4th Rock from the Sun

May 1, 2017

Seeing the same "obsessive, contagious excitement" about Mars now that used to characterize the Apollo program, science writer Jenner, whose work has appeared in New Scientist, Nature, and Astronomy Now, capitalizes on "Mars fever" with this multifaceted exploration of the Red Planet. Named for the Roman god of war, Mars has long held widespread appeal, whether because of its proximity and similarity to Earth, its mythological potency, or its ominous sanguine color. Jenner dedicates a different chapter to each aspect of the planet's unique character: how its peculiar orbital motion happens, how an Italian astronomer's translation error spawned a century's worth of Martian sf, and how astronomy and astrology have remained "strongly intertwined" despite scientific progress. Readers can launch into any section and discover something new and fascinating about our celestial neighbor. With several missions to Mars in the works and the Curiosity rover wheeling around it as we speak, digestible works like this will find a wide audience. VERDICT Earthlings who dream of Martian colonies or are simply interested in the next frontier of exploration will learn a lot from Jenner's title.--Chad Comello, Morton Grove P.L., IL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 24, 2017
Science writer Jenner illuminates the significance of Mars to humankind, covering geology, pop culture, history, and more. With a quirky tone, she describes ancients mythologizing the red planet; modern authors writing Mars into the zeitgeist, including in such creations as The War of the Worlds and Marvin the Martian; and scientists studying its geology to understand its watery history and the possibility of life there. Though humans have only “been aiming spacecraft at Mars since the 1960s,” readers get an exhaustive mission chronology. It includes the Soviet Korabl 4 spacecraft, NASA’s Mariner program, and the Mars 2020 rover that will allow scientists “to ‘hear’ Mars for the very first time.” Jenner also recounts the largely forgotten yet then-popular mid-20th-century belief in plentiful Martian vegetation. In reality, “Mars is a planet entirely populated by robots,” Jenner writes, though simpler life might “exist in pockets within cave-like environments.” While she praises box-office hit The Martian for its accuracies, she also in a more serious way speculates on Mars’s long-term habitability, namely on the possibility of engineering a breathable atmosphere there with a magnetosphere to keep it secured. Though repetitious in phrase and unrefined in style, this short read still laudably conveys the scope and weight of Mars’s influence on our ideas of the extraterrestrial. It’ll satisfy readers with factoids aplenty and even teach space nerds something new.