The Illustrated Man (1951) by Ray Bradbury

The Illustrated Man (1951) by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury's 'The Illustrated Man' is a collection of 18 unrelated short stories (though the version I read didn't have all the stories that are listed in the Wikipedia entry, which is weird) wrapped together in a narrative framework about a man with animated tattoos all over his body, each of which depicts one of the stories contained in the book. The stories themselves vary wildly in terms of their subject matter and characters, but all are sci-fi and relate to mankind's future, technology, and often space travel. Each of them revolves around an intriguing concept, and while they are on the whole entertaining and often thought provoking I didn't really find any of them to brilliant. The writing and characters ultimately failed to engage me in any meaningful way. There also seems to be a willful disregard for scientific plausibility, even for something written in the 1950s, with talk of space travel being done in very simplistic terms. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh as the stories are told in broad strokes, but it's one element of the book that irked me. Overall it's a fairly speedy and fun read that features some memorable ideas that are incorporated into decent stories.