From Publishers Weekly
One of the top space writers (Planetary Encounters, Shuttle and The Coattails of God made Powers a three-time winner of the Aviation Space Writers Association award) here projects our inevitableto him, at leastcolonization of Mars. Back in 1895, astronomer Percival Lowell spelled out the dream in a book that bears the same title as this one; Powers dedicates his book to Lowell and in further tribute develops a scenario for colonizing the so-called Red Planet. While Powers inescapably seems to be dealing with science fiction, his assessment of the problems to be overcome by the first Mars explorers is based soundly on what is already known of space travel, and of Mars itself, through the Viking landings and other studies. This is exciting reading, if outlandish in some aspects, as Powers describes Mars and the awesome loneliness the first colonizers will surely have to overcome before they can humanize their strange new world. Photos.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Powers's latest work presents for a general audience his vision of mankind's future exploration and eventual colonization of Mars. He does a credible job when describing the initial expeditions to the planet, the technologies involved in establishing self-sustaining colonies, the native resources the colonists would exploit to survive the harsh environment, and how "terraforming" might eventually make Mars's climate more Earth-like. The passages describing the colonists themselves, however, read more like mediocre science fiction. And some quesitonable claims concerning genetic engineering (e.g., that a horse has already been successfully cloned) make one wonder where the author draws the line between science fact and fiction. Not an essential purchase. Thomas J. Frieling, Bainbridge Junior Coll. Lib., Ga.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
