Magnificent Mars (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: residual cap, cratered highlands, north polar cap, Mars Global Surveyor, Olympus Mons, Valles Marineris (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson astrophysicist and director, Hayden Planetarium, New York City In Magnificent Mars, Ken Croswell explores the science, the culture, and the romance of the red planet. So thorough is Ken's treatment that, at times, I felt as though Mars had written its own autobiography. -- Review

Review

Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Our little neighbor Mars will be the first New World of the century that has just dawned. Ken Croswell has done a superb job in outlining what is known, and what is suspected, about the next home of mankind beyond the Moon.

Dr. Owen Gingerich

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Ken Croswell has done it again! By combining specially processed images of Mars with an elegant and informative text, he offers us a feast for the mind as well as the eyes.

Dr. Michael H. Carr

U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, and author of The Surface of Mars and Water on Mars

In Magnificent Mars, Ken Croswell has succeeded in producing a fitting tribute to our spectacular neighbor. It is an accurate, up-to-date, and highly readable account of how the planet with its huge volcanoes, deep canyons, and dry riverbeds might have formed and evolved, and whether some form of life might have gained a foothold there. The numerous large-format images, many culled from the latest spacecraft returns, make one gasp in wonderment and awe at this truly magnificent Mars.

Dr. Robert Zubrin

author of The Case for Mars and president of the Mars Society

At last, a work that synthesizes the latest discoveries on the red planet into an accessible yet accurate form. Magnificent Mars is a magnificent book.

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

astrophysicist and director, Hayden Planetarium, New York City

In Magnificent Mars, Ken Croswell explores the science, the culture, and the romance of the red planet. So thorough is Ken's treatment that, at times, I felt as though Mars had written its own autobiography.

Dr. Robert Jastrow

director (retired) of the Mount Wilson Institute

Ken Croswell's Magnificent Mars is visually exciting, beautifully written, and includes an excellent account of the greatest treasure hunt of all time -- the search for signs of Martian life.

Keay Davidson

author of Carl Sagan: A Life

At last, that rare hybrid: a visually striking and scientifically reliable popular book on Mars for those who quit trusting NASA's hype machine after the "Mars rock" fiasco. Although Magnificent Mars sparkles with entertaining history, it also offers an unusually balanced, fluff-free summary of research on, and debates about, the red planet. Taxpayers, legislators, and presidential candidates who seek straight talk on what we've found there -- or might find after spending billions of additional dollars -- couldn't get a trustier guide than Ken Croswell, one of the world's best astronomy writers.

Marina Benjamin

author of Rocket Dreams

Magnificent Mars is packed with interesting facts and statistics, yet Ken Croswell weaves the planet's physical credentials into a story of discovery so fluent and compelling that you forget you are reading a science book.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; illustrated edition edition (October 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743226011
• ISBN-13: 978-0743226011
• Product Dimensions: 13.8 x 10.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #993,430 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning - a delight to the eye & rich in real science, January 11, 2004

By	David W. Hudgins (Rockhurst University) - See all my reviews

I found Magnificent Mars to be the very best of the current books on this amazing and beautiful planet. It does two things remarkably well. First, it delights both the eye and the imagination with spectacular large-format photography. Secondly, author and astronomer Ken Croswell leads the reader with an eloquent and easy to read style through a clearly well-researched tour of the latest science about Mars - its fascinating history, and its importance in understanding our own planet Earth and the possible emergence of life elsewhere in the solar system.

What you notice first is the grand scale and beauty of this book. Measuring almost 11"x14", this coffee-table sized volume presents what must be about a hundred spectacular full-page color photographs, a variety of maps, and fascinating tables about the history and physical data of Mars. These images are stunning.

Being something of a photo buff myself, I was struck by the extremely high reproduction quality of the photos. These are the very best Mars images from HST, Viking, Mars Global Surveyor, Pathfinder and so on. But they seem even better. The author mentions that many were digitally reprocessed by Tony Hallas, an expert astrophotographer. The results are just astonishing, and a delight to the eye for sharpness and drama.

For weeks, this beautiful book sat on my coffee table in the living room. Invariably, I found even my non-astronomy friends and family amazed and delighted as they leafed through the dramatic images.

A word of caution - don't let the beautiful cover fool you into thinking this is just another coffee-table picture book. Far from it.

As a science teacher, I was deeply impressed with the hard science that Croswell presents in this book. He organizes the text around the themes of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Each section illustrates and describes the dramatically changing geology, atmosphere, volcanic landscape, and water in the life of Mars. Was Mars once lush with water and far warmer than today? Could life have sprouted there as it did on Earth?

Beautiful pictures aside, the "beautiful science" of the accompanying text is what really grabbed me. Croswell presents the careful research that reveals Mars as a complex and amazing planet with a dramatic history of change. His description of sweeping changes in the landscape and atmosphere of Mars during its three major phases (Noachian, Hesperian, and Amazonian) will be easily read and enjoyed by any scientifically curious person.

Magnificent Mars is beautiful, scientifically rich, and highly recommended!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent Mars - magnificent book, March 22, 2007

By	Neil Smith "Neil Smith" (Columbus, OH, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This wonderful tome is a journey to the red planet in itself. It answers all the question one might have about Mars and many other questions one wouldn't think to ask. This book has immediately become a treasured possession for which I have much affection. Wonderful for all ages too; children can enjoy the generous and colorful photographs and adults can enjoy the imaginative and beautifully articulated science that explains this distant and mysterious world. Buy this book!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful experience!, May 22, 2005

By	Vinnie - See all my reviews

A must read for anyone who cares about the future. Buy this book for yourself and for your children. Fabulous!