Sunday, June 10, 2012

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012)



My son, Christopher, offers a detailed appreciation of the author, whose Farenheit 451 was a favorite of mine I remember well from my college years. If you're a fan too, I suggest you take a look at his reminiscences, since they contain some great detail, some of it previously unknown to me. In a personal email to me, in which he sent me the link to his post, Christopher summarized thusly:
Just a note that Ray Bradbury, science fiction author, died this past Tuesday at 91. Jamie has probably read some of his books and Jon and Nate might have been obliged to in public school, at least 'Fahrenheit 451' about the firemen who burn books instead of fight fires.

Religiously he was something of an eclectic Christian.

"I sit there and cry because I haven't done any of this," he told Sam Weller, his biographer and friend. "It's a God-given thing, and I'm so grateful, so, so grateful. The best description of my career as a writer is, 'At play in the fields of the Lord.'"

What is often left out of obituaries is his turn to conservatism in later years (the last Democrat he voted for was Carter). He held Ronald Reagan in high esteem and called Bill Clinton a "shithead." And he wasn't too happy when Obama decided to pull the plug on NASA's return trip to the moon.

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