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The Illustrated Man

Ray Bradbury

Start date: December 1, 2025

Finish date: December 31, 2025

Discussion: Science Fiction and Fantasy

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Science Fiction and Fantasy

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Apr 15, 2025 Sara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, short-stories-novellas, borrowed-from-library

What sets Ray Bradbury apart from most other science fiction writers, for me, is his ability to keep so many of his stories centered on being human. The stories are often full of aliens and foreign environments, but the heart is primarily about human problems, thoughts and frailties.

The collection is built around a frame story, The Illustrated Man. This person has illustrations all over his body, and they move and play like they were movies or films. Each illustration becomes a short story, wit What sets Ray Bradbury apart from most other science fiction writers, for me, is his ability to keep so many of his stories centered on being human. The stories are often full of aliens and foreign environments, but the heart is primarily about human problems, thoughts and frailties.

The collection is built around a frame story, The Illustrated Man. This person has illustrations all over his body, and they move and play like they were movies or films. Each illustration becomes a short story, with the prelude and epilogue tying them together.

This collection is a mixed bag, but there are some definite 5-star stories included.

Kaleidoscope - The breakup of a space ship and the men going out into space in separate directions to die. “Did all people feel this way, as if they had never lived? Did life seem that short, indeed, over and done before you took a breath?” “They came to death by separate paths and, in all likelihood, if there were kinds of death, their kinds would be as different as night from day.”

The Other foot - All the blacks have moved to Mars, Earth has destroyed itself, and now what is left of the white population wants to leave an uninhabitable Earth and join the blacks. This story gets at the heart of racial hatred in a way that is ahead of its time.

The Long Rain -This is a story about perseverance and belief. When you give up on what you believe in, you are lost. It is belief that sustains you through the storms of life.

The Rocket Man - This might be about obsession or about not being able to enjoy the life you are leading, the present. When he is in space, he longs for home; when home he longs for space. This was the inspiration for the Elton John song.

The Concrete Mixer - I think what Bradbury was observing here is how we have ruined our own planet and lifestyle with misuse of technology, lack of moral codes, wanton pleasure-seeking, and chasing the all-mighty dollar. That we would do the same to any other planet we touched is not a hard jump.

The Rocket - This is a very sweet story. The father wants to go to Mars, but he only has the money for one family member to go…so, he buys a junk rocket prototype, rigs it up so that it appears to go into space and has a film that makes it look like that is what it does. Then he takes his children to Mars for a week. This is a story about unselfish love and my favorite of all the stories in the book.

Most of the other stories are fun and typical of early science fiction, a little bit Twilight Zone or Outer Limits, although Bradbury’s prescience is sometimes amazing.
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Nov 26, 2018 Sarah rated it liked it

I'm pretty sure I read this years ago, I know I've read a good number of the stories in this collection. Bradbury always feels dated to me; in that 1950's sort of way. The women are never characters, but just props as wives and mothers. While, I don't particularly dislike Bradbury for that -- that was simply the world in which he lived, it does make me wonder if his imagination was really all that special if he couldn't imagine a world where a woman could have a speaking part? He was quite clear ...more

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Oct 10, 2017 Yefim rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, audiobooks, sci-fi, fantasy, classics, short-fiction

My thousandth read book on Goodreads!

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 01, 2011 Jennalyn rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, short-stories, own-physical-copy

Aug 03, 2011 Soledad rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Apr 20, 2012 Tim Callicutt rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction-fantasy

Jul 06, 2013 Kelsey marked it as to-read

Shelves: ztbr-authors, ztbr-sci-fi

Jan 25, 2015 Noah Riggs rated it really liked it

Feb 08, 2015 Brenda H marked it as tbr

Shelves: 1950s-published

Mar 11, 2015 Amy marked it as to-read

Shelves: npr-100-best-sci-fi-and-fantasy, science-fiction

Oct 06, 2015 Anna Kļaviņa marked it as books-books · review of another edition

Jan 18, 2016 Shorty11122 added it · review of another edition

Feb 09, 2018 Janet marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Sep 03, 2018 Sarah marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, added-2018

Oct 03, 2018 Elena marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, short-stories, 1-dec25-books

Feb 10, 2019 Nancy marked it as to-read

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Dec 13, 2019 Rachel marked it as to-read

Dec 22, 2019 Korneel Vanhie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Jul 25, 2023 Seth rated it it was amazing

Jun 23, 2020 Alexandra Madigan marked it as to-read

Jul 05, 2020 Courtney rated it liked it · review of another edition

Nov 23, 2020 Ileana rated it liked it · review of another edition

Feb 20, 2021 Steve Knier rated it it was amazing

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Jul 30, 2022 Antoaneta rated it really liked it

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Dec 05, 2023 Emrys rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, favourites, fiction-fantasy, fiction-science-fiction, literature-rated, zz-fully-tagged-2023, 8, short-stories, n10k, fiction-horror

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