Ray Bradbury's life and the origins of Fahrenheit 451 open a twenty-one-slide pre-reading deck, followed by the historical fears that shaped the novel: the recent end of World War II, the spread of McCarthyism, and the rapid rise of television ownership in the 1950s. The deck then names the novel's two central themes, censorship and the ignorance of knowledge, and previews four recurring symbols to watch for while reading -- fire, water, the salamander, and the Mechanical Hound. It closes with four essential discussion questions about consumerism, technology, and the role of government, meant to open conversation before students begin the novel itself. Each section is separated by its own title slide, matching the table of contents on slide two.