"We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things." 
 A collection of sci-fi fantasy short stories all centered around humanity's attempted colonization of Mars, as seen through the largely bleak and cynical lens of a famed social critic. Bradbury's low opinion of human nature comes through loud and clear in most of these semi-chronological yet disjointed pieces. 
 That's not to say that all of these episodic stories assumed the worst outcome of humanity's eventual expansion. Four in particular stood out to this reader: 
 *In The Green Morning, a man appoints himself a sort of Johnny Appleseed of Mars, setting off on a mission to plant thousands of trees in hopes of raising the planet's oxygen levels. 
 *In Night Meeting, a man come across a Martian, though they seem to be from different times and/or dimensions. Neither can tell for sure which of their civilizations is long dead to the other. 
 *In The Fire Balloons, an American priest becomes convinced that, while very alien in form, the native Martians must indeed be sentient creatures worthy of the same missionary regard as any soul-imbued human. His efforts to communicate with and convert said natives results in a surprising revelation. 
 *In The Silent Towns, we receive some of Bradbury's more cheeky social commentary. A love-hopeful hermit misses the mass exodus back to Earth, and then desperately tries to determine if he is the last man on Mars. He finds one lone remaining woman, and quickly discovers he may prefer living out his remaining days in utter solitude. 
 After some researching, it appears the version I read was lacking a story called: "Way in the Middle of the Air." (Censored out, evidently--and ironically, given Bradbury's feelings regarding censorship.) It's a shame. 
 On the whole, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. Perhaps because I was hoping for more plausible speculative science than fantastical social commentary. (Then again, I never seem quite as enthusiastic over things that were originally written for serial publication. This is a personal flaw, and shouldn't be taken too seriously by those who don't share this particular hang-up.) I also prefer to form some sort of attachment to characters as the story/stories unfold, but the shortness of these pieces and the general sparseness of likeability made it difficult to care much for anyone. 
 Favorite Quote: 
 "Science is no more than an investigation of a miracle we can never explain, and art is an interpretation of that miracle."