The other day I finally figured out Ray's remark "we have too many internets." It meant not that he (wrongly) believed more than one internet exists (as opposed to numerous sites online), but that too many things like the internet are available to distract us! On that count he was exactly right. This is why on finishing tasks of the day, I have to sit online for four hours, am up till 2 a.m. if I want to watch TV at all, and still have no time to read!

Exactly opposite of when I discovered Ray's work 40 years ago: at that age I shrugged off housework and yard work unless some pressing reason required them, I had no car and was too young for a license if I did, with four channels on TV there was nothing I needed to watch, the internet didn't exist and there weren't even any good pen pal sources--I was scouring magazines and picking through phone books trying to find people with whom to communicate!

That being said, Ray was dead wrong on at least two of his internet pronouncements:

1. He browsed a bookstore and walked out with several titles he would otherwise not have known about, and "you can't do that on the internet."

Ha, I say, HA! a) If limited to just titles discovered via Abebooks alone, possibly including titles I knew of but Abebooks reminded me I want to read--never mind Goodreads or any other site out there which I frequent or formerly frequented (RIP Alibris Forums!)--lined them all up on a shelf, and b) If I had time to read anyway, I would probably still be reading for a year, just on books found online! Expand it to other books, including titles of Ray's of which I learned only online, and a year is not long enough!

2. People like to take a good book to bed, and "no one takes the internet to bed," or "you can't take the internet to bed"--he said one or both at one time or another.

Again, HA, I say, Jolly HA! He never met my 13-year-old nephew! (Well, 14 now.) Last time I visited, we were flying light, with carryon only, so my laptop was too bulky and my sister said I could use hers. I could scarce wrest it from the lad's grip, but thought I might use it after he went to bed. Lo and behold, I pass his brother's room to find him on a mattress on the floor (because I was using his bed) with the laptop open next to the mattress--effectively on the internet in bed!

I burst into peals of fiendish laughter which he did not appreciate. I was laughing because, to me the internet is like school/work, where you do it sitting up at a desk. Lying in bed is like reading or watching TV--not going online--but nowadays with the devices getting smaller the lines are just hopelessly blurred! When I find myself going on the internet in bed, I'll know yet another bridge has been forever crossed!

I read about the "too many internets" quote, but I never really thought about how to interpret it, assuming Ray was just being silly about technology again. But I like your interpretation. It sounds spot on.

Yep, he could still hit the nail on the head.

This interview about the internet and other technology is from 1999. Here is a link.

https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-...1-3278605-story.html

Wonderful interview, dandelion. Thanks for posting it!

So here it is, my long-awaited rebuttal to Ray Bradbury's anti-internet rant from the above 1999 interview, in which he memorably says you can see and learn of newly published books, or find books you would otherwise never have heard of, only in a large bookstore, and "You can't do that on the internet." I KNEW I could put together a large collection of books I heard about ONLY on the internet, and after being online since 1999, here is my best attempt. If not all of the titles are readable, I can take more pictures or identify those which had to go in sideways.



From the extreme left end of the shelf up to The Snowstorm are my "half-internet" books. In some cases I had heard of the author, in some cases I had even read works by the same author, but I learned of these particular books only from internet discussions. I then knew to be on the lookout for them at library book sales, used book stores, thrift stores, and yard sales, where most of these came from. If not for the internet I'd have passed them over. In some cases I also acquire books online by trading on Paperbackswap and if really desperate there is eBay.

The Snowstorm is my one and only "75% internet" book. I had picked up a paperback IRL (in real life) but had such frustration trying to read it, I bought a hardcover which I had to order online. Everything from The Snowstorm to Winter of Enchantment are "full internet books," meaning I learned of them exclusively online and was able to acquire copies only online. I actually discussed Winter of Enchantment with Ray Bradbury, telling him how online efforts brought it back from obscurity. Someplace around I have the sequel, The House Called Hadlows, but the only way to get a hardcover was to order a very old copy, which I set aside for special treatment and couldn't put to hand for this shelf, just as well as it's full. Some of these, such as Winter of Enchantment and Lilac Skully and the Haunted House, even qualify as SUPER internet books, being available ONLY from online sources!

After Winter of Enchantment is just my regular TBR (to be read) shelf, but a number of these books also, including the Bradbury titles, do qualify as internet books, as I learned about and bought them online. Also Bradbury thought there were one or two juvenile biographies on him, I checked and there are at least four, which I have, not shown here, all learned about and purchased online. The whole shelf pretty well works as TBR, as most of these I have not read.

NOT EVEN INCLUDED HERE are books of which I was already aware, but only found copies online, and books of which I had descriptions only, and were identified online (one after 41 years of looking, 20 IRL and 21 online) of which I now have copies, or books I learned to "be on the lookout for" online which I bought to sell. The shelf would be overflowing several times over with these!

I do still insist on paper books only and shun the ebook, which Bradbury also long resisted. I love audiobooks and so did he, even recording some. Okay, I go to a lot of trouble here to prove Ray Bradbury wrong, so hope to evoke responses.

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