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Title: A Traveler's Guide to Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet by William K. Hartmann ISBN: 0-7611-2606-6 Publisher: Workman Publishing Company Pub. Date: August, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: THE book on Mars
Comment: This book may very well be the best popular science book I've ever read. The story of what we know about Mars and how it was discovered unfolds in an exciting progression that leaves one convinced that not only has there been a lot of water on Mars in the past, but there is almost certainly still a lot of it underground all over the planet.
The story is lavishly illustrated with many amazing high-resolution images from the Mars Global Surveyor and other orbiter missions, along with a dozen or so of the author's own paintings.
The book answered all of the nagging quesitons I had about whether or not there's really evidence of water on Mars, and several times a question that formed in my mind (like "ok, maybe it was some fluid other than water like liquid CO2") was explicitly answered on the next page.
This book is a real gem, and if you want quick fun way to pick up the appropriate background for enjoying and understanding the results from the Spirit and Opportunity rover missions then this is it.
Sadly The Brittish Beagle 2 lander seems to have followed the Simplified Planetary Local Approach Trajectory that was favored by many previous attempts to land on Mars, but with the success (so far) of Spirit and high hopes for Opportunity landing soon, there will be plenty of exciting new information about Mars available soon, and I can only hope that the author of this book sees fit to give us a second edition in a year or so that summarizes all the new knowlege.
But for now, this it *the* book to get up to speed on Mars.
G.
Rating: 5
Summary: Wonderful tour with a great guide
Comment: If I were to take a guided trip to Mars, there are a handful of people that I'd like to choose my guide from - people who have spent their careers trying to understand Mars from the Mariner, Viking and Mars Global Surveyor missions. Bill Hartmann is certainly one of the members of that pool. He cut his geological teeth on the moon with Gerard Kuiper in the early 60's, and made wonderful, major contributions to our understanding of the moon. Then he has been involved in all the major Mars missions since the start. He is an artist as well as a scientist, so he informs this book with the soul of an artist as well as the mind of a scientist.
When I first saw the promotional literature for this book, I was struck by the beauty of the images in it. The book itself did not disappoint. It is a paperback, in the format of a field guide, but it is richly illustrated with color and black and white images. The book has two large fold-out maps - one of the best pre-space probe maps showing the Mars that can be seen with a telescope, and a topographic maps from the Mars Global Surveyor mission.
Hartmann uses his "Traveler's Guide" format to take us on a tour of Mars. The organization of the tour is based on the geological history of the Red Planet. So along the way, in addition to seeing the most fascinating places on Mars, we learn their geological context in chronological sequence.
Although it would be easy to bury the reader in geological jargon, Hartmann succeeds in making the study of Mars accessible and exciting. It is clear from reading the text that Mars is a world that still harbors many surprises for us. He is not afraid to share his thoughts with the reader - but he is careful to point out where they depart from the main stream. But given Hartmann's track record, one has to give his speculations more weight than most. He also enlivens the book with a thread of his personal journey as a Mars scientist in a series of stories from his career labeled, "My Martian Chronicle" that are is interwoven with the main text. These help illuminate the human side of the scientist.
Highly recommended!
Rating: 5
Summary: A wonderful tour of our most fascinating planetary neighbor
Comment: In thruth, I can add little more to the other Amazon reviews other than to say that they are right. William Hartmann's "A Traveler's Guide to Mars : The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet" is a wonderful tour of Earth's most intriguing planetry neighbor, incorporating both a lively history of our evolving knowledge of Mars and also a up-to-date guide to the most fascinating mysteries. What are the sources of the strange gullies and canyons that sometimes stretch hundreds of miles? Why do vast areas of the Martian surface look like gigantic staircases? How much water is there?
The photographs from various interplanetary probes are marvelous and the maps eye-opening. The format of the book makes it especially suited for browsing -- dipping in here and there as whim takes the reader -- yet it also merits a more methodical approach to discover what four decades of space exploration has taught us about Mars.
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Title: The Smithsonian Book of Mars (Smithsonian Library of the Solar System) by Joseph M. Boyce ISBN: 1588340740 Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $37.95 |
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Title: Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World by Oliver Morton ISBN: 0312245513 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 04 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Magnificent Mars by Ken Croswell ISBN: 0743226011 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 05 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $60.00 |
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Title: Sojourner: An Insider's View of the Mars Pathfinder Mission by Andrew Mishkin ISBN: 0425191990 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 02 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Mars on Earth: The Adventures of Space Pioneers in the High Arctic by Robert Zubrin ISBN: 158542255X Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: 25 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
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