This book is a collection of
science-fiction short stories by
Ray Bradbury. The set-up is that the
narrarator encounters a man who's body is covered with
tattoos. They are extremely
vivid and
realistic, almost seeming to be
alive. As the two men camp together, the illustrations
do come alive and tell stories of the
future to the narrarator. There are a total of eighteen stories:
Most of the stories share a common theme of space travel, the atomic bomb, or draconian government as well as an overridingly depressing and pessimistic tone. The most famous story in this book would be The Veldt, a story of children who are more attatched to the convenient devices of their home and a holodeck-like "nursery room" than they are to their own parents.
Besides a few exceptional stories, I didn't particularly like this book. I would more readily recommend one of Bradbury's other works such as Something Wicked This Way Comes or Fahrenheit 451. However, behing a young whippersnapper, I may just be spoiled by the standards of today's sci-fi. Different strokes for different folks, as they say.
The Illustrated Man was originally published in 1951 by Doubleday. The rights to the book were later bought by Bantam and it was subsequently republished several times. Its ISBN number is 0-553-27449-X.