Curt's Read-Bag: Green Mars
Title: Green Mars
By: Kim Stanley Robison (Spectra, 535 pp.)
Concerning: This is the second volume of Robinson’s mammoth ‘Mars’ trilogy (the middle book between ‘Red Mars’ and ‘Blue Mars’). The terraforming of Mars continues and includes higher surface temperatures, open bodies of unfrozen waters and hardy, proliferating plant life. Tensions continue as well between Earth (effectively ruled by metanational corporations) and the colonizing communities of Mars. Most of this we follow from the point of view of a handful of members of the “First Hundred” of original Martian colonists, still alive thanks to a longevity treatment (the discovery of which, conveniently, coincides with the first book).
Quote: Regarding terraforming and plant life: “An interesting case of history imitating evolution. And certainly, since they wanted to create a biosphere on Mars in a short time, perhaps 10(to the seventh power) times quicker than it had taken on Earth, they would have to intervene continuously in the act of evolution itself. So the Martian biosphere would not be a case of phylogeny recapitulating ontogeny, a discredited notion in any case, but of history recapitulating evolution. Or rather imitating it, to the extent possible given the Martian environment. Or even directing it. History directing evolution. It was a daunting thought.”
Verdict: Highly recommended, with some caveats. I read Red Mars about 10 years ago and thought it had good prose, well-drawn characters and incredibly persuasive science (the books definitely qualify as “hard science fiction,” which pride themselves on scientific accuracy), but also found it extremely slow-paced. Robinson writes about environmental and geological (that is, “areological”) conditions on Mars with at times microscopic detail. Reading these books reminds me of a quote about James Joyce to the effect that, if the city of Dublin were to disappear, you could recreate it in its entirety simply from reading ‘Ulysses.’ With these books, you feel like you could draw an accurate map of the entire Martian surface if you read it closely enough. So it’s not a quick read and requires a commitment of attention, but pays it off. It was a great book to start during our Alabama trip, when distractions were relatively minimal (although it still took me a while to finish). You really feel like you’re under the skin of the various characters, and the politics of the book - the efforts to lead a successful revolutionary movement despite competing agendas, and the early attempts to fashion a government - are quite fascinating. I plan to bring the last book, Blue Mars, on or next beach trip.
Also: Any of you astronomy buffs out there have any idea how much surface area Mars has compared to Earth? Obviously Mars is smaller, but since Mars has no oceans, it’s all landmass, so it may be competitive.
By: Kim Stanley Robison (Spectra, 535 pp.)
Concerning: This is the second volume of Robinson’s mammoth ‘Mars’ trilogy (the middle book between ‘Red Mars’ and ‘Blue Mars’). The terraforming of Mars continues and includes higher surface temperatures, open bodies of unfrozen waters and hardy, proliferating plant life. Tensions continue as well between Earth (effectively ruled by metanational corporations) and the colonizing communities of Mars. Most of this we follow from the point of view of a handful of members of the “First Hundred” of original Martian colonists, still alive thanks to a longevity treatment (the discovery of which, conveniently, coincides with the first book).
Quote: Regarding terraforming and plant life: “An interesting case of history imitating evolution. And certainly, since they wanted to create a biosphere on Mars in a short time, perhaps 10(to the seventh power) times quicker than it had taken on Earth, they would have to intervene continuously in the act of evolution itself. So the Martian biosphere would not be a case of phylogeny recapitulating ontogeny, a discredited notion in any case, but of history recapitulating evolution. Or rather imitating it, to the extent possible given the Martian environment. Or even directing it. History directing evolution. It was a daunting thought.”
Verdict: Highly recommended, with some caveats. I read Red Mars about 10 years ago and thought it had good prose, well-drawn characters and incredibly persuasive science (the books definitely qualify as “hard science fiction,” which pride themselves on scientific accuracy), but also found it extremely slow-paced. Robinson writes about environmental and geological (that is, “areological”) conditions on Mars with at times microscopic detail. Reading these books reminds me of a quote about James Joyce to the effect that, if the city of Dublin were to disappear, you could recreate it in its entirety simply from reading ‘Ulysses.’ With these books, you feel like you could draw an accurate map of the entire Martian surface if you read it closely enough. So it’s not a quick read and requires a commitment of attention, but pays it off. It was a great book to start during our Alabama trip, when distractions were relatively minimal (although it still took me a while to finish). You really feel like you’re under the skin of the various characters, and the politics of the book - the efforts to lead a successful revolutionary movement despite competing agendas, and the early attempts to fashion a government - are quite fascinating. I plan to bring the last book, Blue Mars, on or next beach trip.
Also: Any of you astronomy buffs out there have any idea how much surface area Mars has compared to Earth? Obviously Mars is smaller, but since Mars has no oceans, it’s all landmass, so it may be competitive.