Well I'll be darned, the previous book bothered me for three weeks and this one is such interesting read that is almost finished on a second day. I have written previously about my decision that this year I want to explore the genre Science Fiction (which until now I kept away from) and although I am familiar with the name of this author (after all, he was the man behind my beloved, original black & white "The Twilight Zone" TV series) and I know that he wrote classic "Fahrenheit 451" so far we never actually officially met - until now. Always cautious about Science Fiction and apprehensive that it will be something too complicated and technical, I was delighted from the first page with author's ominous tone and dark atmosphere of a dream that turns into nightmare. It actually feels like reading "The Twilight Zone".
It is a collection of brilliant, connected short stories about Human colonisation of Mars - from his 1950. perspective author placed this in a distant future (which is actually our present time, alas it did not happen yet) - besides being obviously Science Fiction with spaceships and such, its a clever allegory about how Humans destroy the new worlds. As one of the characters said, "we Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things" and although this delightful new planet appears empty, there are traces of previous civilisation that have expired because of some innocent bacteria Humans have brought with them (just like disease killed Native Americans after Europeans arrived) but most of Humans are not concerned with this at all and simply want to drill, dig and explore this strange new world. They are almost without exception quite selfish and only occasionally someone stops to think about consequences and reasons, majority simply wants to escape the Earth and start a new life here no matter the cost. At this point Earth seems to be overpopulated and already beyond help. What I found so brilliant, besides obvious talent Bradbury has as a writer is the way he nicely waves interesting thoughts and even philosophy in all of this, almost every story has a little touch that stops you dead in the tracks and you start to think about what is he saying between the lines. Since I suffered trough the previous book for so long, it came as a surprise that my current choice flows so easily, just as it should be. This is not a chore, this is pure pleasure.
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Out of curiosity I have checked little bit about the author and found out that as a young man, Bradbury had no money for college education. "Libraries have raised me" he often explained and often trough his later life he was financially helping public libraries that were in danger of closure. I truly love this and it has a personal connection with me, as I also was a child passionately in love with libraries - often I think that I should have become librarian - both Bradbury and me believe that colleges and universities are just a formality accepted in society that basically dislike originality and expects uniformity instead. I still remember my university days where instead of fresh, bright ideas I was surrounded with mediocrity and patronisation. In all honesty I see my school days as time wasted (except for social life and friendships) because everything I know, I learnt by myself trough my interests, explorations and hobbies, it is something nobody can teach you and you need to have natural curiosity to continuously grow.
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