Postcards from Mars: The First Photographer on the Red Planet (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Awe-inspiring. . . . Exquisite detail. . . . Glorious. -- Natural History

Jim Bell has compiled a book of photos that puts our neighboring planet in sharp focus. -- USA Today

The quality and volume of photos coming back from Spirit and Opportunity far exceeds anything that has come back from Mars before. -- American Photo

[Bell] tells the story of preparing the spacecraft for launch and of the rovers' arrival on Mars in a conversational tone, with just the right mix of detail and personal point of view. . . . The quality of the printing is high, reproducing intense colors, dramatic shadows, and fine details. -- The Planetary Society

Product Description

The first photographic tour of the surface of another planet has now been accomplished. Those who thrilled to the lunar beauty of Full Moon and the IMAX smash Roving Mars will marvel at this awesome, vivid, beautiful portrait of what it is like to take a stroll on Mars.

The most fantastic of all journeys—the Spirit and Opportunity mobile robot missions to the surface of Mars—produced over 150,000 astonishing photographs. While the images were made available on low-resolution computer screens as they were sent back across millions of space miles, no one until now has done the painstaking work of editing, cropping, and processing these massive (often larger than 100 megabytes) images.

The person to do it is Jim Bell, the scientist and photographer who led the photography team on this historic expedition. With his unique perspective, these photographs take us from the brave launches of these robots, to the alien landscape they discovered and the mysteries of the planet that they have helped to solve.

Over 150 lavish full-color-process prints bring the colors and textures of Mars to vivid life on the page. Four of the most impressive pictures are presented in their entirety as gatefold images— which extend over three feet in width—providing a view of the surface of another planet unprecedented in its detail and clarity. Postcards from Mars is the perfect gift to give readers who have their feet on the ground and their eyes on the heavens.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (November 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525949852
• ISBN-13: 978-0525949855
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 11.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #337,293 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Martian landscape, Informative science, Human story of the Rovers, December 12, 2006

By	Cheung Sze Leung (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Nowadays, astronomical images can be viewed as digital form on your computer monitor so easily. However, there is a true difference between the perspectives you seen from the computer monitor compared to a high resolution print. Although I believed that I have seen many images obtained by the latest Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, I am still amazed by the high quality prints presented in the book "Postcard From Mars".

Working as the lead scientist for the Pancam, Jim Bell shared with us some of the greatest images on the Gusev Crater and the Meridiani Planum processed by him. Many of these photos are astonishing, the vastness and emptiness of Mars can use no words to describe.

Besides the wonderful scenes, the story and scientific discoveries of the rovers are also well written by Jim. As a first person working in the Mars Exploration Rover mission, he told the background story of the planning and the implementation of the mission, how exciting are the blueberries found on the Meridiani Planum and show the wetter ancient Mars. His words are simple, concise and often wit, even beginner can easily understand.

If you would like to know more about Mars, space exploration or new developments in science, this book is definitely your choice.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Visualizations of Mars, January 7, 2007

By	Jack Kennedy Jr. "Jack Kennedy 276.275.4700" (Wise, Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

As the two MER Opportunity and Spirit continue their treks about the surface of Mars, Bell's book is a significant contribution to the public awarness of the MER program and Mars the planet. If the reader seeks a detailed scientific knowledge of Mars, I would suggest another book. Bell provides the book owner the glorious images of the success of the two rovers going about Mars today. The images and their display are incrediable. The book is fitting tribute to the science team that lived on Mars Sol time to provide them. The maps of the treks of the rovers are essential to the reader to gain insight as to the real distances the vehicles have traversed about the planet. There is so, so, so much to explore. So, if you want to get a sense of the surface of The Red Planet and see what images the rovers have produced beyond their 3 years of exploration buy this book. I did. It is a great coffee table converstaion addition too. But, in fairness to the reader, if your looking to get the detailed scientific knowlwdge of Mars today, you should supplement your purchase with equally recent published books provding analysis of the sceintific details. The visualzations contained in the pages of this book are, nonetheless, priceless. This book should be in every college and university library today! This book truly gives meaning to the saying " every picture is worth a thousand words!" In this book, a thousand words per picture would be to minimize the product.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite Martians have sent some exquisite and historical postcards to us Earthlings!!!, February 15, 2007

By	Stephen Pletko "Uncle Stevie" (London, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

+++++

"My goal in this book is to share the beauty, desolation, grandeur, and sometimes plain old alien strangeness of the [fourth planet from the Sun] Mars, that has been revealed to us through the [Mars Exploratory] Rover [MER] cameras. In editing the enormous number of photographs we've taken down to 150 or so [of the best images] included here, I chose images that were representative of different phases of each rover's journey, and of major scientific successes (or occasionally disappointments) along the way. I've included some of the history and the stories behind the [MER] mission [in the text that accompanies the images] and the pictures as well."

The above is found in the preface of this mesmerizing and historical book by associate astronomy professor at Cornell University, Dr. Jim Bell, "the lead scientist for the Pancam color imaging system on the NASA [MER]...missions." Note that the two MER robotic vehicles named "Spirit" and "Opportunity" (that are still functioning on Mars while this review is being written) are personally my favorite Martians.

This book has the following sections entitled as follows:

(1) The first thing to photograph
(2) With Spirit in Gusev Crater
(3) An Opportunity in Meridiani [Planum]
(4) Postcript

In section two readers follow the MER vehicle Spirit as it lands on Jan. 4, 2004 in the 160-km-wide (about 100 mile wide) impact crater named Gusev, "about 15 [degrees] south of [Mar's] equator." It explores this site and eventually ventures out from the crater taking magnificent photographs all along its journey. There are more than sixty awe-inspiring, mainly color images in this section. In this section are two "gatefolds" that are basically double pull-out photos that have a final width of about forty-five inches. These especially are breathtaking.

Section three is basically the same as section two except this time we follow the MER vehicle Opportunity as it lands on Jan. 24, 2004 at Meridiani Planum or "the `plains of the meridian,' near 0 [desrees] longitude on Mars." It "is a flat, relatively rock-free area almost on the equator" and "almost exactly on the other side of the planet" from Gusev. Again there more than sixty, mainly color images including two gatefolds.

The postscript includes "the three best of the very latest 2006 images." (However, I counted six images in this section altogether.)

The first section includes images of the rovers before launch as well as what instruments they are equipped with. There are twenty images that I found very interesting.

Finally, don't get the idea that this is just a picture book! Bell's scintillating text that accompanies all four sections of the book captures everything (and I mean everything!) about the mission so far especially the drama. What better person to talk about the mission than a scientist who was actually there experiencing everything day-in and day-out or perhaps I should more accurately say "sol-in and sol-out." (A "sol" is a Martian day, about 24 hours 39 minutes Earth time.)

I have two conclusions for this book:

First, this book is truly a masterpiece of both art and science. Is Jim Bell really, as the book's subtitle says "the first photographer of the red planet." After reading and admiring the historic photos in this book, the answer is obvious.

Second, after reading this book, I appreciated even more the beautiful, alive planet I now live on. Yes, the planet Mars is a geologist's paradise but I saw no life in the photos beamed back by my favorite Martians.

(first published late 2006; forward by Bill Nye ("the science guy"); preface; 3 parts or sections; postscript; main narrative 190 pages; acknowledgements; appendix; additional resources; index)

+++++