Ray Bradbury-Passionate, Driven, Frantic!!

I am reading an anniversary edition of the book with two introductions and a foreward written by Bradbury. Sorry, but the cynic in me will not accept the fact that Bradbury couldn't afford college. That he wrote the book renting a typewriter in the library basement of UCLA tells me he wasn't real resourceful. By this time he had several editors and had more than several published works and was soon to receive an offer from John Huston inviting Bradbury to Ireland to write a screenplay of Moby Dick. Roving the stacks in the library is where his ideas were born and "fed". And just in case someone doesn't think he is "legit": "Years later, during a lecture at a university, the president of the college, hearing of my total immersion in literature, presented me with a cap, cloak, and diploma and officially "graduated" me from the library". (p. 17) I hate to ask this, but did he ever graduate from a university? Not that it matters much when you consider the "body of his work". (These last few sentences were thrown in after I had written my comment so they may not exactly fit but I can't go back and make them fit and still include them so I am just dropping them in here. )
If I spent my time, hours on end, days even, "in the stacks" I would either get an idea or get hungry. This is a personal observation, but I think it is clear to see that Bradbury ran to his rented typewriter and became famous. I, on the other hand, ran to McDonalds and became fat. However, this is not about me. But that's not true either. Every posting and comment thereto alluded to how one of us is personally touched by the ideas presented in this book. Bradbury nailed it!! Stimulus is supposed to make us think. Stimulus like the print media, news, advertisements, television, music, movies, video games, magazine articles, stories, novels, books, classics. So one of the themes in this book is to wake us up so we realize that media isn't supposed to form our ideas but to make us think. Then we take our values and personal experiences and come up with our own conclusions and life styles. These conclusions do not wholly define us, but it defines certain parts of the life we live. My ideas about what is important or what I think or my opinions on some things have changed over the years. Isn't that natural and isn't it welcoming? Getting back to Bradbury, I think he exposed himself to things that gave him ideas and then learned to run with "a whim" and then frantically write about it. That's why in so many short stories, he reacted to a personal incident, like "The Pedestrian" the short story he wrote about a cop challenging him to the idea of taking a walk with a friend late at night. He then fantasized about the incident and made a terrific story about it. So I am beginning to ramble but to me this book is about Ray Bradbury-his style and censoring books. This book was written during the McCarthy period, in the basement of a university library, in the early sixties. Mildred and her lifestyle, enveloping television screens, music constantly bugged into our hears, (I won't even get into emails and text messaging) the fact that the firemen ignite fires not smoother them, the Mechanical Hound or "Big Brother", webcams, instant news reporting about wars and disasters. There is no need to feel anymore, to think, to react, to love, to miss the very presence of someone or something, memories. You guys, we are there!!

Have a good day!!
mom