When I was in HS I remember reading a portion of a story by Ray Bradbury. All that I can remember about it is as follows:

Humans are on a planet trying to colonize/explore it. In order to survive on the planet (in its natural environment) they must take the form of a creature from the planet (i think). Men are sent out on missions to explore in the form of the creature...none return. The story follow one man in particular who does this and learns why they never return.

Does this sound familar to anyone? The description may be off because I havnt read it in years. I always wanted to read the whole thing. If anyone could help me out with the title it would be very much appreciated.

Per chance: читать | "Here There Be Tigers," 1951

http://www.raybradbury.ru/cgi-bin/story.cgi?id=100-0&type=online

expasia,
Try "Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed" from "A Medicine For Melancholy". I think this is the story you're thinking of.

expasia, are you still out there?

Similar stories in a way; metamorphosis of the humans' psyches and realities in a 1950's RB manner, you think Br2?

Here, from our friend in Russia:
http://www.raybradbury.ru/cgi-bin/story.cgi?id=079-0&type=online&page=1

Da!

Could be in the vast "similar, but not Bradbury" category.

This is what I have done in the past with these story IDs and will do again whenever I have time, (which I MUST tell myself I will...someday) but in the meantime it REALLY helps if people do their own.
1. Go to the Abebooks forums. Make sure you are in the "Booksleuth" forum.
http://forums.abebooks.com/abesleuthcom
Post under "Science Fiction." If I were you, I wouldn't crosspost there, although some stories fall into more than one category, i. e. Children's and Science Fiction. This forum houses the most friendly, helpful, useful, knowledgeable folks I've been able to find online.

2. Go to Google Groups (or, if you REALLY MUST, Usenet--same groups in a different form, only Usenet preferers seem to have a less efficient system coupled with a superior, know-it-all attitude.) Start with this one:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.books.isaac-asimov?lnk=lr
because Asimov is the author most frequently mistaken for Bradbury. Even if the story isn't one of Dr. Asimov's, his fans are polite, helpful, and widely read in other Science Fiction.
When you post there, crosspost to the following groups: rec.arts.books, rec.arts.books.childrens, and rec.arts.sf.written
The worst that will happen is some obnoxious troll, most likely on rec.arts.books.childrens where a number of them have taken up semipermanent residence, who has nothing better to do, will call you rude for crossposting (WHY, I have never determined and refuse to argue it with them.) The best that will happen is you only have to type your question (or copy and paste the one you already typed) once, and it will simultaneously appear in all four groups. If the people who answer just hit "reply" without stripping out the other addresses, all answers will appear in all those groups, so you only have to check one instead of opening up four groups separately. Usenet has a smattering of knowledgeable and helpful folks along with a community of idiots with too much time on their hands, but a lot of people see questions posted there and you may receive semidecent answers.

3. If all these free sources fail, go to:
http://www.logan.com/loganberry/stump.html
They are the ultimate authority and if the question can be solved nowhere else, it is well worth the $2.00 they charge to have it posted to their site, where it will stay on the unsolved pages until solved, without getting "bumped down" the way things do in message board format. It will then go permanently to the solved pages in case anyone else ever has the same question.

4. Lastly, most important! When you get your answer, whether it be right away or months or years later, PLEASE come back and post it here! If your post is no longer near the top, you can find it by clicking "Find" at the top of the page and searching for your username or some other unusual term. It would also be nice to mention from what source the answer came. If it's not posted here, it will end up on my "unsolved" list if and when I do get time to go back through all these, and I'll end up doing all of the above (except for paying for other peoples' stumpers, at which I draw the line) unnecessarily! Thanks!

Hope this helps!

Dandy,
Good advice. I especially like no. 4!
By the way, I think I might know, but, what's "crossposting"? Sounds like a building term!

Thanks! What really GETS me is when we KNOW the answer and post it here within a day of the query, and the op (that's original poster) does not even ACKNOWLEDGE the answer!

All crossposting means is posting the same message to more than one group at the same time. If anyone replying does not strip out all the addresses except to the group to which they're replying, the reply also goes to all those groups. Sure it can be used for abuse, such as advertising, spreading rumors, and other off-topic nonsense, but when it is relevant to all the groups listed and all the op is trying to do is cover as much ground with as little effort as possible, it is beyond me why that would be considered abuse or what they are bellyaching about. Anyhow, since relatively few Google/Usenet groups are moderated, about all they can do is yell at you--not prevent you posting.

"Desrtion" by Clifford Simak, part of his "City" but anthologized elswhere. This was asked about in the favorite story section as well.

quote:

Originally posted by dandelion:
Thanks! What really GETS me is when we KNOW the answer and post it here within a day of the query, and the op (that's original poster) does not even ACKNOWLEDGE the answer!

Me too! Because I *know* that the story is "Desertion" by Clifford Simak! I read (you can pronounce that both as past tense and present tense) it every chance I get, and will remember it as long as I live, and finally bought its source anthology, Simak's "City".

It's that good.

Thanks for posting the answer so at least we'll have it if anyone else needs to know.