Ray Bradbury died at age 91 today.

 An Evening With Ray Bradbury  This is a link to a video of lecture he gave in 2001.

     I found myself deeply effected today when I heard of the passing of Ray Bradbury. Obviously I was not alone, as witnessed by the proliferation of posts on Facebook and Google plus. I started reading for pleasure in my early teen years. A Librarian in my hometown suggested that I read a book by Ray Bradbury. As it so happened I chose his book " Something Wicked this way comes". It is a story about a young boy and his best friend. More specifically about how they were effected by the appearance of a strange travelling carnival that showed up on the outskirts of town one autumn day. The way Bradbury described the feeling of being a young boy in autumn living in a small town resonated with me. To this day when autumn comes each year and a cool wind sends the fallen leaves sailing threw the air, I think of Ray Bradbury and that book is what started my love of reading. It also spurred a love of Science Fiction that has continued into my adulthood.
      To this day when I see a heavily tattooed individual it brings me back to his wonderful collection of short stories titled " The illustrated Man". When I see a movie or story about World War II, I think about his book Fahrenheit 451 which was about burning books. A story about a possible future society that is controlled by a big brother type government that controls the thinking of it's citizens by burning any book which is contrary to their doctrines. An obvious parallel to Adolf Hitler who held similar book burnings. I can't look into the night sky and see the planet Mars without remembering his work, " The Martian Chronicles".
     Whenever a great author such as this passes away it saddens me. We will never again get to read a new story from that particular mind again. Some of his books are like old friends. I like to revisit them from time to time and be transported back to that time in my life when I first read it. I believe that part of who we are is made up of what we read. The ideas that we deem important and that stay with us for life. So to ray Bradbury I bid a fond farewell, I will be reading you soon.