Customer Reviews

Mars: Uncovering the Secrets of the Red Planet (National Geographic)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I saw the large size of the book I was expecting a nice coffee table/waiting room book for readers to glance through. However, with Matt Golombek as a contributor I knew that some serious science would be on the agenda. After reading the book, I was amazed at how the author(s) weaved a fascinating narrative together with solid science. This book is for the serious student as well as the public at large.

The photographs of Mars are spectacular, and there are a lot of them. The pictures clearly show how water -- oceans of it -- etched canyons six times deeper than the Grand Canyon. The pictures of Olympus Mons illustrate where the volcanic sediments in the river banks came from. The description of "on the fly" programming of the 41 explosive bolts necessary to land Pathfinder was touching, dramatic and fascinating. The book provides a breathtaking story of interplanetary scientific adventure. Edward B. Flowers, St. John's University

This outstanding book is published by National Geographic and it shows! Enough colorful pictures to qualify as a coffee table book but plenty of interesting text to work through as well. The book is written for the "educated layman", not too technical but at the same time assuming a basic understanding of science. The ratio of text to pictures is similar to the National Geographic magazine, perhaps a bit heavier on the text.

Raeburn begins with a summary of the different beliefs held about Mars before the spacecraft era, including the widely held one initiated by Lowell about canals constructed by intelligent Martians. Raeburn spends the bulk of the book taking us through NASA's various missions to Mars: Mariner, Viking, Pathfinder, and Global Surveyor. The book was published in 1998 and hence only provides a "preview" of the Global Surveyor findings. Today, of course, we have a complete global map of Mars in astonishing detail.

Also, Raeburn optimistically looks forward to NASA's continuing "faster, cheaper, better" program of Mars exploration. We already know that the orbiter and polar lander failed, so let's hope that the craft to be launched this year fare better. Raeburn also notes that in 2005 a craft will be launched that should bring rocks from Mars back to Earth!

Overall, definitely worth the price of entry for the pictures alone. There are even some neat 3-D pictures inside and the book provides 3-D glasses!

This work has spectacular pictures of the Martian surface
developed from recent expeditions. The shots of the Valles
Marineris are panoramic as is the Orphir plateau surface.
The planet has a heavily cratered terrain with many
photo shots of the Southern Polar Cap consisting of water and
CO 2. This book would be a treasure chest for a school class
project in science. It is highly recommended for a young
audience or for curious elders and other red planet enthusiasts. The detailed descriptions of the planet add
significantly to the overall presentation. The book is a
worthy addition to any science library.

The authors have done a magnificent job of capturing the mystery, excitement, and wonder of our nearest planetary neighbor. Beautiful photos! Captures all the excitement from the recent Mars Pathfinder (Sojourner Rover) landing!

"MARS - Uncovering The Secrets of the Red Planet" is absolutely stunning. There is no better way to tour the red planet short of actually going there.

AN EXCELLENT COLLECTION OF PHOTOS AND INFO. THIS BOOK IS AWESOME FOR THE PERSON WHO LOVES SCIENCE AND SPACE. HISTORY, FACTS, OPINIONS AND A WHOLE LOT MORE MAKE THIS BOOK A WINNER. WELL WORTH OWNING FOR YEARS TO COME.
A MUST FOR SPACE BUFFS.

Mars: Uncovering the Secrets of the Red Planet, by Paul Raeburn and introduction and commentary by Mars Pathfinder project scientist Matt Golombek, is a book filled with a massive amount of detailed information. Occasionally, the information was overwhelming. Although the author did an excellent job at mixing the more technical information with lighter information and absolutely amazing photos, the book was still confusing at times.
The book begins by introducing some of the famous astronomers of history. It addresses what Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, Aristarchus, and Ptolemy believed about Mars. The book also has pictures illustrating what mankind has thought of Mars and Martians from a stereotypical view. Later the author focuses on the time during which Russia and America raced to make their space program the best in the world. You may or may not be familiar with this period in history (this information is covered in the book) but the competition was fierce. The writer focuses on the attempts to launch probes into space, the monetary issues that arose, and the problems each side faced in their quest to eventually land on the moon. Raeburn then discusses the American Mariner, Viking and Pathfinder missions to Mars. He describes the details of the launches, the successes, the failures, and the purposes of the missions. He then explains the interest in going to Mars, the debate over life on Mars, and gives information about the similarities between Earth, and the red planet.
I felt this book was a challenging read. It was informative and had many quotes from famous scientists such as Dr. Robert Manning and Dr. McKay. The photographs in this book were fantastic; they were detailed and visually impressive. This was the most informative book about Mars I have ever read by a long shot, and although I wouldn't recommend it for light reading, it is an excellent reference book. I feel an adult would appreciate the book more than I did.

This book can't decide if it is a coffee table picture book or something more serious and suffers as a consequence as it is not particularly good at either. I suppose it might be a nice, very non-technical introduction to the study of Mars for the very non-technical. If you are looking for a nice picture book (which I was) I think you'll find this falls a little short. I was hoping for something analagous to the NGS book, Orbit, and I did not get it.