I have been an enthusiast of aviation, space, and science fiction since I was a child. I graduated in aerospace engineering while the Apollo missions reached the Moon, but then in the post-Apollo days, I worked mostly in the mechanical engineering field. In the 1990s, as a professor of machine design, I could return to aerospace. Later, as a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, I led a study group on human Mars exploration and wrote some research books in this field and a few science fiction novels. I have always been fascinated by the idea that humans can become a multi-planetary species, returning to the Moon and going beyond.
I like this novelvery much (I read it 3 times), and I think it is the best novel about Mars exploration I ever read. It mixes good scientific accuracy, with well-described and realistic characters, with adventure and mystery. It is as compelling as a thriller, and I found it very difficult to stop reading to go to sleep.
The main character at the beginning seems to be a loser, but as the story unfolds, he develops into a hero without losing his humanity. In the end, I read the sequel to meet him again and to understand some points which were left unsolved at the end of the first novel.
I know people who are not science fiction fans but liked this novel very much.
To the harsh landscape of Sol's fourth planet travel thirteen astronauts, the best scientists from eleven nations, on a history-making voyage into the unknown. The international crew of the Mars mission have spent nine months in space, crossing 100 million kilometres, to reach the last great frontier. Their voyage is fraught with disputes, both personal and political, and their time on Mars limited to 'footprints and flags'; yet while there they will come face-to-face with the most incredible and shocking discovery of all.
I liked both this book and the movie, even if it has practically just one character. The castaway is so well described that after a few pages, the reader feels like a long-time friend and gets emotionally involved in the story.
I felt like traveling with him across half the planet to reach the Schiaparelli crater, which may mean a possibility of returning home. The other characters who risk their lives to save him also become friends, working with the reader on this common goal.
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old human error are…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I liked this book (and also the others of the trilogy) for the realistic and well-thought-out description of the terraforming of Mars.
The ethical and political aspects of this endeavor are so well described that the reader immediately gets involved in the political struggle (I personally joined the ‘green’ party advocating for immediate terraforming).
But politics on Mars is as harsh as on Earth and even more deadly since the place is a very dangerous one. The United Nations plays the part of the felon, trying to prevent Martians from becoming independent, and the war they wage causes the reader to lose several friends.
The first novel in Kim Stanley Robinson's massively successful and lavishly praised Mars trilogy. 'The ultimate in future history' Daily Mail
Mars - the barren, forbidding planet that epitomises mankind's dreams of space conquest.
From the first pioneers who looked back at Earth and saw a small blue star, to the first colonists - hand-picked scientists with the skills necessary to create life from cold desert - Red Mars is the story of a new genesis.
It is also the story of how Man must struggle against his own self-destructive mechanisms to achieve his dreams: before he even sets foot…
As a supporter of private space exploration, I liked this novel and particularly enjoyed the atmosphere reminiscent of Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. A point I liked above all is how the characters succeed in getting along, notwithstanding the stress and the interpersonal problems arising well before the launch.
As often happens, the reality is now going well beyond literature: here, the private mission is made on a meager budget, endangering the astronauts, while in the real world, company spacecraft are even more advanced than those of the space agencies.
Twelve-year-old identical twins Ellie and Kat accidentally trigger their physicist mom’s unfinished time machine, launching themselves into a high-stakes adventure in 1970 Chicago. If they learn how to join forces and keep time travel out of the wrong hands, they might be able find a way home. Ellie’s gymnastics and…
Usually, I do not like novels that are unduly dramatic with ill-fated space missions in which everything goes wrong. This is unrealistic: nobody would attempt a space mission without the required safety precautions. However, this book is an exception: the characters are so determined to survive that I was quite involved in the adventure.
The descriptions of the Martian environment are so vivid that you feel like you are there, traveling with them for thousands of miles to reach the North Pole.
With international interest in manned Mars exploration on the decline, after two disastrous, unsuccessful expeditions, a third expedition ventures to the "Red Planet," but from the moment of landing, everything begins to go wrong, and the astronauts' only hope of survival lies in a perilous journey across the surface of Mars. A first novel. 25,000 first printing.
My book describes the first human mission to Mars, a private mission. Onboard the spacecraft are four astronauts from different space agencies who paid a ‘ticket’ to have them on board and a representative of the company. Their interests are diverging: the scientists are mostly interested in finding Martian life—and thus earning a Nobel Prize—while the company would like Mars to host no life to hasten the process of colonization and terraforming of the planet.
In the book, I describe the political issues raised by such a mission even before the spacecraft leaves our planet and the difficulties—the biggest are not the technical ones—that must be overcome.
"Is this supposed to help? Christ, you've heard it a hundred times. You know the story as well as I do, and it's my story!" "Yeah, but right now it only has a middle. You can't remember how it begins, and no-one knows how it ends."
It began with a dying husband, and it ended in a dynasty.
It took away her husband’s pain on his deathbed, kept her from losing the family farm, gave her the power to build a thriving business, but it’s illegal to grow in every state in the country in 1978.…
