“For Bradbury fans, The Bradbury Chronicles is essential... [A]n engaging, often fascinating tale.”
— New York Times Book Review

“The lively, conversational prose brings out the writer's winning personality and turns his struggles and successes into a highly readable story. [I]nformative, enjoyable, and inspiring.”
— School Library Journal

“If you loved Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Golden Apples of the Sun, The Illustrated Man, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Dandelion WIne and many other Bradbury stories, you will love The Bradbury Chronicles, Weller's well-researched life of this literary icon. ”
— The Sunday Oklahoman

“[A] thorough portrait of Ray Bradbury... one paragraph tells the reader more about Ray Bradbury than could countless volumes. Weller puts in focus the wide-ranging impact of Bradbury's literary career.”
— Richmond Times Dispatch

“[T]he first major and most welcome biography... Weller's book gives almost a day-to-day accounting, often in Ray's own words or those of his wife, friends, and assoicates, providing a fine limning of the life.”
— The Boston Globe

“[One of ] this summer's best biographies.”
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“[I]f The Bradbury Chronicles is exhaustive, it is never exhausting, and each anecdote adds light and color to the portrait [Weller] has painted of a writer of real accomplishment. By the end of the book, we are able to see the inner workings of the remarkably imaginative mind ticking away inside Bradbury's best-loved work. As a cheerful and optimiistic writer, Bradbury surely deserves — and has gotten — a biographer who possesses the same qualities.”
— The Los Angeles Times

“Excellent... [a] detailed but lively book... both admiring and honest... [an] impressive biography.”
— The Nation

“Authorized but credibly candid...Weller gets it exactly right...You won't read this biography without digging out your neglected Bradbury books and wondering why you hadn't done so earlier.”
— Chicago Sun Times

“Although extremely popular for half a century, American fantasy writer Ray Bradbury (b. 1920) has never been the subject of a complete biography until now. Journalist Weller struck up a warm acquaintance with Bradbury in 2000, and this highly detailed, quotation-laden book reflects his access to Bradbury himself, Bradbury's family and friends, and Bradbury's private archives... Spanning a revolutionary period in communications and the arts, this lively biography written in nonacademic prose is a pleasure to read; Weller probes Bradbury's work and takes the time to address small but amusing details... Highly recommended.”
— Library Journal

“Bradbury granted literary journalist and lifelong fan Weller unprecedented access to his private life and private archive, and Weller has repaid the favor with a compulsively readable account of an exceptionally prescient, innovative, eccentric, and dedicated writer who has electrified the imaginations of generations of readers. More scholarly and literary biographies will follow, but none will have the vitality and intimacy of this living portrait.”
— Booklist (starred review)

"Ebullient... In highly readable prose, Weller surveys Bradbury's ancestors and family, his boyhood move to Hollywood, his introduction to science fiction and fantasy and his early writing attempts, which reflect the themes that pervade his more mature work... Highlights include Bradbury's collaboration with John Huston on the film Moby Dick, his receiving the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2000 and his recent feud with Michael Moore over the title of Moore's documentary film Fahrenheit 9/11."
— Publishers Weekly

“Snappy... A proficient study of a prodigious talent still going strong.”
— Kirkus Reviews

“Weller has produced a stunning profile of Bradbury's life, uncovering never-before published letters, documents, and photos, and providing detailed insights into Bradbury's creative genius. The Bradbury Chronicles richly details the life of the literary giant and leaves us with deep and compelling truths of the man behind the famous words. Highly recommended to all Bradbury fans.”
— Authorlink.com

“[Weller] does the rich material of Bradbury's life thus far meticulous justice... [and] creates a vivid portrait of a basically shy man... Seeking literary immortality through his work, Bradbury has certainly been helped along in his quest by Weller's accurate, interesting, and very timely biography.”
— Seattle Times

“The Bradbury Chronicles [is] something rarely seen in the world of biography: an authorized, totally readable, fantastic story of a man's life.”
— Bookslut.com

“Sam Weller's biography of this fantastic man makes him all the more human, and the reader is able to see that the most outstanding and astonishing fantasies have their roots in the simplest moments of everyday life.”
— Bookreporter.com

“An intimate and thorough vicarious journey... Bradbury's life has been fascinating, and Weller has done a comprehensive job of narrating it... Weller does an amazing job of tying Bradbury's memories to the plots and themes of many of his stories.”
— Rocky Mountain News

“[B]y far the most revelatory and fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of Bradbury's Oz-ian wonderland and his long, creative struggle to escape the tag of "science-fiction writer" — Weller's book succeeds, strangely enough, by fully humanizing this most humanistic of American scribes. While The Bradbury Chronicles remains, at its breathlessly detailed and adoring heart, a paean to both the inexhaustible author and the dizzying power of the creative act, it's also a splendid how-to guide for every fresh-off-the-Ferris-wheel writer who dreams of discovering, hitting, and, most importantly, maintaining their artistic stride in a world where straggling mediocrity has become the national pastime.”
— Austin Chronicle