You have probably read one of Ray Bradbury’s books in school or have seen one of the movies based on his books. But did you know…
- His books and stories have been translated into over 40 languages.
- His most famous story Fahrenheit 451 was originally called The Fireman. He called his local fire station and asked what the temperature at which paper burns and they replied 451° F. Thus The Fireman became Fahrenheit 451.
- He wrote Fahrenheit 451 on a rented typewriter in a public library.
- Fahrenheit 451 was first published unedited in a Playboy where a new section was published each month beginning in March 1954.
- He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- He was born on August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois (only an hour away from our library).
- The town in Dandelion Wine “Green Town” is based on Waukegan.
- He has an asteroid named in his honor, 9766 Bradbury.
- A crater on the moon was named “Dandelion Crater” in honor of his book.
- He never attended college, but read every book in his local library over the period of ten years.
- He won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in an Animated Program for The Halloween Tree.
- He ultimately wrote almost 600 short stories and over 30 books and plays.
- He wrote episodes for The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
- Bradbury visited the set of Star Trek. Even though Bradbury never wrote for Gene Roddenberry, they remained friends up until Gene’s death in 1991.
- The Phoenix Mars Exploration Rover carried a digital copy of The Martian Chronicles.
- He inspired Bernie Taupin and Elton John to write the song Rocket Man.
- He collected toys.
- This year would have been his 100th birthday
My favorite quotes:
- “Without the library, you have no civilization.”
- “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
- “Why go to a machine when you can go to a human.”
You can join in the centennial celebration of Bradbury’s birthday. And check out our catalog for Ray Bradbury titles.