Home  |  Payment Methods  |  Shipping  |  Safe Shopping
Categories

BOOKS

Arts & Photography
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Engineering
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Law
Literature & Fiction
Medicine
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel

MAGAZINES

Arts & Crafts
Automotive
Bridal
Business & Finance
Children's
Computer & Internet
Electronics & Audio
Entertainment
Family & Parenting
Fashion & Style
Food & Gourmet
Games & Hobbies
Gay & Lesbian
Health & Fitness
History
Home & Garden
International
Lifestyle & Cultures
Literary
Men's Interest
Music
News & Politics
Newspapers
Pets
Professional & Trade
Religion & Spirituality
Science & Nature
Spanish-Language
Sports & Leisure
Teens
Travel & Regional
Women's Interest


Advertisement
Getfreeebooks Shop Thursday, January 08th 2009

The Martian Chronicles (ROUGHCUT)

The Martian Chronicles (ROUGHCUT)
List Price: $15.95
Our Price: $11.65
Your Save: $ 4.30 ( 27% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: William Morrow

Average Customer Rating: Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5Average rating of 4.0/5

Buy it now at Amazon.com!

 

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780380973835
ISBN: 0380973839
Label: William Morrow
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 1997-02-01
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: 1997-02-01
Studio: William Morrow
Related Items

Editorial Reviews:

Man, was a a distant shore, and the men spread upon it in wave... Each wave different, and each wave stronger.

The Martian Chronicles

Ray Bradbury is a storyteller without peer, a poet of the possible, and, indisputably, one of America's most beloved authors. In a much celebrated literary career that has spanned six decades, he has produced an astonishing body of work: unforgettable novels, including Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes; essays, theatrical works, screenplays and teleplays; The Illustrated Mein, Dandelion Wine, The October Country, and numerous other superb short story collections. But of all the dazzling stars in the vast Bradbury universe, none shines more luminous than these masterful chronicles of Earth's settlement of the fourth world from the sun.

Bradbury's Mars is a place of hope, dreams and metaphor-of crystal pillars and fossil seas-where a fine dust settles on the great, empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn -first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow. The Earthman conquers Mars ... and then is conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race.

Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is a classic work of twentieth-century literature whose extraordinary power and imagination remain undimmed by time's passage. In connected, chronological stories, a true grandmaster once again enthralls, delights and challenges us with his vision and his heart-starkly and stunningly exposing in brilliant spacelight our strength, our weakness, our folly, and our poignant humanity on a strange and breathtaking world where humanity does not belong.




Spotlight customer reviews:

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Timeless!
Comment: I first heard about "The Martian Chronicles" when I read Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" a number of years ago. Back then, I was under the impression that the "Chronicles" was actually a series of books, or at least a very long book. This is not so. The "Chronicles" is a fairly brief collection of short stories that fit into an overarching fictional history, starting in 1999 and ending in 2026.

The book was initially published in 1946 - right after WWII - a time in which the year 2000 must have still seemed a long way off. Due to the specific time frame of the book, it is somewhat dated and less convincing than it must have been in the 1940s. After all, we *live* in the time Bradbury depicts, and the world is of course not the same as in his fiction.

But the dates in the book are the only thing that's dated, because the stories themselves are timeless. And I don't say this lightly. For me, the predicate "timeless" is one of the highest praises I can bestow on a book. This one deserves it.

It is most emphatically *not* a science-fiction book per se, and it is not even remotely about technological gadgets. Bradbury himself has likened the book to mythology rather than science-fiction, and I think he's right.

Not technology, but human identity and the experience of the ironic - this is the golden thread that runs through the book. From the beginning when men first arrive on Mars and do not at all experience the kind of welcome they expected, to the very end when - well, but let me not tell you how the book ends. Suffice it to say that is full of the ironic. Often it is tragic irony, but always thought-provoking and delightful.

Bradbury touches on other themes too: religion, the effect of science on humanity, racism, illusions vs. reality, etc.

It's only the second book by Bradbury I've read, so I can't compare it to his other works. But for all those who crave the timeless, this is the real thing.

- Jacob Schriftman, Author of the "The Crack Beneath the Worlds"

Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: not even close to Bradbury's best form
Comment: As with most early science fiction efforts, with 'The Martian Chronicles' it is best to accept its overall preposterous aspects and enjoy it for other qualities, such as astute observations and criticisms of mankind. But in 'The Martian Chronicles', a somewhat loose collection of short stories involving humans (from Earth) colonizing Mars, this reader was left wanting for something insightful or special. Instead I found this collection of stories to be very readable, at times interesting, but also at times rather bland. And at no time did I sense this book deserved to be considered a classic. This would be an insult to its author who has indeed written classics (eg, 'Fahrenheit 451').


Bottom line: a somewhat forgettable book that seems to have garnered more readership than it deserves. A near miss.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Youthful Perspective
Comment: I loved F451 by Bradbury and wanted to read more of his work. Being a huge sci-fi buff, I figured "The Martian Chronicles" would be a great place to start. The book is definitely well worth the read, and its effects are surprising.

I have to admit that I had trouble with the story at first. Because of the lack of knowledge on the "Red Planet" when the story was written, I had to forget quite a bit of facts (I'm 25). Luckily enough, the story grabs you and keeps you turning pages so that facts don't matter. The book also has an almost romantic quality in its depiction of the future. For example, in 2030+ there are malt shops, soda fountain shops and people still use wired telephones (no cell phones or wireless homephones).

The dialogue is also what you'd expect from a 40's and 50's movie. Again, its sort of romantic. I have to admit tho, this book brought with it an amazing array of emotions... Bradbury is one of the few who was actually able to make me laugh out loud (a spectacle to my co-workers). The authors talent also inspires other emotions in the reader.

Like F451, "The Martian Chronicles" has a message for and about humanity, albeit a different message. I'll never regret reading this book, and I bet you won't either.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5Average rating of 5/5
Summary: Classic Bradbury
Comment: I read the Martian Chronicles growing up in the early 70's. Bradbury was on of my favorite authors. The book does not disappoint if you love Sci Fi. I purchased this book for my 18 yr old son. He couldnt put the book down and read it through in 3 days. Very unsual for him to stick with a book like that. He raved about the book and is asking for Bradbury's other works.

Customer Rating: Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5Average rating of 3/5
Summary: more twilight zone than anything else
Comment: Not sure how this qualifies as sci-fi. A collection of short stories, criticism of the government, wars, racism, relation with foreign creatures. Ghost stories, horror, and everything but science. Of course, I'm writing this on the 50th anniversary of NASA, and some of the stories in this book outdate that by 10 years. Worth looking into, but not for everyone. If there is any science, it's the ugly side (atom bombs, etc).


Buy it now at Amazon.com!

 
Home  |  Payment Methods  |  Shipping  |  Safe Shopping
Copyright © 2007 Getfreeebooks Shop. All Rights Reserved.