It was with sadness that we heard the news yesterday 06/06/12 that Ray Bradbury, the iconic science-fiction author behind such classics as The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, has passed away at the age of 91.
Illinois-born Bradbury, recipient of the U.S. National Medal of Arts, passed away in his Los Angeles home on Wednesday morning. The late author’s grandson, Danny Karapetian, gave the following statement to i09.com:
“If I had to make any statement, it would be how much I love and miss him, and I look forward to hearing everyone’s memories about him. He influenced so many artists, writers, teachers, scientists, and it’s always really touching and comforting to hear their stories. Your stories. His legacy lives on in his monumental body of books, film, television and theater, but more importantly, in the minds and hearts of anyone who read him, because to read him was to know him. He was the biggest kid I know.”
It is widely felt that Bradley was a rare talent whose writing changed the way people think. Over his life-time he published over five hundred works and spanned many genres from short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and poetry. It is clear though that however you read him, his words linger and some of his best-known and most beloved books are masterworks that readers will carry with them forever.
To honour this brilliant man – a true great of the 20th century here is just a tiny sample of what he's leaving behind:
"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them."
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"Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories."
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"We are cups, constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is, knowing how to tip ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out."
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"Recreate the world in your own image and make it better for your having been here"
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“Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't "try" to do things. You simply "must" do things.”
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“I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can't really put a book on the Internet. Three companies have offered to put books by me on the Net, and I said, 'If you can make something that has a nice jacket, nice paper with that nice smell, then we'll talk.' All the computer can give you is a manuscript. People don't want to read manuscripts. They want to read books. Books smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can carry it in your pocket.”
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“I have two rules in life - to hell with it, whatever it is, and get your work done.”
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“Anything you dream is fiction, and anything you accomplish is science, the whole history of mankind is nothing but science fiction.”
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"Science fiction is the most important literature in the history of the world, because it's the history of ideas, the history of our civilization birthing itself... Science fiction is central to everything we've ever done, and people who make fun of science fiction writers don't know what they're talking about."
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We hope this has given a glimpse into this wonderful writer. We'd love you to share your favourite bit of Bradbury with us and please do recommend any of his vast literary out-pouring that we should seek out to read...
