Ray Bradbury never lost the joy in life he developed as a boy exploring the sights, sounds, and people of the small midwestern town of Waukegan, Illinois. He spent a lifetime of words convincing readers to stay in touch with the curious, open child within who knows how to discover something extraordinary in the mundane of the everyday.
Arts and culture critic Peter Tonguette believes that Ray Bradbury’s writings are just as instructive now as the day they were written and can help us deal with the challenges of modern life. Will we take the opportunity to recreate the world of Dandelion Wine by rediscovering breadmaking, reading to our children, gardening, and thinking for ourselves? Or will we, like the characters of Fahrenheit 451, allow our fascination with a parade of flickering images to supplant genuine connections to the people and places beyond our couch? Bradbury often said that he wrote about the future to prevent it. Tonguette suggests that although Bradbury did not prevent the dangers he foresaw, his stories about the pleasures of human connection continue to show us how to navigate them.