Wilcox, Santa Clara County's superintendent of schools, paid a visit to the Los Gatos­Saratoga Joint Union High School District board meeting on Jan. 20 to endorse the 2004 Silicon Valley Reads Program. This year's book selection is Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and she suggested the book be read by Los Gatos and Saratoga community members, students, teachers, administrators and anyone else who is interested.

This classic novel, published in 1953, is set in the future when books forbidden by a totalitarian regime are burned. The hero, a fireman named Guy Montag—also a book burner—suddenly discovers that books represent flesh and blood ideas that silently cry out when incinerated. The number "451" is represented on firemen's uniforms because it's the temperature at which books burn.

"The relevance of the story itself is very pertinent today," Wilcox said, adding the book powerfully relates to the U.S. and other countries in dispute. "It's a book that very seriously questions our role and the government's role in creating our futures."

Wilcox said the reading program, started in Seattle, proposes the community read this book during February. Then, people are encouraged to talk about the book and its ideas and themes in depth.

For more information and a complete calendar of events, visit http://www.siliconvalleyreads.org.