A City on Mars
Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY TRIVEDI SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2024
ONE OF THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW SCIENTIST BEST SCIENCE BOOKS OF THE YEAR
GUARDIAN BEST SCIENCE AND NATURE BOOK 2024
A HUGO AWARD WINNER FOR BEST RELATED WORK 2024
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
THE #2 MOST GIFTED BOOK IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
From the bestselling authors of Soonish, a brilliant and hilarious off-world investigation into space settlement
Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away - no climate change, no war, no Twitter - beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? Bestselling authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith set out to write the essential guide to a glorious future of space settlements, but after years of original research, and interviews with leading space scientists, engineers and legal experts, they aren't so sure it's a good idea. Space tech and space business are progressing fast, but we lack the deep knowledge needed to have space-kids, build space-farms and create space nations in a way that doesn't spark conflict back home. In a world hurtling toward human expansion into space, A City on Mars investigates whether the dream of new worlds won't create a nightmare, both for settlers and the people they leave behind.
With deep expertise, a winning sense of humour and art from the beloved creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, the Weinersmiths investigate perhaps the biggest questions humanity will ever ask itself - whether and how to become multiplanetary.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"There is no urgent need to settle space" and "most of the pro-settlement arguments are wrong," argue Kelly Weinersmith, a behavioral ecology professor at Rice University, and her cartoonist husband Zach in the wickedly irreverent follow-up to their 2017 collaboration, Soonish. They contend it will likely take centuries to overcome the logistical challenges—including the development of long-term waste management systems and laws to settle conflicts over sovereignty—posed by establishing a colony on Mars, the moon, or a free-floating space station. The Weinersmiths explore other critical issues, such as how to have sex in reduced gravity ("The physics will be a little tricky because every action has an equal and opposite reaction") and generate energy (harnessing solar power on Mars would be complicated by the fact that "the day is about half as bright" as on Earth). They also gleefully tear down frequently cited reasons for settling space, suggesting that "leaving a 2°C warmer Earth for Mars," which has an average surface temperature of -60°C, "would be like leaving a messy room so you can live in a toxic waste dump." The cheeky tone is loads of fun, and Zach's humorous illustrations of, for instance, contraptions proposed to facilitate zero-gravity sex, entertain. It adds up to a boisterous takedown of techno-utopianism. Illus.
