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The Martian Chronicles

Ray Bradbury

Why we're reading this: #27 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#17 on L…more
[close] #27 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#17 on Locus Magazines Best SciFi novels of the 20th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

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Jan 25, 2011 Gaijinmama rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

Whether you read SF or not, Ray Bradbury writes beautifully. His style is dreamy and lyrical, satirical and funny, and at times creepy as hell.
This book is interconnected short stories, rather than a novel in the traditional sense. It describes the imagined human colonization of Mars. Some parts are extremely dated: all the men smoke cigars and shoot things; the women bake gingerbread. I guess cell phones and YouTube were beyond the realm of
possibility in 1950, too; Bradbury had people still usi ...more

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Aug 11, 2009 Michael rated it liked it

Shelves: audio-book, read-in-2009, science-fiction

It's an odd sensation to be living in and after "the future" predicted by Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury and to look at how right and wrong they were in their predictions.

One thing both got very, very wrong was how far we would explore our solar system from the time their books were written until we began living in the future. Both authors predicted we'd be out, exploring the great reaches of space and colonizing Mars. Unfortunately, the space race dwindled and while we're still exploring, it It's an odd sensation to be living in and after "the future" predicted by Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury and to look at how right and wrong they were in their predictions.

One thing both got very, very wrong was how far we would explore our solar system from the time their books were written until we began living in the future. Both authors predicted we'd be out, exploring the great reaches of space and colonizing Mars. Unfortunately, the space race dwindled and while we're still exploring, it's not with the same enthusiasm and wonder clearly on display in "2001" or "The Martians Chronicles."

That said, I'm thankful we haven't experienced World War III as Bradbury predicted in this book. But according to the time frame he predicted, we still have time. (That's one prediction I'd prefer we avoid).

However, that doesn't mean both authors make a lot of other bold predictions that have since come to pass. One story, clearly a precursor to "Fahrenheit 451" finds a rebellious man recreating the House of Usher on Mars after books and movies that were deemed too scary were banned on Earth in the 1970s and then burned. Anything deemed too frightening for small children or that might spark too much imagination is gone, leaving one man to rebel by building a house and replacing certain powerful figures with robots. Bradbury predicts the coming of political correctness, where things have to be toned done so much for the children and we can't ever have anything to scare them or hurt their fragile feelings. In many ways, you can see this as a precursor to having teams where we don't keep score and the efforts we make to shield kids today from anything that might cause an accidental injury.

Bradbury also shows a bit of foresight with the environmental movement in several of the stories here.

Again, it's interesting to compare dates of the stories and look around at what is happening and where we may be headed. Bradbury missed the broad strokes, but he got some of the details right.

Reading the stories, I found myself questioning if we'd have the gumption to go to Mars as many times as the early explorers in this book do. There are several expeditions that don't return (we find out why) and yet Earth keeps sending rockets. I found myself wondering if we'd have sent the third and fourth missions at all or sent human crews if the first two stopped responding or never returned. At least in the current day and age.

And while it's considered one of the giants of the sci-fi world, I have to admit when it comes to Bradbury, I enjoy "Something Wicked" or the previously mentioned "451" more than this. Bradbury's work here is solid and interesting, but the most interesting part is seeing seeds of other works by the author littered here.
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Aug 13, 2016 Jim rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 1audio, 2fiction, 1paper, 3classics, scifi

I read the paperback version at least once fully & bits of it more times over the years, so I added it to my books when I joined GR. It had been too long to give it a review, though. Recently I listened to it as an audio book. I reviewed it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Merged review:

This is an mp3 made of a cassette version of the audio book narrated by Peter Marinker who did a fabulous job. I highly recommend listening to it rather than just a dry read. Bradbury works better for ...more

14 likes · Like · see review