Editorial Review

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The politically correct shall inherit the earth
Mr. Bradbury's prophetic work has come to pass in the politically correct world of thought controlled by political expediency and special interests.
Thought provoking, but not amazing
What made me pick up this book in the first place was everyone's fixation on how "thought-provoking" and "different" it was. I read it, and found myself agreeing with some aspects, confused by others, and downright bored by some.
read me
Fahrenheit 451 is a read rich with a delicious story and social commentary.Guy Montag lives in a world made ironic because of the stark contrast to the way we wish our society was today.Firemen don't keep people safe from fires, they bust into houses starting fires.Scholars and professors live on the outside of society because of their love for books, philosophy, and sociology where in our world professors are on the inside and the ignorant majority are on the outside because of their lack of interest for the said disciplines.
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Subjects:  1. Abridged Audio - Fiction/Science Fiction & Fantasy    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Audiobooks    4. Classics    5. Fiction    6. Literary    7. Science Fiction - General    8. Fiction / Science Fiction / General    9. Modern fiction   

Editorial Review

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Why not go for a double.
What can I say about this collection, except that is essential reading for anyone serious about Science Fiction or Fantasy as a form of literature (that's right I said it-the dreaded "l" word)Bradbury has piled up enough superlatives in his life that I don't think I need to go into them.
The stories create powerful virtual images
It is hard to categorize Ray Bradbury as a writer. To many he is known as a science fiction writer, largely due to "The Martian Chronicles." However, he is much more versatile than that, his stories cover many different themes of life, death and strange things in between.
An Average Collection.
If you buy this book with the newer Bradbury collection, you will have a fairly comprehensive collection of short stories by the master. This collection is not the best. It has it's share of mediocre stories, but even so the great stories are wonderful. "The Veldt", "The Fog Horn", and "The Jar" are my absolute favorites, but there are more gems scattered about the book.
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Subjects:  1. Audio - Fiction (Unabridged)    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. General    4. Non-Classifiable   

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What's that sound behind you?
Two more great stories from Bradbury here.First, "The Ravine"...a genuinely scary tale lifted from everybody's nightmares.In a town where a man is killing lonely women and leaving their bodies in the ravine, a woman decides to walk home alone - at night! - through that same area!The story is incredible, and the sound effects make you feel like you're walking with her as she jumps at every sound, and then desperately tries to outrun whatever she feels behind her.Top notch story!In "Here There Be Tigers", we have the story of a group of astronauts who land on the perfect planet - or is it?Two tales you won't want to miss! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Science Fiction - General    3. Unabridged Audio - Fiction/Science Fiction & Fantasy   

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Raves for Ray
Many of my favorite short stories are Ray Bradbury's, and "The Pedestrian" and "There Will Come Soft Rains" are only two of them. a futeristic house is all that is left after a nuclear bomb
It was fascinating. The story had no plot, but was extremely entertaining. Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Fantasy - Short Stories (Single Author)    3. Unabridged Audio - Fiction/General   

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Author's reading brings fresh insights
Ray Bradbury reads a dozen of his best-known stories, and two excerpts from _Dandelion Wine_. While there are other stories of his I like better than e.g., "The Smile", Bradbury certainly has more experiencereading his stories and (presumably) chose the stories that worked best.Bradbury does a great job reading these stories -- *not* because he's agreat voice actor, but because he has insights into the stories that(literally) no one else has. I know these stories fairly well, butBradbury's reading often made me see them in a different light --particularly "John Huff's Leavetaking", from _Dandelion Wine_,the ending of which I had misinterpreted all these years. For long-timefans like me, Bradbury's introductions to the stories, in which he tells alittle about how each one got to be written, are a particular delight.Highly recommended, if you can stand to purchase cassettes.Read more

Subjects:  1. Unabridged Audio - Fiction/General    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape   

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Radio Drama of the Highest Caliber!
'A Sound of Thunder' and 'Night Call, Collect' are the two short stories that have been dramatized here.Originally part of the 'Bradbury Thirteen' radio series from 1986, these radio dramas have become very difficult to find.Here they have been re-released in a nice protective package.These productions (of which there are five other releases from D. H. Audio) are of the highest caliber you find in modern or classic radio dramatizations alike.The stories are science fiction classics the like of which only Ray Bradbury can deliver.Theywill both frighten and thrill you with their brilliance.I am glad to see them available once again.

Shocking.
Unbelievably good, with a shocking conclusion. Ray Bradbury is already a name well-known in the Household of Good Fiction, but he outdid himself with this one. Superb reading from a great author!

Something worth remembering
The smallest action can do a lot in the longrun.That is what the book, "Sound of Thunder", portrays.In it, four men go back in time to the prehistoric ages to kill a dinosaur for sport.The organizer made sure that all precautions were met so they would not change any future events. One of them stepped on a butterfly, and when they got back they found that the human race has changed due to the death of one butterfly millions of years ago.The language changed, and their way of thinking changed, all due to what is called the "butterfly" effect.Which goes a little something like this: A butterfly flaps its wings, which causes the wind to change direction a little, blowing pollen toward the direction of a rhinocerous.The rhino sneezes, startling a nearby herd of zebras, and cause a stampede. It goes on.You get the idea.Ultimately, you'll find that the story is very well constructed. I read the book, "Sound of Thuder," for English class two years ago.I was assigned to do a presentation of it.It was the only one, out of sixteen, short stories that I actually read for that class, because I could not stop reading.For months, I thought as if my actions would someday cause a big change such like the butterfly in the story. Yesternight, I was laying on my bed, remembering the story, and since it was short, I figured maybe I can get a copy off the internet.I found this site instead, and wanted to comment on it.It was excellent.I loved it, and I hope to read more stories such as this, as I look forward to my senior year in high school. -Rannier Veloso, 16 ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Science Fiction - General    3. Unabridged Audio - Fiction/Science Fiction & Fantasy   

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A Superb Collection
FOUR SCIENCE FICTION CLASSICS is an exceptional compilation of the absolute best the genre had to offer in the 1940s and 1950s. It is composed of six powerful stories which transcend the decades in which they were written, stirring the heart and mind as powerfully now as when they were first published. Interesting combination
I only wanted "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" and it did come separate on tape and even on vinyl at one time. It did not hurt to get the rest of the tapes. Foundation: The Psychohistorians is what the Foundation trilogy is all about and the newer foundation books you can read the separate reviews. The Martian Chronicles is ok but I do not want to spend time reviewing this section, as better reviews will be under the book description.Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Science Fiction / Fantasy    2. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    3. Science Fiction - General    4. Specimens    5. Talking books   

Editorial Review

From "Rocket Summer" to "The Million-Year Picnic," Ray Bradbury'sstories of the colonization of Mars form an eerie mesh of past and future. Written in the 1940s, the chronicles drip with nostalgic atmosphere--shady porches with tinklingpitchers of lemonade, grandfather clocks, chintz-covered sofas.But longing for this comfortable past proves dangerous in every way to Bradbury's characters--the golden-eyed Martians as well as the humans.Starting in the far-flung future of 1999, expedition after expedition leaves Earth to investigate Mars.The Martians guard their mysteries well, but they are decimated by the diseases that arrive with the rockets.Colonists appear, most with ideas no more lofty than starting a hot-dog stand, and with no respect for the culture they've displaced.Read more

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A Wide Variety of Commentary by the Sci-Fi Master
The Martian Chronicles are a mixed work by the Science Fiction master, Ray Bradbury, sometimes functioning just to entertain, but at most times functioning to comment on the inhumanity of man.
The Martian Chronicles is great reading!
This is really one of my favorite books.I pick it up every year and reread it purely for the pleasure.If you like fantasy, this one's for you.I hope that someday, Peter Jackson will make a movie of this story.After what he did with Rings, I know he could do it justice that the old TV mini series did not.Check this one out.It was written a while back, so add some years to some of the dates mentioned and remember, it's a fantasy...for now!

School Book Review
The Martian Chronicles is actually a collection of stories rather than a novel.Each story is separate from the others, with different characters and different conflicts.Though they are all different they all concentrate on the same subject, mars, and its exploration by the people of earth.
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Written in the basement of the UCLA library
I do not want to tell much of the story, as the unfolding is part of the intrigue. However now that houses are fire proof the purpose of firemen is performing a service by burning books to maintain the happy social order.
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Gloria A. Gould-Loftin - ravens_warlock@yahoo.com
Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Jorges Luis Borges and Raymond Carver at their best. Four timeless tales from the abstract minds of four of our greatest sci-fi authors. A thrill a minute..! ... Read more

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Not his best
Ray Bradbury was a science fiction icon, but there's a reason he didn't write "The Playboy of the Western World" or "Finnegan's Wake."The dialogue is all you get from this book.The rest of the book is a thin vehicle to get you from one conversation to the next.There are few descriptions and few insights.The dialogue itself is very humorous at parts, and in others it's obvious that this is Bradbury writing how the conversations should have gone, not how they really went.I've thoroughly enjoyed other works by Bradbury, but this wasn't one of them.

The best of both worlds, fact and fiction
Ray Bradbury wrote the screenplay for John Huston's Moby Dick.It is a hysterical account of his exploits in Ireland where he wrote the piece.It is also a work of fiction because he combined some of his previous short story writings about Ireland into the book.Bradubury masterly weaves both fact and fiction into a enjoyable tour-de-force.If you are an avid Bradbury fan, you will remember some of his earlier work and recognize the stories.If not, then I envy you because you will not be able to distinguish fact from fiction.Bradbury does both a wonderfull job of catching Irelands essence and terrible poverty of which he covers lightly.He also hints at the terrible genious of John Huston without going into the gory details.This book is a very fast read and is wonderfull.It is certainly deserving of the national book award it recieved.

Not the best Bradbury, but still worth while.
This didn't grip the same way Fahrenheit 451 or The Martian Chronicles or Something Wicked This Way Comes did. There are many entertaining and quite often fun stories and of course it is beautifully written. Bradbury is one of the best prose stylists and short story writers in American Lit, after all. It's not one of his classics but it's worth a consideration. ... Read more

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Unprecedented excellence
The best sci-fi radio drama I've ever heard, this volume anthologizes selections from an NPR series that ran in 1999-2000. All stories take place in the future. Lushly and meticulously produced, wonderful acting and nicely written, these plays of various lengths dramatize stories by greats such as Butler, Heinlein, Vonnegut and Bradbury, plus the stage play R.U.R., an international hit of the 1920s that gave us the word "robot." The sheer breadth of themes -- mensturation, over-population, miscegenation, scholarly folly, etc., etc. -- is astonishing, not to mention the mix of styles. Ellison, who introduces the stories, is his usual annoying self, but (thank God!) uncharacteristically brief.

This is an incredible set of Sci Fi Radio
This set contains six discs featuring 16 different futuristic science fiction audio dramas by various authors.Read more

Subjects:  1. Science Fiction - General    2. Science fiction, American    3. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    4. Audio - Science Fiction / Fantasy    5. Unabridged Audio - Fiction/Science Fiction & Fantasy    6. Fiction    7. Audiobooks   

Editorial Review

High on a hill by a forked tree, the House beckons its family homeward, and they come--travelers from the lyrical, lush imagination of Ray Bradbury.Read more

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Pure poetry!
This is the first Ray Bradbury book i've read. *cringes* But it was the most beautiful story i've heard in a long time. Mr. Bradbury knows how to paint the most vivid pictures in ones mind with his words. The dream-like atmosphere is enough to lull one into a mind-set where truly, a family such as this, can exist. It is a quick read, but so worth revisiting. Overflowing with imagery and poetry, this book is just amazing....

Probably not what you are expecting, but worth checking out
I purchased this book having heard nothing about it, but knowing much of its author, the legendary Ray Bradbury.
I Mourne The Trees That Died To Create This Book
After reading a book I was so looking forward to, I feel violated as if Mr. Bradbury himself wanted to rip out my fondest memories of his brilliant tales and replace them with raw sewage. (See, I can write arty farty rubbish just like Ray did with this book!!) My sole comfort is that I purchased it on the secondary market so Mr. Bradbury procured no money from it. Shame on you, Ray!! What a waste of a Charles Addams art work!! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio Adult: Books On Tape    2. Audiobooks    3. Fantasy - General    4. Fiction    5. Literary    6. Science Fiction - General    7. Unabridged Audio - Fiction/General    8. Fiction / General   

Editorial Review

Ray Bradbury's first short story collection is back in print, its chilling encounters with funhouse mirrors, parasitic accident-watchers, and strange poker chips intact. Both sides of Bradbury's vaunted childhood nostalgia are also on display, in the celebratory "Uncle Einar," and haunting "The Lake," the latter a fine elegy to childhood loss. This edition features a new introduction by Bradbury, an invaluable essay on writing, wherein the author tells of his "Theater of Morning Voices," and, by inference, encourages you to listen to the same murmurings in yourself. And has any writer anywhere ever made such good use of exclamation marks!? ... Read more

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A small collection of varied worlds
I liked this book.Some of the stories veer a little too far into fantasy for my taste--with vampires, et cetera--but many of them are very original, and very memorable.Ray Bradbury, as anyone who's read "Dandelion Wine" can tell you, is not just a hack writer with good ideas: he's also a terrific writer, period.His prose is lovely; he could write any genre he wanted to.He could write about nothing and it would probably have good enough tone, style, sound, and metaphors to pull it off.But he doesn't.Instead, he crams his stories full of the weird and the unusual: a jar full of something that everyone obsesses over, a baby that kills, a man who finds himself becoming the grim reaper.
What in the country?!?!?
I only read two stories: The Small Assasin and The Dwarf. If I wasn't required to read them, I would have put this book down weeks ago. I have to admit the Bradbury does have some excellent imagery, but in no way is the writing interesting at all. I tried to keep an open mind as I read this novel...but I really could not bring myself to enjoy it. Don't read this unless you HAVE to...or you are extremely bored.

Great even decades later
Creepy.The stories stay with you long after you put the book down.Certainly one of the best short story collections I have read in a long time and I try to read 'em all.Enjoy. ... Read more

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Subjects:  1. Fiction    2. Movie-TV Tie-In - General    3. Science Fiction    4. Science Fiction - General    5. Unabridged Audio - Fiction/Science Fiction & Fantasy   

Editorial Review

World-renowned fantasist Ray Bradbury has on several occasions stepped outside the arenas of horror, fantasy, and science fiction. An unabashed romantic, his first novel in 1957 was basically a love letter tohis childhood. (For those who want to undertake an even more evocative look at the dark side of youth, five years later the author would write the chilling classic Read more

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A Thoroughly Charming Classic Of Bygone Americana
This book is Bradbury in top form. Although not my absolute favorite title by this author, I have found a lot of joy over the years in re-reading this little book that I first picked up off a school library shelf when I was eight. It's obvious Bradbury was writing a story set in the time and place of his own childhood "as it should have been" and it makes me wonder if given time I'll think back on my own youth in similar terms. When I was little, after I read this book, all anyone had to do was say, "Watch out for Lonely One" referring to the killer who stalked Green Town's ravine at night and I was good and scared. Heck, that probably works today, too. From its unique May-December romance to its protagonist who becomes that one soul in a million to truly understand that precious gift of what it means to be alive, Dandelion Wine is simply wonderful. Read this book and travel back with the national treasure who is Ray Bradbury to the delightful world of the fantasy-powered Midwest of the 1920's (as it should have been).

Believe & Partake!or The Meaning of Life, a la Bradbury
I first read Ray Bradbury's miracle of a book, Dandelion Wine, when I was 16, and I have read it every year since.Over time I continue to gain a deeper appreciation for these lovely, strange, often magical vignettes (more properly parables, each one with a little implied moral) that explore the nature of happiness, the magic of love and, above all, what it means to be alive.To me, the overarching intent of the book is to remind all us adults that:
Not really for children.
Its protagonist may be a child, but this novel is not really suitable for a thrill-seeking, modern juvenile audience.
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Great overall, almost excellent if not for...
The book is a good read with the short stories and the relevance to today's world is striking is some of those stories.The stories are mainly from the late 40's and early 50's and show a haunting look at what could be.There are, however, some stories that do drag and really don't hold the readers attention, but, thankfully, these stories are few and far between.
An Illustrated Tale . . .
This book is simply amazing!I needed to read this book as a summer reading project, and as soon as I read the first story, I found out that the book was based on Science Fiction.It's a topic that I really hate it!However, as I read further and further into the book, I decided that I loved it!Each story bases itself around science, like people living on the moon or on Mars.Also, there are some controversial goings-on in this novel.In one short story titled "The Man", it seems as though a traveler would stop by towns and heal people.The man in this story almost sounds as though he is Jesus.Anyway, this book is still amazing.If you love Sci Fi, then buy it now!!

I would give it 10 stars if I could...
I think it was first my 8th grade teacher Mrs. Forenza who introducted me to Ray Bradbury when we studied the story "The Veldt"... then it was my father who opened his bookshelves and gave me his entire collection of Ray Bradbury when I asked him if he ever heard of him.
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Just Like I remember them! YEAH
Thank You to the people who decided to recover all these great memories of the past.When I was a child we sat in front of the radio for hours and listened to these wonderful broadcasts!
Best collection of radio sci-fi
What a great variety of classic sci-fi.Having recognized some of the titles & authors, I knew this would be good.Though the sound quality is not what we'd have today, it is superior to a lot of other radio broadcast reproductions I've heard.The slightly "scratchy" recordings of some of these gives a more nostalgic quality without diminishing the quality of the reading/acting.It some cases, the sound quality added to the mystery and suspense. Classics from the Golden Age of Science Fiction
My mother remembered the night Orson Welles panicked the country with "The War of the Worlds."I asked her if she was fooled by the broadcast and she said she was not.She was listening to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on the other channel.Two things contributed to the hysteria caused by Welles' broadcast.Firstly, the news-report format of the show was extremely realistic, and secondly a number of listeners switched over to "The War of the Worlds" partway through the broadcast when an unpopular singer followed a commercial on the Charlie McCarthy show (I thought people didn't start channel surfing until the invention of the TV remote). Read more

Subjects:  1. Audio - Radio    2. Radio - General    3. Unabridged Audio - Misc.Nonfiction    4. CAS - Audio - Science Fiction / Fantasy    5. Radio programs    6. Science fiction    7. United States