I was first introduced to the works of the late Ray Bradbury in 6th grade. I was 12. At the time, his collection of short stories titled The Illustrated Man were interesting side-notes to a class otherwise dominated by Jack London, Agatha Christie, and some random story about a high school baseball star raping a girl. I don't remember what that book was called, and I don't remember who the killer was on the Orient Express, but its amazing how those fantastic Bradbury stories of fantasy and future have stayed with me. Underneath the sci-fi themes were often lessons about the dangers of human nature, making the stories timeless, wherever the future takes us. That was Ray Bradbury's gift to the world. In a time of rapidly evolving technology, the horizons of human potential bursting at the seams, Bradbury had the courage to look ahead and imagine, and what he saw wasn't always pretty. Stories like The Veldt, Marionettes, Inc., and The City in particular warn against the improper use of technology, a subject that becomes more relevant every day. One of the most published science fiction stories of all time, A Sound of Thunder, echo's this tune.
Of course, Bradbury is probably best remembered for his dystopian masterpiece Fahrenheit 451, named for the temperature at which paper will burst into flame. An oft misunderstood novel, its real purpose was to demonstrate the dangers of looking at snippets of information without context, a problem that plagues us in today's world of mass social media. I think it could be easily argued that Bradbury's works are more relevant today than they ever have been
Bradbury said not long ago that he wanted to be buried on Mars in a Campbell's Soup can. Somebody should make that happen.
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