false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg 743287 3 As Oliver Morton shows in his superb new book, <I>Mapping Mars</I>, Mars has clouds, winds, and shorelines. It has river valleys, mountains, volcanoes, and even glaciers. Even were it lifeless, it could support life, albeit of an almost unimaginably marginal kind. What Mars lacks is places. There are no "theres" there, nor will there be--until our feet make an impact on its soil.<p> Oliver Morton has a sense of place and a hunger for Mars, and a thrilling manner of communicating both. His account of our nearest neighbor's history, geology, and human potential is exhaustive. Morton touches on just about everything, from soil composition to survival techniques; from Martians to maps (maps, above all: they are his abiding subject, metaphor, and organizing principle). His artistry is to hide his daunting range of interests under a passionate and gripping human narrative: this book is about what Mars has meant, means, and may one day mean for us. And he has a wide-ranging definition of who "we" are. Like a good military historian, Morton knows to pay attention to the foot soldiers of science, as well as to the achievements of their celebrated masters. He understands how different the sciences are from each other, and how rivalries between them arise. Further, Morton understands where these people and their institutions sit in the general culture. He understands the crossover between science and science fiction, between space advocates and space fans.<p> All of which makes Morton's book something more than just "the story of Mars." It is, in addition, an astute study of how we go about exploring our world. <I>--Simon Ings</I> 729438 2002 Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World total:11|5:1|4:5|3:5| 11 40 20 1 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 5 0 false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jun 22 19:56:23 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 28 19:16:00 -0700 2008 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 4 0 false Mon Jul 13 21:28:34 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 13 21:28:34 -0700 2009 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 3 0 false Mon Jun 22 21:32:37 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 21:32:37 -0700 2009 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 0 0 false Thu May 28 13:19:32 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 19 18:46:27 -0700 2009 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 3 0 false Thu May 28 04:41:50 -0700 2009 Thu May 28 04:41:50 -0700 2009 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 0 0 false Fri Apr 17 05:37:54 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 05:37:54 -0700 2009 1192339 0312245513 9780312245511 1 0 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181773452m/1192339.jpg 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031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 0 0 false Wed Apr 02 23:57:34 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 02 23:57:37 -0700 2008 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 0 0 false Sat Mar 22 03:47:07 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 22 03:47:25 -0700 2008 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 4 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jan 21 08:40:21 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 08:40:27 -0800 2008 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg 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9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 3 0 false Thu Oct 11 21:46:18 -0700 2007 Thu Oct 11 21:46:18 -0700 2007 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 3 0 false Wed Sep 05 02:44:45 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 02:44:45 -0700 2007 743287 031242261X 9780312422615 10 1 3.64 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177936493m/743287.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743287.Mapping_Mars_Science_Imagination_and_the_Birth_of_a_World 0 0 false Tue Aug 07 21:21:28 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 07 21:21:30 -0700 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=743287