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    I Sing the Body Electric!: And Other Stories
    Unavailable
    I Sing the Body Electric!: And Other Stories
    Unavailable
    I Sing the Body Electric!: And Other Stories
    Audiobook16 hours

    I Sing the Body Electric!: And Other Stories

    Written by Ray Bradbury

    Narrated by Dick Hill

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    The mind of Ray Bradbury is a wonder-filled carnival of delight and terror that stretches from the verdant Irish countryside to the coldest reaches of outer space. Yet all his work is united by one common thread: a vivid and profound understanding of the vast set of emotions that bring strength and mythic resonance to our frail species. Bradbury characters may find themselves anywhere and anywhen. A horrified mother may give birth to a strange blue pyramid. A man may take Abraham Lincoln out of the grave-and meet another who puts him back. An amazing Electrical Grandmother may come to live with a grieving family. An old parrot may have learned over long evenings to imitate the voice of Ernest Hemingway, and become the last link to the last link to the great man. A priest on Mars may confront his fondest dream: to meet the Messiah. Each of these magnificent creations has something to tell us about our own humanity-and all of their fates await you in this collection of twenty-eight classic Bradbury stories and one luscious poem. Travel on an unpredictable and unforgettable literary journey, safe in the hands of the century's great man of imagination.



    Track List for I Sing the Body Electric!:



    Disc 1



    "The Kilimanjaro Device"-Track 1



    "The Terrible Conflagration Up at the Place"-Track 9



    "Tomorrow's Child"-Track 21



    Disc 2



    "The Women"-Track 10



    "The Inspired Chicken Motel"-Track 17



    Disc 3



    "Downwind from Gettysburg"-Track 2



    "Yes, We'll Gather at the River"-Track 14



    "The Cold Wind and the Warm"-Track 21



    Disc 4



    "Night Call, Collect"-Track 12



    "The Haunting of the New"-Track 19



    Disc 5



    "I Sing the Body Electric!"-Track 12



    Disc 6



    "The Tombling Day"-Track 12



    Disc 7



    "Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby's Is a Friend of Mine"-Track 2



    Disc 8



    "Heavy-Set"-Track 1



    "The Man in the Rorschach Shirt"-Track 8



    "Henry the Ninth"-Track 18



    Disc 9



    "The Lost City of Mars"-Track 2



    Disc 10



    "The Blue Bottle"-Track 5



    "One Timeless Spring"-Track 12



    "The Parrot Who Met Papa"-Track 18



    Disc 11



    "The Burning Man"-Track 9



    "A Piece of Wood"-Track 15



    "The Messiah"-Track 19



    Disc 12



    "G.B.S.-Mark V"-Track 6



    "The Utterly Perfect Murder"-Track 15



    "Punishment Without Crime"-Track 21



    Disc 13



    "Getting Through Sunday Somehow"-Track 4



    "Drink Entire: Against the Madness of Crowds"-Track 11



    "Christus Apollo"-Track 22
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Audio
    Release dateOct 20, 2010
    ISBN9781400188192
    Author

    Ray Bradbury

    Ray Bradbury (22 August 1920 – 5 June 2012) published some 500 short stories, novels, plays and poems since his first story appeared in Weird Tales when he was twenty years old. Among his many famous works are 'Fahrenheit 451,' 'The Illustrated Man,' and 'The Martian Chronicles.'

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    Reviews for I Sing the Body Electric!

    4/5

    254 ratings14 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Another one first read long ago in my late childhood. It’s a nice collection, sweet and nostalgic. But this collection pales when compared to Bradbury’s “The Illustrated Man.” Not bad at all, but I can’t help comparing them. So naturally I put “Illustrated” on my reading list.
    • 4/5
      I don't always do well with short story collections. If they're good I want to read them one after the other, only to find the individual stories get lost in the blur. If they're not so good, I'm tempted to put the book down part way through and never pick it up again. I suspected this book of Bradbury stories was more likely to be the former, so had a strategy going in. I would read one story at a time, switching to other books in between so that the stories remained distinct in my mind. And I took the time after finishing each story to jot down a very brief description of each one, again to help me remember them as individual tales. And that's what I'm going to share here.Not all of these stories have science-fiction elements, and several reveal Bradbury's preoccupation with his fellow writers. I've marked my favorites with an asterisk.The Kilimanjaro Device — A man invents a time-travel contraption to give Ernest Hemingway a better ending. (This is not the last we'll read of Papa. I gather Bradbury was a bit of a fanboi.)*The Terrible Conflagration Up at the Place — A comic tale of some bumbling IRA soldiers and the best-laid plans of mice and men.Tomorrow's Child — A baby is born into another dimension, and appears in this one as a small blue pyramid with tentacles, to the distress of his all-too-human parents.The Women — Something in the sea wants to claim a sunbather, but his wife has other plans.The Inspired Chicken Motel — In the depths of the Great Depression, a chicken lays prophetic eggs.*Downwind from Gettysburg — A man named Booth assassinates a man named Lincoln, 100 years after the Civil War.*Yes We'll Gather at the River — The relentless march of progress leaves a small town behind.*The Cold Wind and the Warm — The fairies return to Ireland, if only for a day.Night Call, Collect — The last man alive on Mars is haunted by the voice of his younger self.The Haunting of the New — A house forcefully renounces its history of debauchery.*I Sing the Body Electric! — Robot Grandma comforts a family of young children after their mother dies.*The Tombling Day — An old woman encounters her first love, who has been dead for sixty years.*Any Friend of Nicholas Nickelby's is a Friend of Mine — Charles Dickens takes up residence in a small Illinois town — in 1929.Heavy Set — An overgrown boy and his mama.The Man in the Rohrschach Shirt — A retired psychiatrist finds a new clientele on the California beaches.*Henry the Ninth — The last king of England surveys his kingdom.The Lost City of Mars — An expedition to an abandoned underground city that runs itself — and the people who stumble on it.The Blue Bottle — On a long-abandoned Mars, a man searches endlessly for his heart's desire.One Timeless Spring — A 12-year-old boy is convinced his parents are poisoning him.The Parrot Who Met Papa — A man birdnaps a parrot that met Hemingway and memorized his final unpublished manuscript.*The Burning Man — On the hottest day of the year, a boy and his aunt pick up a most unusual hitchhiker.A Piece of Wood — A pacifist soldier invents a device to turn the world's weapons to rust.*The Messiah — The Second Coming of Christ, on Mars.G.B.S. Mark V — A voyage through space with George Bernard Shaw.The Utterly Perfect Murder — A middle-aged man travels across the country to avenge a childhood snub.*Punishment Without Crime — A man is sentenced to an authentic penalty for a faux crime.*Getting Through Sunday Somehow — A man struggles through a gloomy, sleepy Dublin Sunday until he meets the perfect antidote.Drink Entire: Against the Madness of Crowds — A brutal heat wave drives a man to desperate things.Christus Apollo — A cantata contemplating other Jesuses on other worlds.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Too much style for my taste.
    • 5/5
      Brilliant collection of stories by Ray Bradbury, some Sci fi and some more interesting tales about human characters and relationships. Narrator does fantastic job on bringing the stories to life.
    • 3/5
      This book is a collection of 17 short stories and a poem from a few different genres written between 1948 and 1977. The titles of the book and the corresponding short story are based on a poem by Walt Whitman. I thought the calibre of the stories was a little uneven, and this may be partly due to the age in which the stories were written. I give this collection 3 stars out of 5.The stories cover lots of different topics from the mundane to science fiction. They include:1. The Kilimanjaro Device - a man driving an unusual truck seeks an old man who he wants to take on an unusual trip;2. The Terrible Conflagration Up at the Place - a group of Irish nationalists want to make their mark by burning down the house of a peer;3. Tomorrow’s Child - a baby is born in another dimension but is visible in the normal world, the parents seek ways to reverse the situation for their child;4. The Women - a woman contests ownership of her man with a seaboard entity;5. The Inspired Chicken Motel - a man and his family are driving during the Great Depression when they encounter a motel that leaves a lasting impression;6. Downwind from Gettysburg - a man shoots a robotic version of Abraham Lincoln;7. Yes, We’ll Gather at the River - a group of store owners in a small town awaits the opening of a highway bypass that is likely to kill their town and their businesses;8. The Cold Wind and the Warm - an eccentric group visit Dublin for a very short stay;9. Night Call, Collect - the last man on Mars waits for people to return, meanwhile he is plagued by phone calls made by his younger self;10. The Haunting of the New - a house that had been burnt down is rebuilt in exact replica, but it appears that it may be haunted;11. I Sing the Body Electric - a man who has lost his wife buys a robot grandmother to look after his children;12. The Tombling Day - a small town goes to work to relocate its graveyard affected by a road diversion;13. Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby’s is a Friend of Mine - a stranger arrives in town pretending to be Charles Dickens and befriends a twelve-year old boy;14. Heavy-Set - a bodybuilder prepares to celebrate Halloween with some friends;15. The Man in the Rorschach Shirt - a man boards a bus and asks the passengers what they see in his unusual shirt;16. Henry the Ninth - the last man in Great Britain refuses to leave;17. The Lost City of Mars - a group of people answer an advertisement for a trip on a Martian canal hoping to find a lost city;18. Christus Apollo - a poem celebrating the eighth day of creation and the promise of the ninth.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Classic Bradbury - funny, frightening, touching, and always sung onto the page with furious poetry. Not quite his best, but better than most everyone else's.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      This collection is a mixed bag of short stories. Some are wonderful, particularly the title story which deals with grief and robots with personalities, others fall flat or are forgettable.  In one story a family is shocked when their first child is born into the fourth dimension instead of the third. Another is a haunting tale about a man who is left behind after his rocket leaves him on Mars alone. After decades alone he begins to get calls from himself on the phone. He finally remembers that he recorded those calls to keep himself company when he’s older. Still another is about a world in which perfect marionette recreations are made of people so that other can enact their vicious desires upon them. For example, if your wife cheats on you, you could murder a lifelike marionette of her and then face no consequences.  BOTTOM LINE: I’m continually amazed to see how Bradbury’s brilliant mind worked. Even in his weaker stories they usually start with an interesting idea. The man had no limit to where his brain would take him and he had the ability to craft gorgeous prose to go hand-in-hand with his wild imagination. It's not my favorite collection, but there are still a few gems.
    • 2/5
      This short story collection by Ray Bradbury is an eclectic mix of stories; science fiction; fantasy; characters portraits; poetry and some just plain silliness. Reviewing or rating a collection of short stories can be very difficult—but one thing I like to see is a recurring theme—which I did not find in this collection. Some of the stories were dull and felt like they were just a mix of random thoughts. I really like Bradbury and was disappointed in this collection. I did enjoy a few of the stories, specifically: ”I Sing the Body Electric” the story of a family who adopt a surrogate android grandmother after the death of the mother in the family unit. “Any Friend of Nicholas Nickleby is a friend of mine “ the story of an unsuccessful writer who decides to spend the remainder of his life imitating the life and copying the writings of Charles Dickens. And while I liked these stories, overall I can not give it a strong recommendation (read the Illustrated Man instead). 2 out of 5 stars.
    • 4/5
      I'm apparently in the minority on this one, but I didn't think this was one of Bradbury's better short story collections. The title story is the most significant one here, and while it's interesting that Bradbury, contrary to what might seem to be implied in some of his other stories, here praises technology (hence the title), he does so in a rather muddled fashion. It's about a family that gets a robot "mother" to replace their recently-deceased real mother---but it goes farther than merely saying that machines are good in their place and strongly suggests that an artificial replacement could actually be far superior to a real mother. This is so bizarre that you have to suspect that Bradbury is being satirical, but to the contrary there is every indication that he's playing it straight."How many times have you heard how inhuman machines are, in your life? How many bright fine people have you heard spouting the same tired truths which are in reality lies; all machines destroy, all machines are cold, thoughtless, awful. There's a seed of truth there. But only a seed...most machines are amoral, neither bad nor good. But by the way you built and shaped them you in turn shaped men, women, and children to be bad or good." This is all fine and good as far as it goes, but Bradbury goes on to have the children declare in the end, "You've always been alive to us!"---which, in the context of the story about their real mother being dead, is somewhat disturbing.There aren't any other stories here that really stood out for me, and most of them were just not up to Bradbury's usual standards and I thought were far from his best. But they weren't his worst either, and almost anything he writes is worth reading. These probably are too, but perhaps only if you're a real Bradbury fan; otherwise, you might want to read some of his more classic books instead, such as Fahrenheit 451, Dandelion Wine, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, or even We'll Always Have Paris. I would put this one fairly low on the list.
    • 4/5
      the man in the rorschach shirt is a short story worth reading. the post-Freudian psychologist who is reminiscent of so many wise thinkers confesses all his prior faults and his new future while finding pleasures in the small aspects of life. he also notes that the writer has an imagination that the historian can't match.
    • 5/5
      Some of Bradbury's best, with four of the 18 stories pure works orf genius, namely: 1) the kilamajaro device, 2) the women, 3) tomorrow's child, and 4) the lost city of Mars. Tomorrow's child is absolutely delicous! The poem at the end is a gratuious homage to Christianity, and inasmuch as the idea and worship of God is universal (with other species), I agree with the author.
    • 5/5
      What a writer! I love these stories, especially the title piece, which was made into a Twilight Zone episode.
    • 5/5
      Nobody does short fiction like Ray Bradbury. The stories in this book, like most of Bradbury's work, defy categorization.
    • 4/5
      Interesting collection of short stories, three of which are based in Ireland, 2 in Dublin itself. I was prompted to read this by a twilight zone episode. They're really light SF/Fantasy