Product Description

A classic collection of stories -- all told on the skin of a man -- from the author of Fahrenheit 451. If El Greco had painted miniatures in his prime, no bigger than your hand, infinitely detailed, with his sulphurous colour and exquisite human anatomy, perhaps he might have used this man's body for his art! Yet the Illustrated Man has tried to burn the illustrations off. He's tried sandpaper, acid, and a knife. Because, as the sun sets, the pictures glow like charcoals, like scattered gems. They quiver and come to life. Tiny pink hands gesture, tiny mouths flicker as the figures enact their stories -- voices rise, small and muted, predicting the future. Here are sixteen tales: sixteen illustrations! the seventeenth is your own future told on the skin of the Illustrated Man.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91200 in Books
• Published on: 1995-11-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
'Ray Bradbury has a powerful and mysterious imagination which would undoubtedly earn the respect of Edgar Allan Poe' Guardian 'It is impossible not to admire the vigour of his prose, similes and metaphors constantly cascading from his imagination' Spectator 'The sheer velocity of his words is an apocalyptic torrent which sweeps the reader on' Independent 'As a science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury has long been streets ahead of anyone else' Daily Telegraph 'Readers unfamiliar with what Bradbury at his best can do should look to The Illustrated Man.' Washington Post 'No other writer uses language with greater originality and zest. he seems to be a American Dylan Thomas -- with dsicipline' Sunday Telegraph

About the Author
Ray Bradbury has published some 500 short stories, novels, plays and poems since his first story appeared in Weird Tales when he was twenty years old. Among his many famous works are The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles.

Customer Reviews

Ray Bradbury's timeless classic
This is one of the best collections of Ray Bradbury short stories to be found. The Illustrated Man of the title is a fairground worker who is covered in tattoos, or 'illustrations'. While he sleeps the illustrations move and each one tells a different story to anyone who may see them. Although the descriptions of rockets and technology may seem a little dated now, these are still excellent stories for any true fan of sci-fi. Particularly good are 'The Veldt' a story of two children and their virtual reality nursery and 'The Long Rain', a tale of astronauts who crash land on Venus. This is certainly a Classic of modern literature and I would highly recommend it for any bookshelf.

An excellent depiction of 1950s science fiction
What is most interesting about this book is the reflection of science fiction in the 1950s and 60s. While we have the technology and the visual effects nowadays, people during that time only had their imaginations and a fuzzy television set. Bradbury's intensity in his stories are full of the depth of character, philosophy, life, and mind. During the "Long Rain," he brings in the idea of how far a man will go in such a relentless environment of pouring rain on another planet. He also is quite subtle in his vision of what the world would be like when we get to the end of the world and how would we actually react to this adversity. In essence, do not read this book to find some "Matrix-style" action and science fiction, but the reactions of people in different situations in the future and the way some things could be. If you are intrigued by thinking of books and films long after you've finished with them, then I think you will really like this book.

A book to hand down through the family - amazing!
Ray Bradbury was an amazing and futuristic writer, and he used the 'illustrated man' concept as an ingenious way of linking 18 short stories. A man is on a walking holiday in Wisconsin, it's a hot day and he meets a guy who has his clothing buttoned up tight as if it is winter, and he is sweating, of course. They camp down for the night, and the guy takes off his thick shirt. His body is covered in illustrations, (not tattoos), and they are beautiful, they move, and have tiny voices. He tells how he met an old witch who looked a thousand years old one minute, and twenty one the next, and after she illustrated his entire body with her magic needles, she disappeared. Believing her to be a time-traveller, the man has spent his life trying to hunt her down. The series of short stories are linked by the other man seeing the actions take place within the illustrations. A brilliant concept, amazing stories considering when they were written, and I book I have treasured for many years.