Ray Bradbury was born in Los Angeles in 1920, began writing when he was 15 and published his first collection of short stories at 27.   While hailed as a science fiction writer, Bradbury used the genre to present a wide range of social and political issues such as censorship, technology, racism, and the nuclear arms race. Fahrenheit 451 focuses on American consumerism and cultural decline, remains one of his best-known novels. Other critically acclaimed works by Ray Bradbury include The Illustrated Man (1951), Dandelion Wine (1957), Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), and I Sing the Body Electric (1969). Visit Ray Bradbury's official website.