Simon Morden is a science fiction writer by trade (and a PhD in Geophysics) and he brings those skills to bear brilliantly on this non-fiction “biography” of our mysterious sister planet, Mars.
The red planet poses many questions - Why is the northern half of the planet significantly lower than the southern half? What happened to its atmosphere? Where did all the water go? Simon Morden answers, or in some cases, attempts to, all these questions, and more.
But this is no dry textbook - the opening chapter is stirring and evocative, describing dawn on Mars as “you” - us, the reader as intrepid astronaut? - explore the planet in a rickety rover. Other excursions await you sporadically throughout the book, on water and ice.
Morden takes us on a journey from Mars’ earliest beginnings in the nascent solar system right up to the present day and speculates on what the next 100-200 years might entail for Mars. Relating the multilayered history of Mars he lets the planet tell its own, ambiguous story. Deftly explaining the various Martian features and their colourful names, Morden quickly makes you feel like you could pass yourself off as an expert on the red planet. Chapters are short and snappy even though they relate a story across billions of years. Shorn of waffle, Morden keeps the information concise and digestible.
Thanks to Morden’s skills as a fiction writer, this book is a comfortably easy read; quite the page-turner in fact. It deals with some very complicated science but you barely notice. It is a complete(ish) history of Mars, insofar as such a thing could exist, and is a joy to read. I’ve read a lot of books about Mars but Simon Morden’s effort has become one of my favourites.
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