Ray Bradbury Turns 87

Posted on August 22, 2007

The New York Times profiles Ray Bradbury in honor of his 87th birthday, which is today. Bradbury discusses the relationship between art and science, and the value he places on other people's opinions (hint: it's pretty low).

"I'm surrounded by my metaphors," said Mr. Bradbury, who acknowledges that the science in his books is often faulty and serves only as a vehicle for his fiction. He'll provide the inspiration, he says, and let the scientists worry about the particulars. "The arts and sciences are connected," he continued. "Scientists have to have a metaphor. All scientists start with imagination."

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Mr. Bradbury, who stopped the regular reading of science fiction decades ago, is comfortable in his outsider status, if a bit cantankerous. "I don't need to be vindicated, and I don't want attention," he said. "I never question. I never ask anyone else's opinion. They don't count."

Bradbury infuriated critics when he recently said that Fahrenheit 451 wasn't about censorship. The Times notes that there is a clear paper trail of the author's earlier statements that shows that the novel was, indeed, about censorship. In any event, Bradbury is as cantankerous and as prolific as ever. After his stroke in 1999, he was unable to write his own books so he now dictates pages to his daughter every day.

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