Stephen Petranek

Overall, Petranek's book is well written, concise, and easily consumable by a mass audience. That said, if you have read more than one or two recent books about Mars, there's not much here for you that's new. And if you're really interested in the subject of humans living on Mars, Robert Zubrin's [b:The Case for Mars|56713|The Case for Mars The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must|Robert Zubrin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436215886s/56713.jpg|2128996] is much more satisfying. But Petranek's book is one I can loan to people who are mildly curious about the subject.… (mehr)

Some might rate this higher, but I was looking for a book/essay/etc. that dealt with "how we'll live on Mars" and this was not that. Much too high-level, too general, too short. Did you know that we'll need to find water and oxygen to live on Mars? To grow food? That radiation is going to be a difficultly? That people dream about terraforming Mars? If all that is news to you, then this book is for you. (And to be fair, for many people those all might be news, at least in part.) Otherwise, look elsewhere.… (mehr)

Ah, what a monumental book for me. Listening to the TED Talk was how I got into Mars colonization in the first place, and re-reading it was what sparked my post about Mars on day two of #100DaysToOffload.

All in all, this book is very well-written. Providing a structured understanding of the steps we need to take to get to Mars – from the funding to the food/water/shelter on Mars, to the colonization and terraforming – if you want a quick overview of how these things are going to be carried out, this book is the place to go. It offers succinct explanations that can be understood by the layman (I mean, I first read this in 6th or 7th grade).

My biggest gripe while re-reading this book was the optimism. There’s nothing inherently wrong with optimism- but I found it a little concerning Mars was depicted more as a heroic adventure story than an engineering challenge of magnificent proportions.
I utilize this book mostly as a Mars 101 lecture, which after all, is what TED is all about.… (mehr)