-like teeth, it clenched the stern of the ship. In no time at all, the soldiers were already pouring onto the cruise. I quickly took a chair and lifted it to the window and smashed it to shards. I then proceeded to jump out of the window. Falling from that height was very scary, but it was also thrilling to feel the wind rushing against my face. I landed in the frigid water with a loud plop. By then, the cruise was already engulfed by the sea monster. All of the people on the cruise had either stayed on board to welcome the monster's mouth or hurdled out the window just like me. I turned around and witnessed the most amazing sight ever. About 50 fighter planes emerged from the horizon. The unusual thing was that nobody was driving them. The planes bombed the ocean waters, badly injured the sea monster, and then flew off in the mist. Due to its bad wound, the monster fled back into the deep, dark waters of the Atlantic. Most of the soldiers were dead and floating in the water.

WEEAAAW! WEEAAAW! These strange noises were followed by a series of eerie lights. I turned around to find what no man has ever observed; two real life flying saucers! The powers of the Bermuda Triangle were only going to become worse. The spaceships abducted many people. Mass destruction was occurring everywhere, and I had to do something or else I would never live to tell the tale. By now, the only things still in the water were some of the survivors, the UFO's, and a few dozen army men. Quickly, I swam over to one of the dead, floating bodies of an army soldier and took one of his grenades and his grenade launcher. I loaded the grenade into the launcher and fired upward toward the UFO's underside. The grenade went inside and apparently blew up, because all of the passengers in the UFO died.

The UFO fell out of the skies and landed into the water with a crash. I commanded everyone to the ship. Everyone swam over to the great space vehicle. I climbed aboard and found three-horned alien bodies scattered on the floor. I threw them all out and told every one to take over one part of the ship. I, of course, was captain. I took control of the UFO's command system. I pressed a button that I could not read due to the foreign message encrypted below it. The UFO blasted with life and started to hum. It slowly rose toward the sky. Once we were a hundred meters above the water, I slammed the directional controls forward. The UFO speed meter was already at 1, meaning that the craft was traveling at one light-year per second. Yes, I know at that speed we circled Earth a dozen times (really, I got tired of seeing the Eiffel Tower a dozen times).

Finally, we landed somewhere on the east coast of Florida. The crew all thanked me (except for one lady who smothered me in hugs and kisses). Well, that was one heck of an exciting day. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, both of my parents made it through the journey. It turns out that on the UFO, they were just lost in the dissection lab. But, they found their way out once we landed. Well, now I can say that was on heck of a day! I wonder what the next trip on a cruise will be like.

Understandably, Bradbury could not have known what a great book he was writing at the time. The purpose of this book was to teach people to leave the television and the families' people had created on the screens and go back to reading classic literature. As he says “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them”. He also said that television is a thoughtless activity and as every one of those quarter second clips goes by on the screen we forget to think, all the fast pictures going by makes us think we're thinking. Books are not the opposite of televisions as they do not teach us how to think, but they are the catalyst for individually developing our minds in a good way. The main character Guy Montag brings up a story from his youth about how his older roguish cousin paid him to fill a sieve with sand at the beach. He continually tries and tries to fill it up, but the sand always sifts through. This is how books work with our minds, they never stick around for too long, but you have to keep trying because putting something worthwhile into your brain continuously is better than nothing at all. If no one ever put any literature, books, or truth into their minds, the world would turn into an awful place.

My version of what the word dystopian means is that the world has come out the opposite of what we wanted it to be like. I know that's kind of a crude description, but I've grown a love of dystopian style art. Movies like Idiocracy, Pleasantville, and Brazil show artist renderings of what they think the world will be like as we continue on our current course of action. Books like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and Brave New World have much in common with the movies I mentioned earlier, but the one central idea that all anti-utopian media outlets possess is that mankind has become a wasteland of human thought.

The big difference that gives Fahrenheit 451 the edge over all the others of its genre is that it gives a logical and feasible reason to the breakdown of the mind, the choice to quit reading. Is today the same as Bradbury's depiction of the future? No, we aren't even close, colleges are still teaching liberal arts to young minds, English classes can still give reading assignments, and bookstores are still legal. Are we heading down the same path as the book? My unfortunate instinctual answer is yes, websites like Wikipedia, Sparknotes and Cliffnotes.com are shortening books so that whole works of literature can be read in under an hour. Movies like The Bourne Ultimatum, Moulin Rouge, and Sin City give us no time to stop and think about what's going on while we watch them. And I've heard too many of my friends say they only read when they have to.

To conclude, reading is a blessing of the people that writers give to us. Although our fast-paced lifestyle is fun and a part of our culture, I think that we need to begin reading more to add texture to our lives. As Professor Faber says “Do you know why books such as this are so important? Because they have quality.” And what does the word quality mean? To me it means texture. This book has pores.” (Faber, 83) If we could add texture to our lives and still appreciate roller coasters, violent video games, and high-speed action movies, I think the world would be a better place. That would define the paradise of having your cake and eating it too.