Day 21 : The Martian Chronicles - Book Review

The sci-fi world is field with a lot of absurd stories. Most of them tacky and campy filled with plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon. But some times along the way comes a book that is filled such character and gumption that no matter how much you'd like to be the cynic, you still end up being mesmerized by the sheer scope of the book.

And Ray Bradbury with this pint sized masterpiece achieves the improbable. He will make you believe that at the core of science fiction, lies true humanity with all of its foibles.

I am a big fan of the Twilight Zone show. And this book really reads like something like that show. It is sort of an anthology series that is set like a chronicles of the events that occur on the red planet since the first landing of humans from planet Earth. As each landing progresses and more men land on the new planet, we see changes occur on Mars. And as in Earth, the home specie dwindles and dies away as it is on our own planet when man takes over new landmass. We take over and destroy everything strange to us of the conquered.

Mars is described to be inhabited by a very intelligent and cerebral specie that lives in harmony with nature and enjoys the mellow life. For your reference purpose, remember the Na'vi people from the Avatar movie. (Bradbury did it first.) The couple chapter of man's visit to Mars did not end well for men. But then the Martian's were the big dog during that time. And they shared the sense of ownership with our specie. But loss of those first visitor's didn't stop naive Earthlings to put an end to attempting to colonize the new planet. As the new visits became more frequent, the home specie's population started to dwindle. The cause, a stupid strange disease brought over by the Earthlings and their rockets. A disease that has been found a cure for decades ago by scientists on Earth. But for Martians it proved deadly, rendering most of cities planet dead or dying.

The sudden demise of the Martian race, brought forth heightened influx of Human expeditions into Mars. Around this time is one of my favorite chapter in the book. The protagonist, Spender, is a archaeologist who lands along with a crew of assorted pricks who starts messing up the serenity of the Martian wastelands. He doesn't like it, wanders off into the barrens finds a dead city with a house with a huge collection of Martian books and arts. He starts learning more about their culture and discovers new respect for them. And doesn't like the idea of mankind coming over to this planet and destroying everything with their mining and other corporate interests. He plots a plan to delay the mining expeditions by a few decades till the scientists and archaeologists get a chance to research and learn more about the Martian's history. Captain Wilder, their leader, is the only who understands his plight. But even he cannot let Spender have his way, and he himself cannot name a single reason why he shouldn't. All he knows is that's what is expected of him..

There is a lot many more incidents and events detailed out in this book. Until the very end, in the year 2026, Earth is nothing more than planet torn and shredded with war and atomic bombs. Human specie is only a handful. Martian specie is all but forgotten. Mankind and humanity just words in books.

This is basically a cautionary tale about the progress of science and how mankind's conscience would not ever catch up with the developments in science. Love, hate, memory, greed, hunger, envy, distrust, all are very much deep rooted into our souls. And until we ever get around to discover a means to live in harmony amongst ourselves. There is no hope for us to live amongst other races in other planets.

I do hope we do figure it all out. I sure would love to visit Mars, if that is possible one day. I hear sandboarding is going to be real fun down there.

Day 64 : Fahrenheit 451 - Book Review

Ray Bradbury is one of those rare breed of writers who is capable of creating whole new universes out of very few words. This is only the second book of his I've read. Only just as big as my palm, and as thick as my thumb. Considering the type of work he usually does, this is a very big accomplishment. His books deal with aliens, and weird species, and the supernatural, and a distant possible dystopian future. Things and events in his book are usually out of this world, unfamiliar and unknown to the readers. Him being able to transport you to that place, is by itself is a big accomplishment. But doing it in such a small bulk of a book, without intimidating the novice reader, which is a feat worth singing ballads for.

I am a big fan of his writing. And F 451 makes my resolve even stronger. This book at first couple dozen page feels like something out of The Twilight Zone, incidentally he's written for that show as well. The protagonist, Guy Montag, is a fireman working for a City in an unspecified future. Only in this world, the fireman's responsibility is not to put out the fire but to cause it. In this future, it is believed that books and informational print of any sort is the cause for world's downward spiral. A world where any progressive thought or belief not pre-approved or mandated by the System is illegal. The world here is addicted to TV stories and soap drama (inspiration for Hunger Games?). This norm seemed to work for the most of the population there. Most of the people here know only of this world, and hence are content with it. And now and then if any books are to be discovered, down comes the firemen to douse it in liquid flames.

Come one day, during another routine day at work our hero goes to a house where it was alerted to the authorities a bunch of books were hidden away. They get to work; tear down the walls and drapes. Gather all the books they could find, pour kerosene over it and one by one move to the front lawn leaving one behind to put it all to fire. That guy is Montag. And he is in a dilemma; the lady of the house who hid the books doesn't want to leave them. She'd rather burn along with them. That passion, that level of attachment to a few glued together sheets of paper confuses Montag. And here starts our story. With a woman hugging her books, inside a house put to flames by one of Montag's coworkers.

This book has only a handful of characters, but each so rich and so important to the storyline. You will feel attached to all of them, feel like you've known them for ages. And the philosophical monologues, that almost all of them inevitably has in this book proves to be more riveting than obnoxious.

There is a storyline much like this in one of the short stories in his other book, Illustrated Man. Both times the world he writes of, a world without books did scare the living crap out of me. That would be one sad world indeed.

This book is a must read for all book lovers. Something to pick up on a lazy Friday afternoon, complete before it is evening tea time on Saturday. And spend rest of the weekend, having day nightmares about a world without your favorite books.

The terror.

Day 5 : Ray Bradbury

I had just read this book a few months back. Today, had this sudden urge to re-read one of it story again - The one with the lions. Before I knew it I was re-reading the whole thing.

I completed the it in just a few hours. It is not really a heavy read. Each story flows through like a breeze. But at the end of each there is a jolt, a precise surgical shove that gets to you.

For example this one:

“We're all fools," said Clemens, "all the time. It's just we're a different kind each day. We think, I'm not a fool today. I've learned my lesson. I was a fool yesterday but not this morning. Then tomorrow we find out that, yes, we were a fool today too. I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we're not perfect and live accordingly.” ― Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man

It comes right between a chapter, and it’s not really that much of a high-brow philosophy or MMT (makes-me-think) irony. But by the time you complete the story, this one is there at the back of your head nagging at you.

True.

We’re not perfect. None of us are. We like to think that there is something that makes us stand apart from the rest of the world. While the truth is that we are all similar fools leading similar existence going someplace. Where? Why? We don’t have a clue.

We don’t get wiser of age. Nor are any better than what we were yesterday. The best we can hope for is to just persist, and pray that we don’t commit the same mistakes again and make a bigger fools of ours than we already are!

Today, I declare Ray Bradbury is a freaking genius.