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Summary: "Skin illustrations, the sign of an artist"
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"Eighteen illustrations, eighteen tales." "The illustrations came to life..."
A man is encountered who has skin Illustrations all over his body. Each illustration represents a tale from the future. The illustrations come to life and tell a tale of doom or impending doom. In this way ray Bradbury can tell related but different tales in this book. Its Bradbury's writing style and dialogue that holds you as much as the storyline.
At first they are intriguing and fresh. Later they don't as much repeat but are similar in form and function.
One of the best "The Veldt" is first. Of course everyone will have a different favorite.
I suggest that you make your cats leave the room if you read out loud.
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Summary: For Armchair Explorers
Review: Bradbury reigns as the quintessential craftsman of sci fi literature in the 50's. This anthology represents stories which were published in several periodicals, mostly set in the distant future. The locale ranges from Earth to Mars and Venus, or just anywhere out in space. We witness Invasions from both points of view: Earth being invaded and Earth men as the invaders. He presents different ways Earth men use the planets, as well as the concept of Christianity in alien worlds. Some tales deal with time travel and a few would make wonderful "Twilight Zone" episodes.
The introductory tale, which provides the name for the anthology as a whole, is grimly completed in a brief Epilogue. A traveler in what might be a Depression era encounters a strange man along the dusty road and offers to share his supper with him. He winds up spending the night in the open with this weirdly decorated man, who admits that he is shunned even by carnivals-where freaks are usually welcomed. His entire body is covered with colorful and bizarre tattoos--which he has spent a lifetime trying to remove. What is the curse of these odd illustrations, which cause normal men to send him away or rush off screaming in horror?
This is Vintage Bradbury, who inspired a generation of sci fi writers. His fantastic imagination and knowledge of human behavior combine to produce entertaining trips to realms of fantasy and science fiction. After the odd sightings and rumors regarding Roswell in the late 1940's, America was poised on the frontier of space exploration. Thus Bradbury's anthology and an armchair provided readers with their own rocket ship to the skies. Although these tales precede the term "Astronaut," this author will effortlessly launch you into astral realms of fancy and the inner sanctum of the human soul. Fortunately the innate qualities that make us Human are still present even in the 22nd century.
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Summary: Wonderful....
Review: I think there are two types of people in the world--those who appreciate Ray Bradbury and those who don't.Granted, this is a short story collection, and, as is the case with any collection, some stories will be stronger than others. Every one of these stories is powerful and haunting in its own right, however, and I don't know of one single story that is the 'standout' in this collection... for me, 'The Veldt' is one of the top short stories of the past century--but 'the long rain' and 'fire balloons' are other favorites. others might say that 'kaleidoscope', 'zero hour', 'no paticular night or morning', or 'the last night of the world' are even more thoughtful, haunting or thought-provoking. and they'd be right, too. That's what makes the framing device of the 'illustrated man' and his tattooes so effective in this collection.... the darkness and unreality of these tales, their stylized nature, and yet, the way they stay with you. If someone doesn't like this book, they probably won't like Bradbury. For the rest of us, it's a classic.
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Summary: A True Classic
Review: I was introduced to this book in middle school and have loved it and recommended it to many people since then, mainly because of the rich storytelling and beautifully crafted imagery that only Ray Bradbury could create. Admittedly, it can be just a little confusing in some places, but there are very few classics that can be read in one sitting and completely understood. One of the best stories, and my personal favorite, is "The Veldt" because virtual reality is no longer the sci-fi topic it was when this story was written. This makes the story all the more chilling, especially considering all the time kids spend in front of the computer and tv! All in all, this is one of the best books I have ever read, and I would recommend it to just about anyone over the age of 12 or 13.
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Summary: The Illustated Man
Review: I would NOT at all reccomend this book. Its very hard to follow-for people of all ages!! The main point is-DONT BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!! ITS A WASTE OF YOUR MONEY AND TIME!!!!
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Summary: Beautiful collection of Sci Fi short stories.
Review: Perfect to read right before sleep. Or at an Airport, waiting for your flight. I picked up this edition up at my schools store. It was two weeks later that I finally had the opportunity to read into the prologue. I didn't have much time, but found the reading easy, and loveable. I quickly devored the first short story. That of a holodeck dream room, which aloof children close themselves away in secret from their parents. I must tell you of my day afterwards. I was in class, during an important lecture. I must confess that the story played around in my mind, the descriptions had brought on images;clear and meaningful. After finishing my laborous day, I quickly fell into the pocket sized book, found my dog-eared page and read another short story. And another. Every story left me fascinated, In fact, I finished the book before the night. I remember looking online for all of Ray Bradbury's works. I had fallen in deep interests with the man. He had, in a short interval of roughly twenty pages apeice, puzzled together a fabulous, demensional exhistance of fiction that I had enjoyed, and would continue to enjoy. I've read this book over and over again. I've read it in semenar, I've recommended it to everyone I know. I hope you find this book.-jeff
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Summary: If you don't like Science Fiction......
Review: read this and change your mind. The narrator met a man covered in tattos, tattos that moved to tell stories, eighteen of which are told in this volume. The stories, many of which have been published separately, are:
THE VELDT - overindulgence is bad for both parents and children
KALEIDOSCOPE - doomed astronauts floating in space
THE OTHER FOOT - reverse discrimination with a vengence
THE HIGHWAY - sometimes life passes you by and sometimes it doesn't
THE MAN - is it the journey or the destination that matters?
THE LONG RAIN - sometimes madness is the answer
THE ROCKET MAN - career vs. family
THE FIRE BALLOONS - is religion the answer or the question?
THE LAST NIGHT OF THE WORLD - the end with a whimper not a bang
THE EXILES - do people live for art or does art live for people?
NO PARTICULAR NIGHT OR MORNING - again the answer could be madness
THE FOX AND THE FOREST - you can run but you cannot hide
THE VISITOR - sometimes you don't know what you've got 'til its gone
THE CONCRETE MIXER - Mars invades
MARIONETTES, INC. - machines can be asked to do too much
THE CITY - revenge can be served very cold
ZERO HOUR - parents need to parent
THE ROCKET - Desire, envy and the triumph of the human spirit Although these tales are hauntingly disturbing and many contain rather gruesome images Bradbury writes with a gentleness that takes material that could be shocking in another writer's hand and instead makes it poignant. He allows the more subtle message of the stories to come through by taking the edge off the sensationalism. It is particularly interesting to read these stories and rember (or discover) what life was like in the fifties and then reflect (investigate) what changes took place in the subsequent fifty year. For those who have read this and didn't like it try it again in a few years.
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Summary: Illustrating Human Nature
Review: Sometimes it's hard to remember that Ray Bradbury approaches the art of the short story in a very unconventional way. His collections of short stories are often tied together by common sub-themes or settings, although each story could also stand on its own. Such is the case here, though the running theme to the Illustrated Man collection is mostly an abstraction. Apparently the stories here are told by a man's haunted tattoos, but don't worry about that too much. The true theme holding this group of stories together is examinations of human nature and mankind's place in the universe. Bradbury's frequent use of Mars (and occasionally other planets) as a setting, with the obligatory spaceships and technology, is merely his method of creating alternate realities to bring human nature into bold relief. Bradbury's classic examinations of the dark and melancholy side of humanity are well represented here as always, with his trademark poetic writing style and underlying sense of creeping dread. The classic virtual reality tale "The Veldt" is found here, with the typical misuse-of-technology theme presented in an unexpectedly haunting fashion. More evidence that the stock sci-fi themes are merely a thin backdrop can be seen in "The Other Foot," a chilling examination of race relations; or "The Rocket," which deals with the yearning of regular people to reach beyond the confines of Earth. Other winning stories include "Kaleidoscope" and "The Long Rain" which are haunting tales of how human nature can still undermine the greatest achievements of cold technology. So don't concern yourself with the typical sci-fi backdrop, and get in tune with what Ray Bradbury is really talking about.
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Summary: Bradbury is a master storyteller
Review: These are stories that go beyond "science fiction." The technology aspects are part of the canvas, but these stories are powerful because Bradbury paints with emotion and metaphor. He builds more empathy with characters in a few short words than other authors do in an entire novel, and his descriptions return us to a time when we were young, and simple objects filled us with awe and wonder. There is something here for everyone. Read them for yourself. Read them for your children. This short book is a celebration of the art of storytelling.
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Summary: Poignant Tales of Yesterday¿s Future
Review: This group of highly imaginative tales, written in 1948-51, do nothing if not illustrate that 1) it's extremely difficult to predict the future and 2) no matter how much we struggle against it, we probably are doomed to reflect our own times and cultural environment. Over half a century after Ray Bradbury wrote these entertaining stories, we have a lot of answers to questions about the (then) future thanks to hindsight. Bradbury's characters still smoke like chimneys, they still use clunky mid-20th century machines for the most part---lugging electrical equipment and card tables across the light years in their bronze spaceships. There's only the vaguest hint of a computer ("The City") and then of the giant, controlling variety. Above all, there is no vision of the infinitely varied America of today---the space explorers in these stories are nearly all white Anglosaxons who speak and behave as white people did in the early 1950s. The cultural oppositions and arguments in the stories are those of mid-century America. While it is true that Bradbury writes of human nature it is also true that the nature he describes is as we saw it half a century ago. However, Bradbury covers a wide range of topics: child psychology; machine vs. man; imagination and emotion vs. cold science; religion; time travel, and race relations. Some of the stories are unbelievably poignant. In fact, I would say that poignancy---the ability to bring out that quality without being sappy or twee---is Bradbury's strongest suit. If you don't like science fiction, this book probably isn't for you, but it certainly has made its mark on American culture, with 47 printings through 1990. One story, "The Exiles", probably laid the basis for his later "Fahrenheit 451". Bradbury wrote many stories which featured the "wrap-around-comfort, totally mechanized houses" that appear in several works in this volume. How many Hollywood movies of the last 15 years owe a debt to "The Fox and the Forest", a story of people escaping through time from a bad future to a quieter or more prosperous present ? THE ILLUSTRATED MAN is a minor American classic in a perennially shortchanged genre, science fiction. The dated technology and cultural styles may seem primitive today, but even they add a dimension of telling us about the times in which they were written as well as about the future as they saw it then.
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