The Martian Chronicles is a collection of short stories that document the colonization of Mars by settlers from the USA.

All readers from 13 and up.

I liked the descriptions of Mars and the way Ray Bradbury wrote the book. The collection of short stories makes a lot of sense as it enables him to show the progress of the story over time using new characters for all stories. Only some characters get to have a second appearance toward the end, and that works out well.

I didn't like the fact that the original inhabitants of Mars all die due to the invasion. But that's how it was for the native Americans too when the settlers came from Europe.

Read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I also want to read the short stories to my children. They are a bit young for the book, but I'm thinking by reading it to them, I can have discussions about the content with them.

The book made me feel how important it is to raise the next generation to have critical thinking above rote knowledge. Being able to analyze a situation is worth more than knowing all prime numbers by heart. Although that would be neat too - in a redundant way.

Ray Bradbury died in 2012. When I found that out, it made me sad that I didn't read his books sooner.

It is relevant to this time in history, just as it was relevant in 1945 when it was written.

There is really no reason not to read the book.

I noticed how Ray Bradbury, in all his sociological commentary, was a man of his time. In his book, the men are the makers and the women are the cleaners and cooks. There is not a single woman in the book who gets to "do" something beyond swooning, cooking, cleaning, or being present. Aside from that, he was way ahead of his time. He was a brilliant visionary who achieved to describe the 21st Century over 50 years early and actually hit it pretty close. Minus the Mars landings.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of The Martian Chronicles   from Amazon.Com!

Created Sep 03, 2013 at 1:41am • Submit your own review...