In linked short stories, Bradbury imagines that people from earth escape to Mars, where they make contact with the Martians and colonize the planet.

The original 1950 edition had the dates in the stories range from 1999-2026; I read the 1997 revised edition that had the dates 2030-2057. One short story ("The Fire Balloons") in my edition was not included in the original, and another ("Way in the Middle of the Air") was dropped, which confused me greatly at first, since I was also listening to the audiobook and it was different. Bradbury wrote an introduction in which he expressed surprise that this book is considered science fiction rather than fantasy because he generally does not use real science. This is true. In some ways, the book is a product of its time, as much of the stories are focused on the possibility of nuclear war. But it's also interesting to read in our present time when thinking about first contact and colonialism, as the first Americans on Mars get the Martians sick, which allows them to essentially take over. It's hard not to think of our own history with the indigenous population of North America, and the implications that still has in our present day. An interesting collection that I'm glad I've finally read. ( )

I entered into The Martian Chronicles warily, as I hadn't enjoyed Fahrenheit 451, and here I was again, reading Bradbury. To my utmost surprise, I loved this book.

The Martian Chronicles is novel-esque, because the linked short stories, some of them only a page long, joined together to weave a tale of the history of human exploration of and settlement on Mars.

It's a saddening story. Having damaged our earth beyond the hope of repair thanks to constant warfare and atomic disasters, mankind heads for the heavens on rockets launched from the interstellar exploration labs in Ohio. Astronauts and soldiers are the first to arrive, then construction engineers, who build earth-like towns all over the face of this planet. Disaster after disaster takes place. The human race is soon in decline, as the towns on Mars shrivel first to shanty towns and then to small assortments of derelict buildings, without infrastructure.

I believe that Bradbury, all the way back in the 1940s, when some of these stories were first printed in magazines, was an environmentalist and anti-nuclear energy proponent long before these positions became fashionable. The Martian Chronicles warn of the dangers of atomic energy, of using land unwisely, and of the ruinous tendencies of mankind to spoil the dwelling places we have, whether on Earth or on other planets.

Summary: a great book ahead of its time, a visionary novel. I find it especially interesting that less than a year ago, we had our first look at Earth from the surface of Mars - and who knows what's next for our relationship with the red planet in the sky. ( )

Possibly my favourite Bradbury work, this is a seriously transcendent piece of literature, that had a disproportionate impact on my writing and critical faculties. It's not perfect, certainly, int its elements of Bradbury's usual flaws as a writer and in its occasional sledgehammer subtlety yet... that's to request something of the book which it is not, which is surely bad criticism. This is wonderful. ( )

A mix of stories in the fantastic tone typical of Bradbury loosely based around Mars. I snjoy the descriptions, it is not always believable, the characters are sometimes caricatures. Great writing but not solid in the science of sci-fi. ( )

Excellent book for kids of all ages. ( )