Happy 83rd Ray Bradbury!

Writer Ray Bradbury turns 83 today. He is in the odd position of having lived long enough to experience the irony of having his passionate novel against book-burning, Fahrenheit 451, censored. Even more disturbingly, Bradbury found out in 1979 that his own publisher had bowdlerized his novel by removing 75 offending sections without his permission. This was done with the aim of increasing sales to timorous high school English classes.

To be fair, many communities actively encourage their citizens to read Fahrenheit 451. As a birthday present to this grand old man, treat yourself to Bradbury's own scorching indictment of modern book banning, Censorship in the Age of Multiculturalism.