The Illustrated Man

( 70 )

Overview

The Illustrated Man is classic Bradbury - a collection of tales that breathe and move, animated by sharp, intaken breath and flexing muscle. Here are eighteen startling visions of humankind's destiny, unfolding across a canvas of decorated skin - visions as keen as the tattooist's needle and as colorful as the inks that indelibly stain the body. The images, ideas, sounds and scents that abound in this phantasmagoric sideshow are provocative and powerful: the mournful cries of celestial travelers cast out cruelly ...
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The Illustrated Man

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More About This Book

Overview

The Illustrated Man is classic Bradbury - a collection of tales that breathe and move, animated by sharp, intaken breath and flexing muscle. Here are eighteen startling visions of humankind's destiny, unfolding across a canvas of decorated skin - visions as keen as the tattooist's needle and as colorful as the inks that indelibly stain the body. The images, ideas, sounds and scents that abound in this phantasmagoric sideshow are provocative and powerful: the mournful cries of celestial travelers cast out cruelly into a vast, empty space of stars and blackness...the sight of gray dust selling over a forgotten outpost on a road that leads nowhere...the pungent odor of Jupiter on a returning father's clothing. Here living cities take their vengeance, technology awakens the most primal natural instincts, Martian invasions are foiled by the good life and the glad hand, and dreams are carried aloft in junkyard rockets. Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man is a kaleidoscopic blending of magic, imagination, and truth, widely believed to be one of the Grandmaster's premier accomplishments: as exhilarating as interplanetary travel, as maddening as a walk in a million-year rain, and as comforting as simple, familiar rituals on the last night of the world.
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
“Bradbury is an authentic original.” —Time

“Ray Bradbury has accomplished what very few artists do. With his visions of possible futures and edgy presents . . . he has changed us.” —The Boston Globe

“His stories and novels are part of the American language.” —The Washington Post

“Deftly plotted, beautifully written, characterized by protagonists who are intensely real . . . there is no writer quite like Ray Bradbury.” —The New York Times

“A master... Bradbury has a style all his own, much imitated but never matched.” —Portland Oregonian

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780062079978
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 10/11/2011
  • Edition description: Reissue
  • Pages: 288
  • Sales rank: 59,522
  • Product dimensions: 5.31 (w) x 8.00 (h) x 0.64 (d)

Meet the Author

Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and poet. He became a full-time writer in 1943 and contributed numerous short stories to periodicals before publishing a collection of them, Dark Carnival, in 1947.His reputation as a writer of courage and vision was established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950, which describes Earthlings' first attempts to conquer and colonize Mars and the unintended consequences. Next came The Illustrated Man and Fahrenheit 451, which many consider to be Bradbury's masterpiece. Other works by Bradbury include The October Country, Dandelion Wine, A Medicine for Melancholy, Something Wicked This Way Comes, I Sing the Body Electric! Quicker Than the Eye, and Driving Blind. In all, Bradbury published more than thirty books and close to six hundred short stories. He has been awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America, and the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award, among others. Scott Brick has recorded over five hundred audiobooks, has won over forty AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has twice received Audie Awards for his work on the Dune series. He has been proclaimed both a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and Publishers Weekly's 2007 Narrator of the Year. Scott has recorded Frank Herbert's Hellstrom's Hive, Whipping Star, The Dragon in the Sea, and The White Plague for Tantor Audio.

Biography

Ray Bradbury is one of those rare individuals whose writing has changed the way people think. His more than 500 published works -- short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts, and verse -- exemplify the American imagination at its most creative.

Once read, his words are never forgotten. His best-known and most beloved books -- The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Fahrenheit 451, and Something Wicked This Way Comes -- are masterworks that readers carry with them over a lifetime. His timeless, constant appeal to audiences young and old has proven him to be one of the truly classic authors of the 20th Century -- and the 21st.

Ray Bradbury's work has been included in several Best American Short Story collections. He has been awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America, and the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award, among others. In recognition of his stature in the world of literature and the impact he has had on so many for so many years, Bradbury was awarded the National Book Foundation's 2000 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the National Medal of Arts in 2004.

On the occasion of his 80th birthday in August 2000, Bradbury said, "The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me. The feeling I have every day is very much the same as it was when I was twelve. In any event, here I am, eighty years old, feeling no different, full of a great sense of joy, and glad for the long life that has been allowed me. I have good plans for the next ten or twenty years, and I hope you'll come along."

Good To Know

In our exclusive interview with Bradbury, he shared some fascinating facts with us:

"I spent three years standing on a street corner, selling newspapers, making ten dollars a week. I did that job every day for three hours and the rest of the time I wrote because I was in love with writing. The answer to all writing, to any career for that matter, is love."

"I have been inspired by libraries and the magic they contain and the people that they represent."

"I hate all politics. I don't like either political party. One should not belong to them -- one should be an individual, standing in the middle. Anyone that belongs to a party stops thinking."

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    1. Also Known As:
      Leonard Douglas, William Elliott, Douglas Spaulding, Leonard Spaulding
      Ray Bradbury
    2. Hometown:
      Los Angeles, California
    1. Date of Birth:
      August 22, 1920
    2. Place of Birth:
      Waukegan, Illinois
    1. Education:
      Attended schools in Waukegan, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California
    2. Website:
      http://www.raybradbury.com

Read an Excerpt

Prologue

It was a warm afternoon in early September when I first met the Illustrated Man. Walking along an asphalt road, I was on the final long of a two weeks' walking tour of Wisconsin. Late in the afternoon I stopped, ate some pork, beans, and a doughnut, and was preparing to stretch out and read when the Illustrated Man walked over the hill and stood for a moment against the sky.

I didn't know he was Illustrated then. I only know that he was tall, once well muscled, but now, for some reason, going to fat. I recall that his arms were long, and the hands thick, but that his face was like a child's, set upon a massive body.

He seemed only to sense my presence, for he didn't look directly at me when he spoke his first words.

"Do you know where I earn find a job?"

"I'm afraid not," I said.

"I hadn't bad a job that's lasted in forty years," he said.

Though it was a hot late afternoon, he wore his wool shirt buttoned tight about his neck. His sleeves were rolled and buttoned down over his thick wrists. Perspiration was streaming from his face, yet he made no move to open his shirt.

"Well," he said at last, "this is as good a place as any to spend the night. Do you mind company."

"I have some extra food you'd be welcome to," I said.

He sat down heavily, grunting. 'You'll be sorry you asked me to stay," he said. "Everyone always is. That's why I'm walking. Here it is, early. September, the cream of the Labor Day carnival season. I should be making money hand over fist at any small town side show celebration, but here I am with no prospects."

He took off an immense shoe and peered at it closely. "I usually keep a job about ten days. Then something happens and they fireme. By now every carnival in America won't touch me with a ten-foot pole."

"What seems to be the trouble?" I asked.

For answer, he unbuttoned his tight collar, slowly. With his eyes shut, he put a slow hand to the task of unbuttoning his shirt all the way down. He slipped his fingers in to feel his chest. "Funny," he said, eyes still shut. 'You can't feel them but they're there. I always hope that someday I'll look and they'll be gone. I walk in the sun for hours on the hottest days, baking, and hope that my sweat'll wash them off, the sun'll cook them off, but at sundown they're still there." He turned his head slightly toward me and exposed his chest. "Are they still there now?"

After a long while I exhaled. "Yes," I said. "They're still there."

The Illustrations.

"Another reason I keep my collar buttoned up," he said, opening his eyes, "is the children. They follow me along country roads. Everyone wants to see the pictures, and yet nobody wants to see them."

He took his shirt off and wadded it in his hands. He was covered with Illustrations from the blue tattooed ring about his neck to his belt line.

"It keeps right on going," he said, guessing my thought. "All of me is Illustrated. Look." He opened his hand. On his palm was a rose, freshly cut, with drops of crystal wake among the soft pink petals. I put my hand out to touch it, but it was only an Illustration.

As for the rest of him, I cannot say how I sat and stared, for be was a riot of rockets and fountains and people, in such intricate detail and color that you could hear the voices murmuring small and muted, from the crowds that inhabited his body. When his flesh twitched, the tiny mouths flickered, the tiny green-and-gold eyes winked, the tiny pink hands gestured. There were yellow meadows and blue rivers and mountains and stars and suns and planets spread in a Milky Way across his chest. The people themselves were in twenty or more odd groups upon his arms, shoulders, back, sides, and wrists, as well as on the flat of his stomach. You found them in forests of hair, lurking among a constellation of freckles, or peering from armpit caverns, diamond eyes aglitter. Each seemed intent upon his own activity, each was a separate gallery portrait.

"Why, they're beautiful!" I said.

How can I explain about his Illustrations? If El Greco had painted miniatures in his prime, no bigger than your hand, infinitely detailed, with all his sulphurous color, elongation, and anatomy, perhaps he might have used this man's body for his art. The colors burned in three dimensions. They were windows looking in upon fiery reality. Here, gathered on one wall, were all the finest scenes in the universe the man was a walking treasure gallery. This wasn't the work of a cheap carnival tattoo man with three colors and whisky on his breath. This was the accomplishment of a living genius vibrant, clear, and beautiful.

"Oh, yes," said the Illustrated Man. "I'm so proud of my Illustrations that I'd like to burn them off. I've tried sandpaper, acid, a knife . . ."

The sun was setting. The moon was already up in the East.

"For, you see," said the Illustrated Man, "these Illustrations predict the future."

I said nothing.

"It's all right in sunlight," he went on.

"I would keep a carnival day job. But at night--the pictures move. The pictures change."

I must have smiled. "How long have you been Illustrated?"

"In 1900, when I was twenty years old and working a carnival, I broke my leg. It laid me up; I had to do something to keep my band in, so I decided to get tattooed."

"But who tattooed you? What happened to the artist?"

"She went back to the future," he said. "I mean it. She was an old woman in a little house in the middle of Wisconsin here somewhere not far from this place. A little old witch who looked a thousand years old one moment and twenty years old the next, but she said she could travel in time. I laughed. Now, I know better."

"How did you happen to meet her?"

He told me. He had seen her painted sign by the road SKIN ILLUSTRATION! Illustration instead of tattoo! Artistic! So he had sat all night while her magic needles stung him wasp stings and delicate bee stings. By morning he looked like a man who had fallen into a twenty color print press and been squeezed out, all bright and picturesque.

"I've hunted every summer for fifty years," he said, putting his hands out on the air. "When I find that witch I'm going to kill her."

The sun was gone. Now the first stars were shining and the moon had brightened the fields of grass and wheat. Still the Illustrated Man's pictures glowed like charcoals in the half light, like scattered rubies and emeralds, with Rouault colors and Picasso colors and the long, pressed out El Greco bodies.

"So people fire me when my pictures move. They don't like it when violent things happen in my Illustrations. Each Illustration is a little story. If you watch them, in a few minutes they tell you a tale. In three hours of looking you could see eighteen or twenty stories acted right on my body, you could hear voices and think thoughts. It's all here, just waiting for you to look. But most of all, there's a special spot on my body." He bared his back. "See?" There's no special design on my right shoulder blade, just a jumble."

"Yes. "

"When I've been around a person long enough, that spot clouds over and fills in. If I'm with a woman, her picture comes there on my back, in an hour, and shows her whole life-how she'll live, how she'll die, what she'll look like when she's sixty. And if it's a man, an hour later his picture's here on my back. It shows him falling off a cliff, or dying under a. train. So I'm fired again."

All the time he had been talking his hands had wandered over the Illustrations, as if to adjust their frames, to brush away dust--the motions of a connoisseur, an art patron. Now he lay back, long and full in the moonlight. It was a warm night. There was no breeze and the air was stifling. We both had our shirts off.

"And you'll never found the old woman?"

"Never."

"And you think she came from the future?"

"How else could she know these stories she painted on me?"

He shut his eyes tiredly. His voice grew fainter. "Sometimes at night I can fed them, the pictures, like ants, crawling on my skin. Then I know they're doing what they have to do. I never look at them any more. I just try to rest. I don't sleep much. Don't you look at them either, I warn you. Turn the other way when you sleep."

I lay back a few feet from him. He didn't seem violent, and the pictures were beautiful. Otherwise I might have been tempted to get out and away from such babbling. But the Illustrations . . . I let my eyes fill up on them. Any person would go a little mad with such things upon his body.

The night was serene. I could bear the Illustrated Man's breathing in the moonlight. Crickets were stirring gently in the distant ravines. I lay with my body sidewise so I could- watch the Illustrations. Perhaps half an hour passed. Whether the Illustrated Man slept I could not tell, but suddenly I heard him whisper, 'They're moving, aren't they?"

I waited a minute.

Then I said, "Yes."

The pictures were moving, each in its turn, each for a brief minute or two. There in the moonlight, with the tiny tinkling thoughts and the distant sea voices, it seemed, each little drama was enacted. Whether it took an hour or three hours for the dramas to finish, it would be hard to say. I only know that I lay fascinated and did not move while the stars wheeled in the sky.

Eighteen Illustrations, tighten tales. I counted them one by one.

Primarily my eyes focused upon a scene, a large house with two people in it. I saw a flight of vultures on a blazing flesh sky, I saw yellow lions, and I heard voices.

The first Illustration quivered and came to lift....Copyright ) 1951 by Ray Bradbury The Illustrated Man. Copyright © by Ray Bradbury. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Table of Contents

Prologue: The Illustrated Man 1
The Veldt 7
Kaleidoscope 26
The Other Foot 38
The Highway 56
The Man 62
The Long Rain 78
The Rocket Man 97
The Last Night of the World 112
The Exiles 118
No Particular Night or Morning 136
The Fox and the Forest 149
The Visitor 169
The Concrete Mixer 186
Marionettes, Inc 211
The City 222
Zero Hour 232
The Rocket 245
The Illustrated Man 258
Epilogue 275
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 70 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(48)

4 Star

(14)

3 Star

(8)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 70 Customer Reviews

  • Posted January 1, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Fahrenheit 451
    The Martian Chronicles

    A Must Read for All!

    This book is a wonderful collection of short stories that can be read as a single novel. Not only does the collection offer a great read for any science fiction fan, the book has a bit to offer in other areas as well. There are touches of politics and religion in the book as well as a look into the future and past and the what if's that could have been or could be. If you have ever never read a Ray Bradbury book, this is the place to start. Followed by The Martian Chronicles, and Fahrenheit 451.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted June 24, 2010

    Absolutely LOVED it!

    Well let me start off by saying that scifi is not usually my cup of tea, but when it comes to Bradbury, I simply can't resist. I knew I would probably enjoy this book because I've read The Martian Chronicles (another great scifi read) and absolutely loved it. The Illustrated Man is a collection of short stories about the future of mankind. It serves as a sort of premonition of things to come, were humans to continue down the destructive path that we are traveling upon. The premise of the book consists of a man who is tattooed with various illustrations, and the illustrations move and make stories, which are of course the stories told in the book. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that I every single story left me breathless. Bradbury did in eight pages do what some writers take an entire novel to do. This collection is stunning, and a quick read for any one who enjoys psychological dilemmas as well. I would like to leave you with the introductory passage of the book:
    "There are the vast reaches of outer space - the infinite black nothingness that holds the galaxies, where men in rockets move from the green hills of earth to the rain-glutted forests of Venus to the canals of Mars, and still farther...even farther...
    And there is inner space - the bottomless well of fears, longing, hope and the complex emotions of the frail human creatures who challenge the universe - those who in turn must face the peril not only of that vastness but also of their own sometimes terrible inventions..."

    A truly haunting book. Enjoy!

    To read more of my book reviews, please visit my blog at ayushi30.blogspot.com

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 2, 2009

    Bradbury the genius

    I loved this book. Bradbury is one of my favorite authors and so this book being good does not surprise me. He links the stories together so well, and the novel is so original.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 30, 2008

    A reviewer

    The Illustrated Man is a fascinating novel. Novelist Ray Bradbury is outstanding and his different ideas and wild imagination makes you want to read more and more. The Illustrated Man is basically about a man with tattoos on his entire body. He gets these magical tattoos from a mysterious woman. The man wants to find this woman and kill her because the tattoos are frightening and it caused the Illustrated Man to lose his job many times. He meets a young man who invites him for a meal and the Illustrated Man lets him read his stories at night, while he is sleeping. The young man finds out that each tattoo tells a different story , a total of eighteen. Most of the stories are in the science fiction genre and the setting of Mars is used very often. I really enjoyed this book because each story makes you think about what is happening and each story never gets old. Just when you think something is sure to happen, Bradbury throws in a twist. The stories vary from men looking for the sun on Mars where it rains nonstop, to a virtual playroom with lions which turn into the real thing. One thing I didn't like is that some of the stories are confusing and you have to read them a couple of times carefully to get the whole idea. The Illustrated Man is a great book that makes you scratch your head. If you like science fiction with a little mystery, you should definitely check this book out. Some other novels by Ray Bradbury are Dandelion Wine, The Martian Chronicles, and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 9, 2013

    The Illustrated Man

    This is a wonderfull book that had me intrigued the entire way. Bradbury is a phenomenal author and always writes great stories. This book os recommended

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 30, 2013

    Anonymous Bookseller

    This book is the second book that i fell in love with. Bradbury is not only a genius but a master. When i first sall how much the e-book versions of his works are i was upset, but i think thats the point! E-books are great but one the master of scifi wants you to go and buy a real book! It will cost less! Still gonna give it 5 stars its worth it!

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  • Posted May 9, 2012

    I am a lover of books and reading and my only favorite author ov

    I am a lover of books and reading and my only favorite author over the past few years has been Jodi Picoult. But ever since I picked up this book, I keep going back to the pages I just read becuase it just moves me. I feel as if I am there and watching these stories come alive and reliving them. It's amazing how Bradbury has such detail and fantasy that it almost becomes real.
    I would definitly reccommend this book!

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  • Posted September 7, 2011

    A quick fun read.

    I wasn't expecting this to be a collection of short stories. The main story is about a man who has tattoos that move and each collection of tattoos tell a different story. The stories are have similar themes of rocket men, Mars, and other stories of the future. There were stories I liked more than others but I'm not a big fan of short stories. I like when there is more development and emotion involved.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 2, 2010

    Amazing

    A fantastic book for true scifi fans.

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  • Posted January 22, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Fahrenheit 451 (50th Anniversary Edition)

    Great Book, Amazing Writer

    This Ray Bradbury novel was the first one introduced to me. I really liked the way he wrote, which I think is what caught my attention. It was interesting to see that he had a better imagination back in the 50s than many people do now even with all of the technological advances we have today. I also really like all of the metaphors and hidden meanings in his writings that keep you on the edge and wondering what it's all about. Fahrenheit 451 was also a really great novel and I'm looking forward to reading The October Country and The Cat's Pajamas.

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  • Posted June 23, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Fahrenheit 451 (50th Anniversary Edition)
    The October Country

    Great stories...

    The Illustrated Man" is one book that I have been wanting to read for quite awhile.

    If you've ever heard anyone talk about Ray Bradbury's books like their "amazing", don't judge it, until you have read his stuff.
    The guy is "amazing"!

    The fact that all these stories were written before 1952 is really unbelievable.

    Ray Bradbury's obession with space, astronauts, Mars, peoples overall greed, laziness & reliance on computers/technology in the future were rampant throughout all the stories, but he makes it work well, as usual.

    Personally I'm not normally a big fan of science fiction or space stories, but these stories draw in you easily.

    The book has 18 individual stories, the prologue, the very last story in the book, which is titled "The Illustrated Man" and the epilogue are the only three times the (illustrated man) is mentioned.

    The stories are all individuals, they don't run together to make one final story or anything.

    A few of the stories are so, so, but there were several that after reading them, I was left thinking, WOW!, they are:

    Kaleidoscope
    The Other Foot (5 star quality)
    The Man (5 star quality)
    The Long Rain
    The Fox and the Forest
    Marionettes, Inc.
    The City (5 star quality)
    Zero Hour

    I really don't know how Ray Bradbury slept peacefully with all these stories and all the other stuff he wrote swirling around in his mind.

    The only other Bradbury book I have read is "Fahrenheit 451", which was also really thought provoking and good.

    Looking forward to reading more of Ray Bradbury's novels~

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 17, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    The October Country

    Interesting Read

    This book is a collection of short stories written by Bradbury.
    It's not the best I've read, but it was still pretty good. In this particular book, Bradbury focuses on Mars and outer space. Good book to read if you're a fan of science fiction.

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  • Posted April 3, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    Fahrenheit 451

    This book expands your imagination

    Original style of writting that expands your imagination into a new world . One of Bradbury's best if not the best.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 30, 2007

    sweetness

    this book was cool it was sweet awesome the best book eva

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 17, 2007

    A reviewer

    As one of Ray Bradbury¿s finest books, The Illustrated Man uses symbols and themes to tell the story of the book. The book consists of many short stories to tell about the future in an interesting way. Unlike other short stories, this book is unique because all the stories relate back to the prologue and theme of the book. Because of this exclusive writing style, I would rate this novel a 10 out of 10. In the prologue the reader is introduced to a man whose body is painted (hence the meaning of the title) with many scenes depicting future events in various people¿s lives. One portrait on the man describes a story of a rocket that exploded out in the distance of space. The men in the story are alive falling from space down onto earth. They know they are going to die, so they desperately try to change their lives. ¿They fell. They fell as pebbles fall down wells. They were scattered as jackstones are scattered from a gigantic throw. And now instead of men they were only voices-all kinds of voices, disembodied and impassioned, in varying degrees of terror and resignation.¿(26) This book focuses on real situations that are predicted on the ¿Illustrated Man.¿ Every scene on the man has a purpose that either leaves you hanging or has a big twist. I hope you enjoy this book as well as I did. Good Reading!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 16, 2007

    A reviewer

    I'm not even a big sci-fi fan but I adored this book. Bradbury is a brilliant story teller and the stories is this book are amazing, some a bit disturbing - not with violence, just with questioning whether reality is real or not. Bradbury is brilliant & he was a man ahead of his time. This may be my new favorite book. An amazing reading experience.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 28, 2006

    Amazing

    This is an amazing book. The short stories are so much fun to read. The stories realy have a nice twist to them. I definitaly recomend this book to anyone who would just like to read a few realy good short stories.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 12, 2006

    Great book

    Great book, there were a lot of good stories.My favorites were: The man, rocket man, exiles, fox and the forest,the visitor, and Marionettes Inc.(best short story in my opinion) I suggest you buy this book for some of the stories listed above!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 3, 2005

    Extraordinary

    No book is perfect, but this comes close. An amazing amalgamation of science, fiction and beautifully bitter stories. The best showing of short story collections.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 22, 2004

    this is my favorite book

    This book is definitley a classic. My favorite is the story about the astronauts. The ending is perfect. I would recommend this book to all people of all ages.

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