Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Ray Bradbury Dies

You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.
When all writing is 144 characters long, there won't be anymore books written in a generation or two - who would ever have the attention span left to read one?

Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spent the rest of the day putting the pieces together.

One of my all favorite authors passed away this week. He was Ray Bradbury, the author responsible for hundreds of short stories and dozens of novels, the least which is the classic Farenheit 451.

That novel was one of the first pieces of 'adult speculative figure' I ever read and it set me on a path as a voracious reader and book collector because I hate, hate, hate, the fact that any government can just burn the books they don't like. I always worried that if I someday wrote a book it would be burned too and that infuriated me as a kid - even then I had a high opinion of my writing ability.

If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.

I mentioned before that since I was a kid and teacher, Bradbury was the gold standard when it come either learning or teaching about great story construction and writing. Bradbury had such a fabulous way of making you think and made important and relevant points about the human condition.

We must become astronauts and go out into the universe and discover the God in ourselves.


7 comments:

GoblinTown said...

"Ray Bradbury wrote three great novels and three hundred great stories. One of the latter was called 'A Sound of Thunder.' The sound I hear today is the thunder of a giant's footsteps fading away. But the novels and stories remain, in all their resonance and strange beauty." - Stephen King

While not an avid reader of Ray Bradbury, I have felt his resonance and influence in many of the things I do read and watch.

Always a sad day when a great imagination leaves.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I liked his stories too. A great and inventive mind. RIP Ray Bradbury.

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

This is how I'd best like to remember the late Mr. Bradbury:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X6rE_GmwD80/T8_oJLYjhiI/AAAAAAAAUEc/iiGUne24YZw/s1600/RayBradburyInTimeMachine_100.jpg

Martian Chronicles is probably my favorite of his writings but as an artist the covers for Halloween Tree and Something Wicked had quite an impact.

http://thrdr.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/halloween-tree1.jpg?w=450&h=641

http://www.abc-clio.com/uploadedImages/Content/Book_Companion_Sites/Pages_within_Companion_Sites/Unlocking_the_Mysteries/Something%20Wicked%20This%20Way%20Comes%20cover.jpg

DrGoat said...

He was one of the first authors I ever read way back when. I hurts losing people like him. Makes me feel even more pessimistic than usual.

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

I agree Dr G. Why can't someone we all hate die to just balance out the Universe. Where is that out of control garbage truck hurddling toward Donald Trump when I need it.

Pat Tillett said...

This great and amazing genius changed my life. After I found him in a library as a kid, I was never the same kid again.

Dan said...

The Onion JUNE 6, 2012

Following Ray Bradbury's Death, Thousands Of People Buy Kindle Version Of Book About Demise Of Paper Books