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Nothing like a Ray Bradbury re-read to remind one that these unprecedented times people keep talking about? They might actually be a little precedented. His 1953 novel – this week’s discussion topic at Austin Public Library’s Milwood branch book club – turns up the temperature on anti-intellectual discourse as it imagines a world where all books have been outlawed. “Firemen” are tasked with burning the dangerous paperbacks, which is what we find lead character Guy Montag doing as he becomes curious about why exactly literature needs to be lit up. State control of media presented as moral protection for an infantile populace? Gosh, wish there was a very relevant parallel to this book’s themes happening right now in our own state… – James Scott