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Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars: Space, Exploration, and Life on Earth Hardcover – Illustrated, July 14, 2020

by Kate Greene (Author)

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When it comes to Mars, the focus is often on how to get there: the rockets, the engines, the fuel. But upon arrival, what will it actually be like?

In 2013, Kate Greene moved to Mars. That is, along with five fellow crew members, she embarked on NASA’s first HI-SEAS mission, a simulated Martian environment located on the slopes of Mauna Loa in Hawai'i. For four months she lived, worked, and slept in an isolated geodesic dome, conducting a sleep study on her crew mates and gaining incredible insight into human behavior in tight quarters, as well as the nature of boredom, dreams, and isolation that arise amidst the promise of scientific progress and glory.

In Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars, Greene draws on her experience to contemplate humanity’s broader impulse to explore. The result is a twined story of space and life, of the standard, able-bodied astronaut and Greene’s brother’s disability, of the lag time of interplanetary correspondences and the challenges of a long-distance marriage, of freeze-dried egg powder and fresh pineapple, of departure and return.

By asking what kind of wisdom humanity might take to Mars and elsewhere in the Universe, Greene has written a remarkable, wide-ranging examination of our time in space right now, as a pre-Mars species, poised on the edge, readying for launch.

Print length

240 pages
Language

English
Publisher

St. Martin's Press
Publication date

July 14, 2020
Dimensions

5.65 x 0.87 x 8.56 inches
ISBN-10

1250159474
ISBN-13

978-1250159472
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Enlightening...Greene’s eloquent memoir is equal parts escape and comfort."--Publishers Weekly

"[Greene] addresses [the issues] with wit, insight, compassion, and, ultimately, hope."--Booklist

"Greene is a talented writer, and her words shine throughout, whether discussing science or its influence on her. This engaging account will interest sf lovers, scientists, and dreamers who see the red planet in the night sky and wonder, what if."--Library Journal

"In her thoughtful, well-written account of the mission, Greene not only discusses what it was like to spend several months cooped up indoors with five strangers and limited resources but also reflects on what this and other space missions can teach us about ourselves and life on Earth."--Physics Today

"Kate Greene’s insightful, nuanced writing is the dose of perspective we so desperately need right now. Once Upon A Time I lived on Mars is a book about the wonders of space, but even more so, it’s a triumphant account of what it means to be a thoughtful, messy, and ultimately hopeful human right here on spaceship Earth." ―Juli Berwald, author of Spineless

"This stirring, smart, and truly original debut begins with questions and then progresses beyond facile answers, into even less answerable questions. Along the way, Greene charts a course that is propulsive, discursive, and pure pleasure to read, whether it is exploring boredom, guinea pigs, pineapple, grief, or deep space. Like a conversation with your smartest, most fun friend, each essay travels an unexpected and exhilarating path, more often between people than planets, examining the distances between who we were and who we have become, what we expected and what we have found in this life."―Melissa Febos, author of Whip Smart and Abandon Me

"A prescient look at humans alone, separate from the world they once knew. Truly a book for our times."--Sarah Stewart Johnson, author of The Sirens of Mars

About the Author

Kate Greene was the crew writer and second-in-command on the first simulated Mars mission for the NASA-funded HI-SEAS project. A poet, essayist, and former laser physicist, her work has appeared in multiple publications and radio shows. She’s taught writing at Columbia University, San Francisco State University, and the Tennessee Prison for Women. She lives in New York City.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press; Illustrated edition (July 14, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1250159474
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250159472
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.65 x 0.87 x 8.56 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #620,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #257 in Astronautics & Space Flight
- #604 in Aeronautics & Astronautics (Books)
- #1,007 in Astrophysics & Space Science (Books)

Customer Reviews:
56 ratings

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Kate Greene
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Kate Greene is an essayist, poet, journalist, and former laser physicist whose work has appeared in Aeon, Harvard Review, the New Yorker, The Economist, and WIRED, among others. She was second-in-command on the first simulated Mars mission for NASA’s HI-SEAS project. She holds a BS in chemistry, an MS in physics and an MFA in poetry, and has taught writing at Columbia University, San Francisco State University, and the Tennessee Prison for
Women. She lives in New York City.
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4 star		19%
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1 star		8%

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cantsaywhy

An outstanding achievement

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Sometimes, in and among the fifty or sixty non-fiction books that I read each year, I will find one that demonstrates the author’s profound ability to research and think through the topic at hand. And sometimes, I will find one where the author demonstrates a masterful writing style, the thoughts and words flowing like a clear mountain stream, making for effortless reading. In such a case the subject matter almost becomes secondary.

And sometimes, I will find one with both qualities. Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars is just such a story, and Kate Greene is just such an author.

Magnificent, heartfelt, and highly recommended.

3 people found this helpful

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KAD

Somehow transcendent and grounded at the same time...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 21, 2020

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I absolutely LOVE this book. As I read Once Upon A Time I Lived on Mars, I was completely in awe of Kate Greene's narrative dexterity, seamlessly interweaving pertinent stories from a variety of sources with her own insights and memories to create a stream-like and cohesive arc. I'd recommend this book to pretty much anyone, but especially people who are also considering their place in the narrative of humanity, Earth, Mars, and beyond...

One person found this helpful

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Simon Engler

Smooth and capturing read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Excellent book capturing accurately the fun and difficulties of Mars analog simulations. A surprising broad look at space sciences as a whole while maintaining a deeply personal perspective.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Nice voice

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 12, 2020

Verified Purchase

Interesting book. Like how it was written, liked reading it. Like how it keeps coming back to me. Nicest present I got in a long time.

One person found this helpful

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Waldemar kammer

My opinion

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

The story of this book starts out strong but then drags on with unrelated stuff.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 15, 2020

In this collection of essays, we follow Kate Greene through a period of her life, which takes some interesting turns. One of the most interesting events in her life is when she becomes a member of a life on Mars simulation to study the eating habits of the faux astronauts. Outside of this simulation, she also reflects on her life, which includes her parents, brother, friendships, marriage and eventual divorce.

I’ve always been fascinated with space, so when I got the opportunity to read this book, I took it. I find the studies on space travel very interesting, and Greene was a member of a simulation that involved pretending to live on Mars while living in an artificial environment built in Hawaii. I never knew how many space studies that take place outside of space until later life, but it makes sense. Even something as simple as food can become a big deal due to the limitations of what and how one can eat while in space.

While the subject matter was interesting, it took me a while to read because the book itself felt disjointed. It is a collection of essays reflecting on various parts of Greene’s life, but because it is a collection of essays from one person, the book bounces around quite a bit. I discovered that I would’ve liked it better if it was in chronological order, but that’s just my preference. The way it bounces around would’ve worked if this was a collection of essays from different people instead of one author.

All in all, I did enjoy the book as well as Greene’s perspective on anything from space to general life experiences. If space related experiments to general life reflections is something you’re interested in, I would highly recommend this. Just be aware that Greene does bounce around subject matter since this is a collection of essays.

2 people found this helpful

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Jena Henry Booklover

A Fascinating "Lie on Mars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 16, 2020

Once Upon a Time I lived on Mars, is the imaginative and intriguing name of this non-fiction book. And it’s something I once thought was guaranteed to happen in my life time- living on Mars. Like the author, when I was in the 4th grade, I was also fascinated and dazzled by space and space missions. I am 30 years older than author Kate Greene, inspired by watching Mercury lift-offs on a small tv in my grade school classroom. I couldn’t wait to fly to airlocked pods on faraway planets. Alas- I am still reading books about space. Fortunately, this is a wonderful book!

Subtitled “Space, Exploration, and Life on Earth, this fact-filled yet easy to understand book is a series of essays by the author. In 2013, Kate Greene was selected as a crew member for NASA’s newest Mars analog—a project called HI-SEAS. Its home base was a dome on the Hawai’ian volcano of Mauna Loa. The mission’s main goal was to test food systems, but there were many other research projects during the 4 month project. What this really meant, was that the author and other professionals basically “pretended” they were living on Mars. Cool, right?

Ms. Greene tells us about the project through a series of essays. I found this to make for an engaging read, instead of a linear,”Here’s what we did today” project, although she does give us many snapshots of her life “on Mars”. Many of the daily experiments involved food. Is it better for astronauts’ health to cook meals, and have a variety of meals instead of pouches of food and Tang? As the subtitle suggests, she uses her experiences to consider why we should have a space program, what we can learn, and how it may help ourselves and the world in ways we may not have readily considered. For example, what if artists- poets, writers, painter, musicians went along on the first missions to deep space? Wouldn’t their perspectives help us on earth to realize the immense grandeur of space? Would we see our Earth in a different way?

Thanks to the author for such an engaging and inspiring book and many thanks to the brave astronauts who rocketed to near space, the moon and the space stations and may we continue our journey to the stars. Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martins Press for an advance review copy. This is my honest review.

2 people found this helpful

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