One of my favorite books of all time-- 'The Martian Chronicles'.
It doesnt matter how many times I read it... The same stories, the same lines cause me to sob uncontrollably, from awe of humanitys potential, from mourning humanitys lost potential, from thinking about the great things we have achieved, from thinking about The End and how we will End It All...
*sigh*
One of my favorite lines, from anything, book/movie/song, anything:
“Garrett?” called Stendahl softly. Garrett silenced himself. “Garrett,” said Stendahl, “do you know why I’ve done this to you? Because you burned Mr. Poe’s books without really reading them. You took other people’s advice that they needed burning. Otherwise you’d have realized what I was going to do to you when we came down here a moment ago. Ignorance is fatal, Mr. Garrett.”
We will continue to fight the firemen, Ray, whether they are trying to burn books or burn blogs. Ignorance is fatal.
- Log in to post comments
The light in the world just got dimmer. He will be missed.
I don't believe it. I've been collecting his books one at a time for years now, wanting to only buy them second hand (thought he might appreciate that). Even found a 49p one from him today in a pokey second hand store. Thought he'd go on forever.
"Death is a Lonely Business"
Very sad indeed. :( I love that passage you quoted, and I love this one, too: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/142700 (their messages are pretty similar, I think)
Not exactly an unbiased source, but food for thought:
"Bradbury's journey from 1950s liberal to 21st century tea party conservative had more to do with how liberalism has become debased over the years. "Fahrenheit 451" is a classic plea for free expression, depicting as it does a totalitarian government that has banned all books and sends fire fighters to burn them and the owners as well. In the 1950s and 1960s, Bradbury perceived the threat to liberty to come from the right. But by the winter of his life, he realized that the threat to human freedom comes rather from the left. "
And, just to be clear, while I loved his writing, I think it's a shame that he became a rightwing crank in later life.
FYI - there's an online petition to have the US Post Office issue a Ray Bradbury stamp:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/ray-bradbury-us-stamp-campaign.html