Returning to the Garden: A Novel about Mars [Paperback]

Steven W. McCullough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1999

Ian McCall wants the Sojourner rover he builds and operates for NASA’s Mars Pathfinder Mission to be a great success. Unexpectedly, it makes an astonishing and mysterious discovery on Mars. Now the Government is determined to cover it up and make sure that Ian does not learn the true meaning of this discovery. Abby Perkins is a young, beautiful professor at Stanford University. Disobeying her mentor's warning, she deciphers an ancient text that recasts history and rocks her religious beliefs. Abby's and Ian's paths unite as they fight against enormous odds to foil a government plot, with the fate of mankind hanging in the balance.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Writers Club Press (December 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595088724
• ISBN-13: 978-0595088720
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,217,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I couldn't put this one down, June 14, 2000

By 

Scott Schumacher (Madison, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Returning to the Garden: A Novel about Mars (Paperback)

As a kid I looked to the stars in wonder, read all I could get ahold of about stars, planets, and all things in space. I drew them, painted them, and kept a childlike wonder in me about life "out there", where I was from, and if someday I wouldn't have to draw Mars, paint Mars, but actually touch it and know it. McCullough's book, one which I couldn't put down for two days. Because of the fast paced nature, the characters you grow to love, and the ever present and growing discoveries, synergies, and uncoverings, this is a story that I don't want to end. For those of us who know in our hearts that there is more "out there", this is a book that can re-ignite that same childlike passion and wonderment about the Universe in which we live.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Returning to the Garden, March 28, 2000

By 

Joseph (Marietta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Returning to the Garden: A Novel about Mars (Paperback)

If you liked Clive Cussler's first few books, you'll enjoy Returning to the Garden.

I first heard about this book while listening to drive time a.m. radio. The story line was enough for me to risk the $10 to buy the large paperback version.

The book is a fast paced, fun, enjoyable read. While there isn't alot of deep technical discussion to support the general premise, the story line keeps you wanting more. There is supposed to be a sequal. I can't wait, because there are a whole lot of loose ends that need to be tied together.

In a few years this author could be at the top of the scifi field.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Thought Provoking Quick Read, February 18, 2000

By 

Paul R. Eber (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Returning to the Garden: A Novel about Mars (Paperback)

This book raise some mighty big issues - and at a breakneck pace too. Not many 220 page works can credibly challenge all we think know about the origins of the Old Testament and the space race. Heck, this book also raises fundamental questions about our religious faiths, the theory of evolution, the global arms race, and humanity's view of our place in the cosmos.

As a fact-based science fiction novel set in the modern era, "Returning to the Garden" describes the discovery by two American's that the planet of Mars is the Garden of Eden of religious and mythic lore. The refugees, diminished and deranged within a generation, were the missing link in human evolution and the spark for all human life on Earth. The novel focuses on the discovery, the manic response of various government agents, and the consequences for the discoverers - both intellectually and temporal. I hope the promised sequel focuses more on the heroine and the cosmic issues, which are much more interesting and original than the cloak and dagger elements.

As we get bombarded with all the new Mars movies this year, check out the "Returning to the Garden" for a fresh and thought provoking perspective on Mars - a perspective which even claims to be fact based.