Ray Bradbury Turns 88 194
Lawrence Person writes "Legendary science fiction writer Ray Bradbury turned 88 years old on August 22. Happy Birthday Ray! 'The Illustrated Man' was one of the first science fiction books I ever read, and I've been hooked ever since. I'm sure that's true of a lot of science fiction writers and readers, be it that, or 'The Martian Chronicles,' or 'Fahrenheit 451.' There are also several videos of Ray on that page, including one where he doesn't endorse Sunsweet Prunes." I remember when another student on the bus loaned me "Fahrenheit 451," and my middle-school English teacher Mrs. Young was smart enough to include "All Summer in a Day" in her curriculum.
Re:"Slow News Day" tag? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, it should, considering he is one of the most influential SF writers to date. Slashdot loves scifi, so, we love to hear about this stuff.
There's a reason why Foundation and Dune come up a lot.
Re:"Slow News Day" tag? (Score:3, Insightful)
When the writer is Ray Bradbury, yes, it should.
And isn't 88 a special age for hobbits, or something?
Re:"Slow News Day" tag? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you can find me one geek who doesn't list an SF writer as a major influence in their interest in technology, then I'll agree with you.
I have my doubts that you would succeed though. For me it was Douglas Adams.
Re:"Slow News Day" tag? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The Pedestrian (Score:5, Insightful)
The British and Australian MPs, on the other hand, appear to be using them as a policy guide. We're not too far behind.
Middle School Sci-Fi (Score:4, Insightful)
By some chance both All Summer in a Day and Sound of Thunder were in my 7th grade lit book, better than the crap my kids are assigned to read.
Re:"Slow News Day" tag? (Score:1, Insightful)
Those are not geeks.
Re:The Pedestrian (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, in high school we read Animal Farm and 1984, and my middle school's library got kids to read Fahrenheit 451.
Maybe not the norm, but nice anyway. I sped-read through Brave New World. Didn't like it as much.
In one of my high school English classes, we actually discussed how one goes about creating a closed society. Relating it to the reading that we were doing (either 1984 or Animal Farm) gave a whole new dimension to the novel.
Re:The Pedestrian (Score:3, Insightful)
He's the giant... (Score:3, Insightful)
Modern SF Writers all stand on his shoulders when they write.
Re:I remember when Ray Bradbury defended Bob Packw (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:The Pedestrian (Score:5, Insightful)
Both are, in fact, commonly found in high school curricula - no reason to get all melodramatic (it takes more than a couple of books, no matter how poignant, to trouble those who "want to hang on to their power").
Re:"Slow News Day" tag? (Score:3, Insightful)
Strange you do not associate scifi writers with the films that you enjoy. Do you realise there are many films where the book came first? Ray Bradbury in particular has been the source of many stories that have been adapted for the screen.
cutting for film loses depth and plot and takes away your part in a story, yes your imagination has an important part to play when reading a book.
unfortunately your settling for mcdonalds instead of visiting a real restaurant.
Hobbits (Score:2, Insightful)
And isn't 88 a special age for hobbits, or something?
You are thinking of "eleventy-one."
Re:The Pedestrian (Score:1, Insightful)
Of course, Farenheit 451 is also a great story about oppression by government. Not quite as biting and frightening as 1984, but it's up there. You can't control books the way you can televisions. You can't retroactively erase their content to suit your current propaganda or to eliminate inspiring ideas. Of course, more useful then the books themselves was the knowledge of who was harboring books, so you would know who rejected society's mandates and thus who must be destroyed.
What I found particularly interesting was how apolitically Bradbury portrayed this oppression. He recognized that you don't have to be a far-right-wing book-burning Nazi fascist to fit the mold of 451 - you could just as easily be a member of the far-left-wing political correctness police.
Re:"Slow News Day" tag? (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think anyone questions his credentials, but I think it does make for a slow news day to point out his 88th birthday. Is this an annual announcement that is made here? Were there front page stories for his 73rd, 68th, or what about 86th?
For what it is worth, it also was the 91st birthday of John Lee Hooker, the 69th birthday of Carl Yastrzemski, and the 146th birthday of Claude Debussy. If you want to argue that these people don't fit in with the slashdot crowd (and before you do, don't forget that baseball nerds and geeks by far predate computer geeks), shouldn't we have mentioned that the 11th was Steve Wozniak's 58th birthday, the 7th was James Randi's 80th birthday (good lord, I didn't know he was that old, but at least that is one of those decadal numbers people get all worked up about), the 5th was Neil Armstrong's 78th, and the 19th would have been Gene Roddenberry's 87th birthday.
Unless there is some significance to this particular birthday, I would have to agree with the GP that it must be a slow news day for this to make the front page.
Happy birthday! (and thank you...) (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Middle School Sci-Fi (Score:3, Insightful)
I see SF as a story where the world, and behaviour, has changed as a result of some technical progress, whether or not that technology is explained. Bradbury, to his credit, did have the world changed because of technology, and didn't explain it at all -- just the effect. This was not Doc Smith's footnotes on corpuscular drive and space suits of phenoline and bakelite. Both had their place.
Re:I remember when Ray Bradbury defended Bob Packw (Score:0, Insightful)
believe it or not, that doesn't make such behavior any less wrong
Re:"Slow News Day" tag? (Score:3, Insightful)
I have to agree with the grandparent post. Sure, Ray Bradbury is important in the sci-fi world. But is he anymore important than say Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison?
Yes.
The people who shape others thoughts by means of art, culture, analogy and metaphor are and always will be revered. The people who contribute to the economy today are merely remembered, not revered. There is a very good reason for this.
Re:"Slow News Day" tag? (Score:3, Insightful)
If you're going to make an exhaustive list of the origins of SF you should include HG Wells and Jules Verne.