The Martian Chronicles

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, 222 pages

Last month's book for the Classics discussion group was The Martian Chronicles by Mr. Science Fiction himself, Mr. Ray Bradbury. This was my first time reading through the novel, though I recall reading some short stories in high school that I liked. However, if you're new to Bradbury et al., this is a great place to start. The book is comprised of several pieces--short, short stories, vignettes--some are only a page long. The entire thing is sort of a birds-eye-view on what would happen if we colonized Mars over the course of a few centuries. Bradbury really does a good job of just dropping the reader into the middle of an on-going story just before eking out some kind of twist or thought-provoking ending. Of course at the time, Bradbury had no idea what Mars was really like, so he had plenty of room to use his imagination and expand on some ideas that became the basis for most Mars-oriented material (aliens, mind control, etc). Flash-forward to The Martian by Andy Weir, and almost all of that old tchotchke kind of Martian fare is gone. But Martian Chronicles to me is kind of where man's love for Mars really began. I was making parallels to Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues, not in style or tone but really just in discovery. In this book, there's no singular character to follow, no real plot development, except that by the end it all, the reader should come away with a cautionary view of colonizing some one else's potential home. Really, this book speaks to ideas of anti-technology and unknown frontiers. Stories of note: Usher II, There Will Come a Soft Rains, The Third Expedition. Great for teens to adults. Recommended.