More of Wot I have Read…

Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars) by Kim Stanley Robinson

These were three heavy weight books that are epic in in scope and take quite some effort to work through as the author expounds detailed theorems for all aspects of the story (space travel, terraforming geology/chemistry/physics/biology, human psychology and physiology, sociology, politics etc.). This focus on the minutia often slows the pace of a narrative to a crawl but it does give everything an air of believability. Worth the effort if you are a science fan.  

‘Red Mars: The Future History of Mars - Part One

1969: Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to set foot on the Moon.

2020: John Boone becomes the first man to set foot on Mars.

2027: The first mass-landing arrives on Mars.

It's the greatest challenge mankind has ever faced.

In 2027, the Ares, the biggest space-worthy craft ever built by man, reaches high orbit around Mars. Inside is a crew who will become the first one hundred people to land on the planet's surface.

Among them are the Russian team, led by the magnetic Maya Toitovna and radical socialist Arkady Bogdanov with their pragmatic engineer Nadia Cherneshevsky; Hiroko Ai - a Japanese biologist; and the Americans, led by Boone and the ambitious Frank Chalmers. Their mission: terraform a frozen wasteland with no atmosphere into a new Eden.

Their mission must succeed. The future of human civilization depends on it.’

‘Green Mars: The Future of Mars – Part Two

Frozen lakes form, lichen creeps over the dry stone, a thin atmosphere wraps the planet. Man's dream of a new world is underway, but corrupted. The revolution defeated, Earth's transnational corporations set about plundering Mars for profit. Countries are bought and sold by the transnationals, why not planets too?

The survivors of the First Hundred know that technology alone won't bring utopia. But though they all have a common enemy – Earth's grasping corporations – they cannot agree to a means, let alone an end. Boone is dead, Hiroko Ai is venerated by believers in the green way, Sax Russell argues for scientific rationalism; Ann Clayborne opposes all interference – Mars should be preserved absolutely. Do they want bloody revolution or peaceful co-existence? The First Hundred is split and weakened; trust and co-operation are as thin on the ground as the Martian air they breathe.’

‘Blue Mars: The concluding volume in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy – Part Three.

The product of years of dedicated research, the series is a timeless masterpiece, the ultimate in future history.

Mars is now a living, breathing planet, resplendent with genetically engineered plants and animals living beside canals and teeming seas – an Eden to be envied. In this brave and buzzing new world the survivors of the First Hundred have become like walking myths to the Martian youth, but political schisms have hardened into polar opposites. And as civil war looms, an over populated earth looks on bitterly. For many Terrapins, Mars is mocking utopia. A dream to live for, fight for – perhaps even die for.

As the motives, desires and passions of the characters evolve along with the planet they have made their home, the author explores and interweaves the political, sociological, economic and scientific aspects of their terraforming effort.’