Ray Bradbury, author of  The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man and Fahrenheit 451 (among many other books) loves the work of Oak Park's Edgar Rice Burroughs.

In an excerpt from Sam Weller's recently published book, Listen To The Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews, Bradbury talks about Burroughs, creator of Tarzan and his own set of Mars adventures featuring John Carter.

"I love to say it because it upsets everyone terribly—Burroughs is probably the
most influential writer in the entire history of the world," Bradbury said.

"By giving romance and adventure to a whole generation of boys, Burroughs caused them to go out and decide to become special. That's what we have to do for everyone, give the gift of life with our books. Say to a girl or boy at age ten: Hey, life is fun! Grow tall! I've talked to more biochemists and more astronomers and technologists in various fields, who, when they were ten years old, fell in love with John Carter and Tarzan and decided to become something romantic. Burroughs put us on the moon. All the technologists read Burroughs."

Listen To The Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews by Sam Weller ($18.95, Stop Smiling Books). Excerpted with permission.