Friday, February 18, 2011

The Martian Chronicles/Ray Bradbury/181 pp.

This is one of those books I've always told myself I should read, one of the classics of science fiction. I finally got around to reading it, and I was very happy with it. In a chronological series of short pieces, Bradbury details Earth's colonization of Mars, from our first encounters with the planet's inhabitants, to our eventual destruction of the planet's natural beauty. Parts of the book were written as early as 1946, and it shows an uncanny understanding of how we, as Earthlings, can't take care of our own planet, let alone be guardians of another world's development. I read the piece "There Will Come Soft Rains" for the first time in junior high, as a short story, and its tale of an automated house that continues on even after its inhabitants have been killed in nuclear war was just as enjoyable the second time around.
Bradbury's easy prose and the shortness of the chapters make for easy reading.

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