He is able to combine all the best aspects of every great literary and artistic work of the past with his own unique take on the world to fully illustrate what many people have felt and experienced but could not express. Yes, the fact that he gets into one's system IS a good thing, but he expresses so many things SO perfectly it's hard for any writer under his influence to try not to repeat him, let alone top him. Ray is not only a whole library in himself, he is a whole world and a whole UNIVERSE in himself at which most mere mortals must stand in awe.

[This message has been edited by dandelion (edited 08-28-2004).]

I think that Ray Bradbury has changed my life in a few ways. I think that reading the book that I was required for school has really effected the way I have seen things today. If I wasn�t able to do something that I want, such as listening to music or drawing, I would be torn apart inside. Just imagining not being able to do the things I love make me realize how much I take them for granite. Now that I have read the book it makes me think about how lucky I am to be able to have the freedom that I do.

courtnic000

If you truly believe, deep down inside, what you are saying...and it's not mere 'feelings' pouring out with idealistic emotions, then you are wiser than your years. Some people don't ''get it'' until much of life has had its way with them. Freedom, to be freedom, must set with a moral compass. Otherwise one finds his darkest hours as his comforter. When I read parts of 'Fahrenheit 451', I find books being burned the likes of Dickens, and the heart of Poe. It's ironic, I find, that 451first appeared in Playboy, which never has held any moral sensibilities. It's a convulted image of Christ eating and drinking with the sinners, that Bradbury should have done business here. We see good in much of Bradbury's works. But when Bradbury hardly wonders today if there is a life after death, I am inclined to think if bad company corrupts good morals.

Ray inspires because he was gifted by God! If Ray doesn't think much about an afterlife, God does!

Period.