To understand the point of Fahrenheit 451, it might be useful to look at an interview with its author, Ray Bradbury. In this interview from 2005, Bradbury mentions that when he was 15 years old, Adolf Hitler burned a number of books in Berlin. This had a profound effect on him, as he explained,
If it could happen in Berlin, maybe it could happen somewhere up ahead, and my heroes would be killed.
As you see from the interview, Bradbury was a self-educated person who relied heavily on local libraries. Seeing how easy it was for Hitler to censor Germany made him realize book-burning posed a very real threat to the modern world. In writing Fahrenheit 451, then, Bradbury encouraged people never to turn their backs on books. He wanted them to value free speech and protect learning, both as an institution and a personal journey. Above all, he wanted readers to see how quickly a society deteriorates and how miserable people become when books and learning are taken away.
You can read the interview in full using the second reference link provided.
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