en-US Sun, 16 Mar 2025 09:22:14 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 135674440
Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no war, no Twitter—beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? Critically acclaimed, bestselling authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith set out to write the essential guide to a glorious future of space settlements, but after years of research, they aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. Space technologies and space business are progressing fast, but we lack the knowledge needed to have space kids, build space farms, and create space nations in a way that doesn’t spark conflict back home. In a world hurtling toward human expansion into space, A City on Mars investigates whether the dream of new worlds won’t create nightmares, both for settlers and the people they leave behind. In the process, the Weinersmiths answer every question about space you’ve ever wondered about, and many you’ve never considered:

Can you make babies in space? Should corporations govern space settlements? What about space war? Are we headed for a housing crisis on the Moon’s Peaks of Eternal Light—and what happens if you’re left in the Craters of Eternal Darkness? Why do astronauts love taco sauce? Speaking of meals, what’s the legal status of space cannibalism?

With deep expertise, a winning sense of humor, and art from the beloved creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the Weinersmiths investigate perhaps the biggest questions humanity will ever ask itself—whether and how to become multiplanetary.

Get in, we’re going to Mars.]]> 11 Kelly Weinersmith Matt 4
They sound more helpful when they suggest that we wait to colonize space until we can "go big" with enough people, technology, and specializations to create a healthy, sustainable civilization. This is a worthwhile consideration. ]]> 4.06 2023
author: Kelly Weinersmith
name: Matt
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: 2025, audiobook, science, space-space-exploration
review:
At times the authors seem overly pessimistic and I was inclined to dislike what they were saying, the book is an important caution to our discussions and plans of space exploration. There are major challenges with establishing and maintaining human existence in space that we have not yet solved. Perhaps their most important point is that the worst situation on Earth (climate change, etc.) is still vastly better than the most "hospitable" environment on the moon, Mars, etc (which aren't hospitable at all). And even if we placed humans on another planet as a kind of insurance policy, it'll be a long time before that colony can survive without the mother planet.

They sound more helpful when they suggest that we wait to colonize space until we can "go big" with enough people, technology, and specializations to create a healthy, sustainable civilization. This is a worthwhile consideration.
]]> 678069
About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.
]]> 152 Peter Coles 019285416X Matt 4 3.69 2001
author: Peter Coles
name: Matt
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/03
date added: 2025/03/16
shelves: 2025, audiobook, science, space-space-exploration
review:
Very dense, even for a short introduction, but it gives a good sense of the current state of progress and controversy in modern cosmology.
]]> 56680239 70 Charles River Editors Matt 4
Still, this book shines as an erudite, insightful, yet succinct summation of the history and contributions of the Gemini project. Sandwiched between the Mercury and Apollo projects, Gemini gets less attention, as the authors note. Yet many advances were made with Gemini, such as spacecraft big enough for more than one person, onboard computers, the docking of spacecraft, etc. In short, Gemini built on Mercury and made the lunar missions of Apollo possible.

Definitely recommended and enjoyable!]]> 3.85
author: Charles River Editors
name: Matt
average rating: 3.85
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/05
date added: 2022/06/06
shelves: 2022, audiobook, space-space-exploration
review:
As with other Charles River Editors books, this one borrows some of its copy from its predecessor, "Project Mercury." While a recap is helpful, the verbatim repetition is off-putting, and surely it's not inconceivable that someone would read multiple books on similar subjects by this publisher.

Still, this book shines as an erudite, insightful, yet succinct summation of the history and contributions of the Gemini project. Sandwiched between the Mercury and Apollo projects, Gemini gets less attention, as the authors note. Yet many advances were made with Gemini, such as spacecraft big enough for more than one person, onboard computers, the docking of spacecraft, etc. In short, Gemini built on Mercury and made the lunar missions of Apollo possible.

Definitely recommended and enjoyable!
]]> 57293789 91 Charles River Editors Matt 4 4.04
author: Charles River Editors
name: Matt
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2022/05/24
date added: 2022/05/27
shelves: 2022, audiobook, space-space-exploration
review:
Well-paced, helpful, brief history of this era of space exploration and the cultural and political concerns that underlay it.
]]> 15793049 Farside.

Farside, the side of the Moon that never faces Earth, is the ideal location for an astronomical observatory. It is also the setting for a tangled web of politics, personal ambition, love, jealousy, and murder.

Telescopes on Earth have detected an Earth-sized planet circling a star some thirty light-years away. Now the race is on to get pictures of that distant world, photographs and spectra that will show whether or not the planet is truly like Earth, and if it bears life.

Farside will include the largest optical telescope in the solar system as well as a vast array of radio antennas, the most sensitive radio telescope possible, insulated from the interference of Earth's radio chatter by a thousand kilometers of the Moon's solid body.

Building the Farside observatory is a complex, often dangerous task. On the airless surface of the Moon, under constant bombardment of hard radiation and infalling micrometeoroids, builders must work in cumbersome spacesuits and use robotic machines as much as possible. Breakdowns—mechanical and emotional—are commonplace. Accidents happen, some of them fatal.

What they find stuns everyone, and the human race will never be the same.

"Bova's latest novel is one of his best, and a classic use of the old sf theme of humanity reaching out for immortality among the stars."—Booklist (starred review) on Farside]]> 367 Ben Bova 0765323877 Matt 3 3.18 2013
author: Ben Bova
name: Matt
average rating: 3.18
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2021/09/28
date added: 2021/09/29
shelves: 2021, audiobook, sci-fi, space-space-exploration
review:
This was actually my first experience of a Ben Bova novel. There are all the stereotyped characters, seemingly out of a pulp novel, as others have said, where most people (especially women) are described according to their sexual attractiveness. But I suppose what most struck me about the book was the laborious nature of the plot. It was like reading a detailed case study in a project management textbook, only the project happened to be set in space. In some ways, it made it so I could relate, and no doubt "work in space" would soon become just... work. But it seemed to miss that hard science or noble horizon that I tend to look for in scifi. There wasn't much uplift or wonder... just personal politics, work duties, and love affairs. I guess I was sufficiently intrigued by the twists and turns of the plot (like a detective novel) to stay with it to the end and enjoy it to a relative degree.
]]> 36236156 272 Adam Frank 0393609014 Matt 5
In short, we are just one small part of the story of life in the universe, and our choices will decisively impact how much of that story the human species gets to be around for.]]> 3.92 2018
author: Adam Frank
name: Matt
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2019/01/30
date added: 2019/01/30
shelves: audiobook, science, space-space-exploration
review:
This book is a stunningly fascinating exploration of the possibilities of life on other planets, as well as the broader impact of species' co-evolution with the planet, namely the ways life dramatically affects the other systems of a planet. From discussing how micro-organisms oxygenated the Earth to predicting the weather patterns on Mars, the author is always rigorous and yet clear in his explanations. The conclusions of the book are as profound as they are unsettling: statistically, it is highly improbable that there *haven't* been many instances of other intelligent life on other planets, and the capacity of species to pass the point of no return in terms of climate change is pretty high, given the nature of self-reinforcing feedback loops.

In short, we are just one small part of the story of life in the universe, and our choices will decisively impact how much of that story the human species gets to be around for.
]]> 21976097
It sounds like science fiction, but Stephen Petranek considers it fact: Within twenty years, humans will live on Mars. We'll need to. In this sweeping, provocative book that mixes business, science, and human reporting, Petranek makes the case that living on Mars is an essential back-up plan for humanity and explains in fascinating detail just how it will happen.

The race is on. Private companies, driven by iconoclastic entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Paul Allen, and Sir Richard Branson; Dutch reality show and space mission Mars One; NASA; and the Chinese government are among the many groups competing to plant the first stake on Mars and open the door for human habitation. Why go to Mars? Life on Mars has potential life-saving possibilities for everyone on earth. Depleting water supplies, overwhelming climate change, and a host of other disasters — from terrorist attacks to meteor strikes — all loom large. We must become a space-faring species to survive. We have the technology not only to get humans to Mars, but to convert Mars into another habitable planet. It will likely take 300 years to "terraform" Mars, as the jargon goes, but we can turn it into a veritable second Garden of Eden. And we can live there, in specially designed habitations, within the next twenty years.

In this exciting chronicle, Petranek introduces the circus of lively characters all engaged in a dramatic effort to be the first to settle the Red Planet. How We'll Live on Mars brings firsthand reporting, interviews with key participants, and extensive research to bear on the question of how we can expect to see life on Mars within the next twenty years.]]> 96 Stephen L. Petranek 1476784760 Matt 5 backwards in our ability to put people into orbit or beyond! The energy and ambition of people like Elon Musk are inspiring and many of the issues involved with surviving on Mars are--at least cursorily--discussed. Most fascinating were the speculations on terraforming and genetic engineering (so that humans can breathe a different gas mix, for instance).]]> 3.78 2014
author: Stephen L. Petranek
name: Matt
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2017/02/28
date added: 2017/03/01
shelves: science, sci-fi, space-space-exploration
review:
This book was refreshing (especially at this point in (political) history!) for its optimism and ambition. Sometimes the best way to overcome challenges is to truly aim beyond the initial obstacles. I appreciated his critique of the stagnation of NASA (we've actually moved backwards in our ability to put people into orbit or beyond! The energy and ambition of people like Elon Musk are inspiring and many of the issues involved with surviving on Mars are--at least cursorily--discussed. Most fascinating were the speculations on terraforming and genetic engineering (so that humans can breathe a different gas mix, for instance).
]]>