The Barnes & Noble Review While peering at the stars one cool night in the desert, young Ahmed falls off his camel and becomes separated from his father's caravan. Certain he will die before he has even had an opportunity to live, Ahmed is reduced to tears. The sound of Ahmed's crying, and the wetness of the tears themselves, awaken a sleeping giant a slumbering god that rises from the desert sand and soars into the night's sky. The newly resurrected and jubilant god's name is Gonn-Ben-Allah. Gonn is touched by young Ahmed's dilemma but pleads for the boy to escape his past and what is left behind; live for the future, he says, for living in this manner is the only way to improve one's present and to achieve one's dreams. Gonn and Ahmed then embark on a wondrous journey through time and space. During this journey, Gonn teaches Ahmed many of life's important lessons, lessons of which adults not only young boys and girls need constant reminding. Gonn teaches Ahmed that there is no failure in trying. The only failure, Gonn explains, is to never try; only never trying will ensure the death of a dream. This despicable human act is what damages Gonn; it is why he has been killed and buried countless times before. At one point, Ahmed and Gonn witness a sleeping man, a metaphoric statement of passivity, a willingness to pass by opportunity, to allow what is to be without any attempt to improve or influence the situation. It is upon witnessing such an act that Gonn begins to shrivel and die. Has Ahmed learned Gonn's teachings well enough to save his giant friend from thishorriblefate? Ahmed and the Oblivion Machines is a very short but very delightful fable. Bradbury reminds us once again that dreaming is not only for children but for anyone who wishes to improve. This soon-to-be-classic tale, which is filled with illustrations from the skilled Chris Lane, is a wonderful gift for children, both young and old. Its message is valuable, and its story is enjoyable and enriching.
Author
Ray Douglas Bradbury, American novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was born August 22, 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois. He graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 1938. Although his formal education ended there, he became a "student of life," selling newspapers on L.A. street corners from 1938 to 1942, spending his nights in the public library and his days at the typewriter. He became a full-time writer in 1943, and contributed numerous short stories to periodicals before publishing a collection of them, Dark Carnival, in 1947. His reputation as a writer of courage and vision was established with the publication of The Martian Chronicles in 1950, which describes the first attempts of Earth people to conquer and colonize Mars, and the unintended consequences. Next came The Illustrated Man and then, in 1953, Fahrenheit 451, which many consider to be Bradbury's masterpiece, a scathing indictment of censorship set in a future world where the written word is forbidden. In an attempt to salvage their history and culture, a group of rebels memorize entire works of literature and philosophy as their books are burned by the totalitarian state. Other works include The October Country, Dandelion Wine, A Medicine for Melancholy, Something Wicked This Way Comes, I Sing the Body Electric!, Quicker Than the Eye, and Driving Blind. In all, Bradbury has published more than thirty books, close to 600 short stories, and numerous poems, essays, and plays. His short stories have appeared in more than 1,000 school curriculum "recommended reading" anthologies. Ray Bradbury's work has been included in four Best American Short Story collections. He has been awarded the O. Henry Memorial Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America, the PEN Center USA West Lifetime Achievement Award, among others. In November 2000, the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters was conferred upon Mr. Bradbury at the 2000 National Book Awards Ceremony in New York City. Ray Bradbury has never confined his vision to the purely literary. He has been nominated for an Academy Award (for his animated film Icarus Montgolfier Wright), and has won an Emmy Award (for his teleplay of The Halloween Tree). He adapted sixty-five of his stories for television's Ray Bradbury Theater. He was the creative consultant on the United States Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1982 he created the interior metaphors for the Spaceship Earth display at Epcot Center, Disney World, and later contributed to the conception of the Orbitron space ride at Euro-Disney, France. Married since 1947, Mr. Bradbury and his wife Maggie lived in Los Angeles with their numerous cats. Together, they raised four daughters and had eight grandchildren. Sadly, Maggie passed away in November of 2003. On the occasion of his 80th birthday in August 2000, Bradbury said, "The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me. The feeling I have every day is very much the same as it was when I was twelve. In any event, here I am, eighty years old, feeling no different, full of a great sense of joy, and glad for the long life that has been allowed me. I have good plans for the next ten or twenty years, and I hope you'll come along."
