Dead Mars, Dying Earth Paperback – June 5, 2002

Is our planet's condition terminal? Whether or not you have faith in the mounting scientific evidence pointing toward potentially catastrophic effects of our atmospheric meddling, you must admit that if the prophets are right, we'd better learn to breathe carbon dioxide in a hurry. Physicist John E. Brandenburg and science writer Monica Rix Paxson warn that our big blue marble might become just another cold dead rock in Dead Mars, Dying Earth, a parallel study of our history and our neighbor's, drawing on the information amassed over decades of scientific research and exploration. The writing is florid, even a bit messianic at times, but the writers believe that our time is limited and that we must immediately stop deforestation and dependence on fossil fuel if we want our species to make it more than a few generations. Despite bringing in some unnecessary and controversial "evidence" (did they really need to tout the face on Mars to make their case for global warming?), they still make a compelling case that life did exist on Mars but was extinguished by an out-of-control greenhouse effect. Refreshingly, they suggest that we fight science with science, arguing that fusion power and space exploration are crucial to our continuing survival. This may be the argument that sways the nervous conservatives who fear economic recession or worse if we heed the environmentalists' call to action. If so, Dead Mars, Dying Earth could be the 21st century's Silent Spring. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

"Is Dead Mars, Dying Earth another one of those books that pokes a finger right in your chest on the first page and then, ...pushes you, the reader, into a corner of helplessness? Absolutely not. ...On the contrary... after a well reasoned, captivating and expansive discussion of Mars, the dilemma on Earth becomes chillingly clear: the history of Mars and Earth is "the history...of two planets, one dead, one dying."

..."These are thought processes that shake you up and illuminate the connections, dependencies and consequences of our actions. It is also the case that only rethinking can produce the transformation we must make, but rethinking cannot be accomplished with sledgehammer tactics; so instead the authors have very sensibly and carefully crafted this urgent scenario of Earths peril to read in parts like an engaging novel and a science fiction thriller--wild and just a bit other worldly... (Barbara Wegmann, reviewer Amazon.de (Germany)) -- Barbara Wegmann, reviewer Amazon.de, Germany

"This is ecological siren sounding on a cosmological scale, pitched at the non-scientist...[If] it is a writers job to inquire about the world, then Brandenburg and Paxson have a considerable success on their hands: a timely and very frightening book, but one so engaging, it is more likely to inspire us to help save the planet than sink usas more sober works too often dointo a cynical and useless despair."(Simon Ings, reviewer, Amazon.co.uk (United Kingdom)) -- (Simon Ings, reviewer, Amazon.co.uk, UK) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.