The Illustrated Man

Blending sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man takes readers to places they’ve likely only seen in their dreams or, more likely, their nightmares.

From heartbreaking tales of space disasters (“Kaleidoscope”) to frightening tales of a VR nursery gone wild (“The Veldt”), the strength of Bradbury’s legendary fiction is found in the way he brought humanity to even the wildest, most out-of-this-world premise. In addition, his immaculate prose is as much a joy to appreciate on the word-by-word, sentence-by-sentence levels, as it is on the story level.

The Illustrated Man was one of the first short story collections I… show more.

Another masterpiece from Ray Bradbury and another collection of short stories with a recurring theme. I love how Bradbury deftly explores the mechanics of emerging technology vs the psychology of the very people responsible for creating it. As the story unfolds, the illustrated man’s tattoos, created by a time-traveling woman (ah, there’s that time-travel angle again!) come to life, each with their own story to tell. And each story can be seen as a cautionary tale just as relevant in today’s AI-driven world.