Bradbury was the last of an influential generation of science fiction writers.

Some of Ray Bradbury’s books are still being taught in classrooms, though science has expanded into places that in mid-20th century, when he came on the literary scene, could be visited only through the imaginations of science fiction writers like him.

If “The Martian Chronicles” remains relevant today to students able to watch NASA videos from rovers roaming the surface of Mars, it is because Bradbury’s futuristic imaginings are less about science than the nature of human beings, the species that most fascinated him.

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