Book Description

There's a new market battle cry being sounded around the world: Faster-Better-Cheaper. Organizations everywhere are in a competitive war trying to pick up speed, improve output, and do it all for less money.

Actually, "improvement" per se isn't too hard to come by with all of today's technological advancements. The tricky part comes in doing things faster, better, and cheaper all at the same time. That takes creativity. Ingenuity. Innovation. To help your employees grow in this regard, they need role models. Good examples. It helps greatly to see living proof of "faster-better-cheaper" in action.

Price Pritchett's latest title, The Mars Pathfinder Approach to "Faster-Better-Cheaper" provides that proof, and breaks it down into 13 high-impact guidelines your employees can use to drive your organization to spectacular success.

Co-authored with Brian Muirhead, Flight Systems Manager of the JPL Mars Pathfinder Team, this book shows how a small group of dedicated people-tapping into the spirit of ingenuity and innovation-proved "faster-better-cheaper" works in deep space as well as it does on Earth.

Most important, the book draws the "faster-better-cheaper" business messages out of this intriguing story, and shows your employees how to apply them in your organization. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Where Brian Muirhead when you need him?
What an incredible book! Brian Muirhead's story of developing, launching, and landing the successful Mars Pathfinder Mission is an incredible story of vision, hard work, attention to detail, and because of it all, success.

The professionalism exhibited by Brian and his team continue to inspire me months after I read the book.

In the current days of failed missions to Mars, I can't help but think that if Brian Muirhead had been in charge of those failed missions, they too would have been a success.

At last a simple powerful book on how to perform in groups
You were so impressed by the Mars Pathfinder mission, and you are definetely interested by people management issues: get this great little book, you will appreciate the conciseness, precision, and high value of all the concepts it expresses.

If history is to teach us how to be 'better' in the present and the future, such short and enjoyable summaries of what was done well, how and why, is THE way to learn, grow and improve.

What a mission, what a book ! I missed two metro stops while savoring each of its words ! Bravo !: 5 stars !

A management, not science book
This book is an advertisement for Pritchett Associates. It is not a book about Pathfinder science. The amount of real information about Pathfinder and the team is minimal. There is more Pathfinder information on NASAs web site. Unless you have never read a quality or other management book in the past few years, this book is nothing special.

Great ideas for finding new ways to do more with less!
Outstanding book showing how the Pathfinder team put a rover on Mars in less time and with a fraction of the money than it took to put up Voyager. Great ideas for how to look beyond the status quo and do things better, faster, cheaper. A great team leadership book.

A management, not science book
This book is an advertisement for Pritchett Associates. It is not a book about Pathfinder science. The amount of real information about Pathfinder and the team is minimal. There is more Pathfinder information on NASAs web site. The management information contained is not outstanding. ... Read more

Amazon.com

A Traveler's Guide to Mars revitalizes the Red Planet, leaving readers with the urge to don a spacesuit and take a long trip. With the look and heft of a guide to someplace you might actually go, the book presents Mars as a place of canyons and volcanoes, mesas, and barren plains, not that dissimilar from parts of Earth. Author William K. Hartmann, who participated in the Mars Global Surveyor mission, uses all the photos and data collected by scientists in decades of research to give a thorough, yet not boring, overview of the planet. The most exciting stuff is about water--whether it ever flowed on Mars, where it went, why it's hard to find. Beyond that, there are the rocks, dust, and weather to talk about, and Mars has lots of all three. Sidebars, maps, and chronologies help keep the regions and geology of Mars organized. Hartmann never forgets he's writing for the lay reader, and his style is personable and clear. When answering claims of NASA cover-ups, ancient civilizations, and hidden structures on Mars, he calmly lays out the facts and pictures, urging readers to simply examine the evidence. Hartmann offers a tourist's-eye view of one of our most intriguing planetary neighbors and does more to polish NASA's tarnished image than a thousand press releases. --Therese Littleton ... Read more

Reviews (8)

THE book on Mars
This book may very well be the best popular science book I've ever read. The story of what we know about Mars and how it was discovered unfolds in an exciting progression that leaves one convinced that not only has there been a lot of water on Mars in the past, but there is almost certainly still a lot of it underground all over the planet.

The story is lavishly illustrated with many amazing high-resolution images from the Mars Global Surveyor and other orbiter missions, along with a dozen or so of the author's own paintings.

The book answered all of the nagging quesitons I had about whether or not there's really evidence of water on Mars, and several times a question that formed in my mind (like "ok, maybe it was some fluid other than water like liquid CO2") was explicitly answered on the next page.

This book is a real gem, and if you want quick fun way to pick up the appropriate background for enjoying and understanding the results from the Spirit and Opportunity rover missions then this is it.

Sadly The Brittish Beagle 2 lander seems to have followed the Simplified Planetary Local Approach Trajectory that was favored by many previous attempts to land on Mars, but with the success (so far) of Spirit and high hopes for Opportunity landing soon, there will be plenty of exciting new information about Mars available soon, and I can only hope that the author of this book sees fit to give us a second edition in a year or so that summarizes all the new knowlege.

But for now, this it *the* book to get up to speed on Mars.

G.

Wonderful tour with a great guide
If I were to take a guided trip to Mars, there are a handful of people that I'd like to choose my guide from - people who have spent their careers trying to understand Mars from the Mariner, Viking and Mars Global Surveyor missions. Bill Hartmann is certainly one of the members of that pool. He cut his geological teeth on the moon with Gerard Kuiper in the early 60's, and made wonderful, major contributions to our understanding of the moon. Then he has been involved in all the major Mars missions since the start. He is an artist as well as a scientist, so he informs this book with the soul of an artist as well as the mind of a scientist.

When I first saw the promotional literature for this book, I was struck by the beauty of the images in it. The book itself did not disappoint. It is a paperback, in the format of a field guide, but it is richly illustrated with color and black and white images. The book has two large fold-out maps - one of the best pre-space probe maps showing the Mars that can be seen with a telescope, and a topographic maps from the Mars Global Surveyor mission.

Hartmann uses his "Traveler's Guide" format to take us on a tour of Mars. The organization of the tour is based on the geological history of the Red Planet. So along the way, in addition to seeing the most fascinating places on Mars, we learn their geological context in chronological sequence.

Although it would be easy to bury the reader in geological jargon, Hartmann succeeds in making the study of Mars accessible and exciting. It is clear from reading the text that Mars is a world that still harbors many surprises for us. He is not afraid to share his thoughts with the reader - but he is careful to point out where they depart from the main stream. But given Hartmann's track record, one has to give his speculations more weight than most. He also enlivens the book with a thread of his personal journey as a Mars scientist in a series of stories from his career labeled, "My Martian Chronicle" that are is interwoven with the main text. These help illuminate the human side of the scientist.

Highly recommended!

A wonderful tour of our most fascinating planetary neighbor
In thruth, I can add little more to the other Amazon reviews other than to say that they are right. William Hartmann's "A Traveler's Guide to Mars : The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet" is a wonderful tour of Earth's most intriguing planetry neighbor, incorporating both a lively history of our evolving knowledge of Mars and also a up-to-date guide to the most fascinating mysteries. What are the sources of the strange gullies and canyons that sometimes stretch hundreds of miles? Why do vast areas of the Martian surface look like gigantic staircases? How much water is there?

The photographs from various interplanetary probes are marvelous and the maps eye-opening. The format of the book makes it especially suited for browsing -- dipping in here and there as whim takes the reader -- yet it also merits a more methodical approach to discover what four decades of space exploration has taught us about Mars.

So when does the first flight leave?
Some of us who saw the lunar landing in 1969 are still wondering why we haven't gotten to Mars yet. Shouldn't that have been next?

Well, it still could be, and you can get more information on the possibilities by checking out the Mars Society and Red Colony websites. (I can't post the URLs here but in each case your first guess will be correct.)

And if you want more information on the planet Mars itself, this is the book you want.

Packed with gorgeous photos from the various Mars missions (and some from Earth for purposes of comparison and inference), this book is a garden of delights for areophiles: the very latest information and theories about the red planet, interspersed with the reminiscences and personal views of the author, astronomer William Hartmann, all in a very high-quality glossy paperback designed for long shelf life -- and, one hopes, for interplanetary travel.

If you've ever wondered what gives Syrtis Major its dark color, or even if you've just looked at the night sky once in a while wondering what the heck might be _out there_, you'll find something to engage you in this volume.

Have a look. Then let's start getting ready to go.

A must-read!!!
This is book is simply amazing!! I wish I could give it ten stars - off the scale. The author has captured the majesty and mystery of Mars, clearly and concisely. Filled with hundreds of stunning, high resolution photographs, the book a real page turner for anyone in the general public who yearns to know what's out there awaiting us on Mars. ... Read more

Book Description

From the charismatic scientist and leader of the Mars Exploration Rover mission, a riveting, behind-the-scenes account of the search for life on Mars.

Steve Squyres is the face and voice of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. Squyres dreamed up the mission in 1987, saw it through from conception in 1995 to a successful landing in 2004, and serves as the principal scientist of its $400 million payload. He has gained a rare inside look at what it took for rovers Spirit and Opportunity to land on the red planet in January 2004 -- and knows firsthand their findings.

Combining the journey of a young scientist with the history of NASA's Mars space program, Roving Mars offers a dramatic account of one of the most amazing adventures of our time. In an incredibly conversational and compelling voice, Squyres manages to go into detail about how the MER mission was born, covering the politics, mistakes, and confusion that ensued. He doesn't shy away from the technical aspects of the mission, but presents them in a way that is accessible to the most un-scientifically minded among us. Squyres leads us through the exhausting and exhilarating race to get the rovers to the launchpad in time -- and finally, the amazing story of Spirit's and Opportunity's journeys to Mars and what is found there. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Humans are not native to the Earth. So posits astronautical engineer Bob Zubrin in the opening of Entering Space. We're native to just a small sliver of it, the spot where our species originated in tropical Kenya. We set out from that paradise about 50,000 years ago, north into "the teeth of the Ice Age," and all the ground we've gained since then has been thanks to our tenacity and our tools.

Zubrin reasons that it's time we cover a little more ground. Written with a boyish enthusiasm and formidable techie know-how, Entering Space urges us to realize "the feasibility, the necessity, and the promise" of becoming a space-faring civilization, of colonizing our own solar system and beyond. And Zubrin, author of the influential and widely acclaimed The Case for Mars, knows his stuff--NASA adapted his plans for near-term human exploration of Mars, and Carl Sagan gave the author no less credit: "Bob Zubrin really, nearly alone, changed our thinking on this issue."Entering Space plots the second and third phases of humanity's course--now that we've mastered our own planet, Zubrin says we must first look to settling our solar system (beginning with Mars) and then to the galaxy beyond.

With its practicable visions of using "iceteroids" to terraform Mars and harnessing the power of the outlying gas giants ("the solar system's Persian Gulf"), Entering Space succeeds at making the fantastic seem attainable, the stuff of science fiction, science fact. --Paul Hughes ... Read more

Reviews (36)

A touch preachy, speculative and stodgy
Robert Zubrin is obviously dissatisfied with the state of affairs with NASA. He complains about the lack of funding for certain programs and the lack of direction from the top brass. He makes his point but he should have cut it short.

The author seems to overlook potential pitfalls in his ideas. On using nuclear fusion for propulsion, Zubrin states that exhaust speed could reach 5 percent lightspeed, therefore Alpha Centauri could be reached in 86 years. This assumes that extra time for acceleration is negligible. For acceleration time to be negligible, the power involved would be well beyond what current research in fusion power suggests is reasonable. This oversight makes be doubt the feasibility of his much wilder proposals.

I appreciate technical details but Zubrin uses a pedantic style of writing more suitable for a textbook than a leisurely read. Zubrin's previous work, The Case for Mars, was never so tedious.

However, Zubrin does a good job on explaining many principles and concepts that would be of great interest to the space enthusiast--mainly on how to best exploit the solar system's resources while achieving inspirational goals for humanity. He also gives a concise overview of the debate on extraterrestrial intelligence an their detection.

I do recommend this book for space enthusiasts, but they should take it with a grain of salt.

....And comes the revolution
Two detractionist notions have been posed since the dawn of spaceflight as to why travel to other planets, and indeed, the great stars that lay beyond--were the stuff of science fiction. A)That such ideas were either impossible or impractical and B)That there is no real reason to go into space when we have problems here on earth.

Robert Zubrin simultaneously destroys both excuses in Entering Space.

In a literary style that is both eloquent yet simple, straight hard science yet common sense, Robert Zubrin lays out an explanation for why the atrophied space program is the way it is, and from there goes on to paint a practical and awe inspiring vision of what humanity could be, and why we should.

Pages are filled with highly detailed tables, diagrams, and equations...yet what he writes is put so easy-to-understand, that you can skip over them entirely. The plan for a space faring civilization is laid out in three steps(Type 1: Planetary, Type 2: Interplanetary, and Type 3: Interstellar). And it cannot be overstated that this is perhaps the most perfect book ever written on the subject, and anyone from astronomers to scientists, to car mechanics will all understand and be inspired by Entering Space.

It can be said that Robert Zubrin is no less than a modern day Wherner Von Braun...although I wouldn't want to give undo credit to Von braun :-)

Check the numbers!
I have only read the first seven chapters of this book so far, but I feel compelled to point out some errors of information. Zubrin attacks any idea that doesn't go to Mars directly without proper research. A few hours of web searching have shown that his pessimistic numbers about solar power and lunar agriculture are not up to par. Zubrin is a rocket engineer, and so he thinks only in terms of rockets. So far in my reading I haven't seen anything about light sails or his own magnetic sail idea (for an interesting breakthrough on magsails, run a web search for M2P2). Zubrin really, really wants to go to Mars right now, and so he tries to discredit any colonization ideas that don't accomplish that objective. Personally, I don't know why we would go to all of the trouble to escape one gravity well only to go and crawl down another one.

On the good side, the initial chapters have educated me on the reasons why space travel is so expensive, and I am looking forward to the chapters about colonizing the outer solar system. The book is very well written, with a comfortable level of technical detail, and even its negative aspects have caused me to learn much more than I expected to get out of this book when I purchased it. Absolutely worth the money, but I can only give it four stars becasue of Zubrin's unreasonable treatment of other people's ideas.

Truly thought-provoking
Some of Zubrin's ideas are rather wacky (like the prospect of humans somehow firing up a brown dwarf into a full-fledged star), but for the most part, this book is thought provoking and raises numerous good reasons for mankind to launch itself into space. His argument that we will stagnate if we remain solely on earth is quite convincing, as is his theorizing that our galaxy teems with other civilizations. For the most part, you can skip Zubrin's equations and tables and still enjoy the book.

What really shines through is his passion about humanity's potential. We could do so much, he argues, if we could just get beyond the petty fighting that bogs us down on earth. After reading this book, I'm absolutely convinced that Zubrin is on the right track. He may be an engineer, but his real strength is the ability to transmit clearly and simply the reasons why we can't shut the door to the universe. I haven't read a better book about space exploration since Carl Sagan's Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot.

Zubrin gets out of his depth
Zubrin writes well, and the technology parts are well described and a good read. However, the overall book is quite negative towards anything that is not Mars related, or in the distant future.

Section 1 is mainly an exercise in bashing NASA and the large space contractors. Perhaps some of this is justified, but it comes across as sour grapes. Zubrin then takes aim at O'Niell's High Frontier ideas. However, he is factually incorrect in much of what he says, and loses his credibility at this point.

Section 2 is mainly about Mars. Zubrin is excellent on the technical aspects of Mars Direct. However, when he moves on to Mars colonisation, most of his ideas are based on parallels with the colonisation of North America. Here Zubrin is out of his depth, as the engineering is left behind and he enters into sociology and politics.

Section 3 is far future stuff, and much of the engineering discussion is useful. There are some ideas which are "interesting". For example, because it is theoretically possible for bacteria to travel in space, Zubrin assumes that is what happened. He then goes on to show that the reason that Earth has not been colonised by higher beings is that advanced civilisations self destruct after a while, despite these civilisations spanning many thousands of light years.

Overall, good on the engineering, and some interesting stories about how NASA can't make anything work. However, for most of the book, Zubrin is either out of his depth, or trying to discredit ideas that might be competitors to Mars Direct. It's worth reading, but keep an air of scepticism. ... Read more

Book Description

This ambitious book is a personal psycho-spiritual journey, a theorization on the meaning of the monuments of Mars, a guidebook for transcending present three-dimensional limitations, and an account of our function within the grand celestial battle between internal and external knowledge. The newly revised and expanded edition of this cult classic features photos and illustrations throughout, and adds the Lucifer Rebellion, the solar storm, and the final three breaths of the merkaba meditation. The author emphasizes the importance of meditation for promoting the understanding of and connection to the metaphysical. "... proceeds to thread together every New Age belief and conspiracy theory into a grand unified field theory of kookiness." — Wired ... Read more

Reviews (13)

It's in the title...
I really enjoyed this book. How shall I describe it? It's a guide book for those delving into a new sense of spirituality, particularly those that have already read a good amount of new age material and are familiar with such "strange" concepts as alien agendas, immortality, sacred geometry, etc. Frissell doesn't try to explain it all or ultimately prove anything, rather he jumbles his own experiences and accumulated knowledge into a book. He has a sense of humor about the subject as well. It matters not if you believe anything he has to say, just that you bring with you an open mind willing to accept the possibility that these things are true. Read with your heart, not just your mind. I wouldn't suggest this book for anyone looking for hardcore scientific knowledge on the subject of extraterrestrials. However, if you're feeling a little lost and willing to try something new, or maybe in need of a little support or guidance, give this book a go :)

Astonishing
I picked this book up only 2 days ago and I'm extremely glad I bought it. This book may seem very wild to some, but to me it's like a bible of life! It answered a lot of questions I had been asking myself for years and I really recommend others read this book as well. It's very interesting and fun to think about even if you don't believe any of it. It still gives you something to think about!

Two Questions
If nothing is true in 'Nothing in This Book Is True', then what's the author's real name and how come I wasn't allowed to buy it for ten bucks less than the recommended retail price?

Laugh til you cry
If you're looking for some cheap laughs, read this book. The other reviews have done well, but note: For Side-splitting vein-popping hysteria, get this book!
Especially if you get the tape, you can tap into its insane goodness at any time of the day: during breakfast, driving to work, with a glass of port after dinner, or during your usual sessions of ritual merkaba meditations, whippings and chants.
To believe this book you gotta believe a vast and intricate web of insane theories, spanning from aliens building the pyramids, atlantis, time-travelling....you see where we're heading.
Although maybe not as funny as authors like Spike Milligan, this book still rates highly as a highly amusing piece of trash. New-age mumbo-jumbo, Phooey! You're not thinking outside the box, you're just thinking in Frissel's box, and you LIKE it!
A great laugh, nix more than that.

Not What I Expected, BUT WHAT A SURPRISE!
I expected this book to cover government conspiracies and it did, to some degree, but not how I expected. I read some of the other reviews and was disappointed at how close-minded people are. Bob talks a lot about what's REALLY happening and how we, as spirits, can prepare for what is about to happen. I've read many spiritual self-help books and I think this falls under that category, but WOW! It's like nothing I've read. If you're a close-minded tobacco-chewing/truck driver/hill-billy who doesn't believe in anything "spiritual" or mind-opening, then don't bother. You won't get it. (I could almost hear the cud being chewed as I was reading some of the poor reviews of this book.) If you're a self-help junkie, this will COMPLETELY BLOW YOU AWAY! It will change how you see everything. It's almost "scary" to know so much... ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Technical, but highly informative
The purpose of this book is to inform the reader about the resources of Near-Earth space (the moon, Mars and asteroids) that can be used to decrease the cost of space activities. It is composed of 33 (if I counted correctly) scientific articles, by some 86 collaborating authors. The articles cover everything from natural resources (minerals, water, etc.) to processing, lunar base siting, and terraforming.

Warning: These articles are not for the faint of heart, they are written by scientists, for scientists. They are highly technical in nature, which means that people unfamiliar with the subject matter might find them hard to understand. That said, though, this is a unique and highly informative book, one that I highly recommend.

Looking beyond the Earth
An invaluable reference, covering many aspects of potential resource use of the Moon and Mars, as well as the asteroids. Not for the technically faint-of-heart, this book covers many aspects of using off-world resources. ... Read more

Book Description

In January 2004 two NASA spacecraft, making an interplanetary trek to Mars, landed separately on the rocky surface of the red planet. By the end of the month the work of the twin robot geologists, the exploration rovers known as Spirit and Opportunity, had begun. The photos and evidence were exciting; and it seemed there might even be life on the fourth rock from the sun. Illustrated in color, with more than 100 spectacular orbital and surface images from recent probes as well as from NASA spacecraft, the Hubble space telescope, and Earth-based observatories, Michael Hanlon's The Real Mars relates the history of a planet that has piqued human curiosity and study for centuries. Hanlon also visits Mars as it has been imagined in movies and science fiction, illustrating this with film stills, movie posters, book covers, and more. The object of Hanlon's quest is, however, a third or real Mars. He contends that many scientists are currently creating a planet that may be no more real than a movie Mars with often confusing evidence of Earthlike possibilities. This book shows us that, although the journey has been long, we actually still stand at the beginning of a transformative voyage. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Classic!
This book is a real classic. You will see how rocket wizzard and space visionary Wernher von Braun and his colleagues imagined a manned mission to Mars with the technology available in the mid 20th century. With today's knowledge and financial horizon, von Braun's vision looks pretty oversized, and the surface of Mars certainly is very different from what they believed 50 years ago. The very value of this book is that it simply showed how such an extensive mission could be made feasible -- that it is possible to send people to Mars without fancy technology of science fiction writers. The authors use some calculus and diagrams to explain the complicated flight dynamics for sending a spacecraft to another planet and landing on its surface.
Today we know that a mission to Mars will not look like von Braun's "Mars Project" but it is good to know that most of the basics haven't changed. Buy this book together with Robert Zubrin's "Case for Mars" and you'll see the progress within half a century.

A book for the true space junkie.
Do you wonder how they did it? How they actually figured out how to get to the moon? Well, this is Von Braun's plan for getting to mars using the technologies available in the early 1950's and it shows the detailed thinking necessary to figure out how to make it all work. Lots of math and diagrams. My vote for the best book of the century. To give you some idea, I already own this book, a 1962 edition. It is getting too precious to thumb through. ... Read more

Book Description

Long believed to have been cold, dead, and dry for aeons, there is now striking new proof that not only was Mars a relatively warm and wet place in geologically recent times, but that even today there are vast reserves of water frozen beneath the planet's surface. As well as casting fascinating new insights into Mars' past, this discovery is also forcing a complete reevaluation of the mechanisms of global planetary change. ·What does the drastic turn of events on Mars mean for Earth's climate system? ·Could life have thrived on Mars very recently, and might it survive even today? ·Will humans be able to live off the natural resources that Martian hydrogeology now seems to offer? ·How could Mars be transformed into the New World - and should this even be contemplated? In this absorbing, beautifully illustrated book, Jeffrey Kargel describes the still unfolding revolution in our knowledge about the Red Planet and how future concepts of Mars will continue to be molded by new revelations of four billion years of geology. ... Read more

Book Description

Mars has long offered the prospect of another living world near Earth. Although NASA's first spacecraft dashed visions of little green men tending canals, recent voyages have painted a picture of an intriguing planet that may have once resembled Earth, with warmth, water, and possibly life. Mars may answer the great question "Are we alone?"; for if Mars, like Earth, gave rise to life, then trillions of other worlds throughout the universe have surely done the same.

Harvard-trained astronomer Ken Croswell set the standard for elegance and eloquence with his stunning photographic triumph, Magnificent Universe. Now, with insightful prose and astonishing images, he presents the red planet's full glory in Magnificent Mars, showing volcanoes taller than Mount Everest, spiral-shaped polar caps of ice, and a canyon system that could stretch from Ohio to California. Here is a concise synthesis of the latest research on Mars, accompanied with the very best full-color images, expertly reprocessed to look even better than NASA's own versions, from the Hubble Space Telescope, Viking, Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and other spacecraft. Highlights include a foldout panorama of the Martian surface; a never-before-published, rainbow-colored topographic map; and a sequence showing a full rotation of Mars, courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope. Many of these images have never appeared in a book before. Few have ever looked so good.

In lyrical prose, Dr. Croswell weaves these stupendous images into a virtual tour of Mars by organizing them around the four elements -- Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. From the northern plains of Vastitas Borealis to the towering Olympus Mons and other volcanoes of the Tharsis bulge, we explore the red planet's geology, topography, and surface. From the frigid climate to the massive dust storms that can engulf the entire globe, we examine the thin Martian atmosphere and the clues it preserves to the planet's wetter past. And, from the flood channels that spill into Chryse Planitia to the vast potential lakebed of ancient Hellas, we see stunning images of ancient rivers and floods, triggering speculation that a warm, wet Mars may have given rise to life that survives to this day. The tour concludes with a voyage to the planet's two potato-shaped moons, Phobos and Deimos, complete with rainbow-colored topographic maps. Unique color-coded tables on Mars, its atmosphere, its life history, its moons, and NASA missions to the planets appear in a useful reference section, along with a glossary and suggestions for further reading.

With its large format, superb images, and compelling text, Magnificent Mars is the next best thing to standing on the red planet itself. In future years NASA will launch numerous missions to Mars, and Magnificent Mars is the definitive guide to what these spacecraft will see. Indeed, the first human explorers to Mars may want to take a copy of Magnificent Mars aboard their spaceship. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Coo Coo!
In response to A reader from the corporation of - USA
I am LMAO right now. I cannot believe that someone who would buy this book would have those CRAZY conspiracy views! It sounds like a bad OJ Simpson movie from the 70s! So only the US of A is faking pictures from Mars? Why not the EU with their Beagle II or the Russians? Hmmmmmm Enough with the home schooling. Get out and experience and accept the real world of the 21st century.

Beautiful photos of the real Mars... but
The pics 'beamed-back'from MARS immediately reminded me of my recent trip to ICELAND which has the same exact landscape (glacerial subterranian volcanic), hence all the volcanic rocks all over the ground. Photoshop adds the red tint... and VOILA!
We are living in the land of Oz. Don't be mentally lazy; Look behind the curtain.

Stunning - a delight to the eye & rich in real science
I found Magnificent Mars to be the very best of the current books on this amazing and beautiful planet. It does two things remarkably well. First, it delights both the eye and the imagination with spectacular large-format photography. Secondly, author and astronomer Ken Croswell leads the reader with an eloquent and easy to read style through a clearly well-researched tour of the latest science about Mars - its fascinating history, and its importance in understanding our own planet Earth and the possible emergence of life elsewhere in the solar system.

What you notice first is the grand scale and beauty of this book. Measuring almost 11"x14", this coffee-table sized volume presents what must be about a hundred spectacular full-page color photographs, a variety of maps, and fascinating tables about the history and physical data of Mars. These images are stunning.

Being something of a photo buff myself, I was struck by the extremely high reproduction quality of the photos. These are the very best Mars images from HST, Viking, Mars Global Surveyor, Pathfinder and so on. But they seem even better. The author mentions that many were digitally reprocessed by Tony Hallas, an expert astrophotographer. The results are just astonishing, and a delight to the eye for sharpness and drama.

For weeks, this beautiful book sat on my coffee table in the living room. Invariably, I found even my non-astronomy friends and family amazed and delighted as they leafed through the dramatic images.

A word of caution - don't let the beautiful cover fool you into thinking this is just another coffee-table picture book. Far from it.

As a science teacher, I was deeply impressed with the hard science that Croswell presents in this book. He organizes the text around the themes of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Each section illustrates and describes the dramatically changing geology, atmosphere, volcanic landscape, and water in the life of Mars. Was Mars once lush with water and far warmer than today? Could life have sprouted there as it did on Earth?

Beautiful pictures aside, the "beautiful science" of the accompanying text is what really grabbed me. Croswell presents the careful research that reveals Mars as a complex and amazing planet with a dramatic history of change. His description of sweeping changes in the landscape and atmosphere of Mars during its three major phases (Noachian, Hesperian, and Amazonian) will be easily read and enjoyed by any scientifically curious person.

Magnificent Mars is beautiful, scientifically rich, and highly recommended! ... Read more

Reviews (28)

New Age Mush
I picked this book up expecting and wanting to read about some of the more extreme paranormal happenings going on in this world. Not necessarly planning on believing it or not. First, what this book does good: Every phenomenom and conspiracy and unexplaned event is tied together, making it an intersting concept. It also has an indept, yet confusing chapter on a new branch of geometery. Kind of cool even if you can't understand it. This book had great potential, but 2 major points ruined it. One, Where are his sources? He makes wild and intersting claims, but he gives no reason on why we should believe it is true. The major blunder in this book is the New Age Mush, terms are thrown out that are impossible to understand. For example, "The only difference between dimensional worlds is their wavelengths." What the hell is that suppose to mean?

If your one of those new age freaks, you'll enjoy this book. This book is also somewhat intersting just for the topics a! nd interconnections, but there is much better stuff to be reading and learning with.

not mush
i agree with a reader from minnesota ("new age mush") when he points out the 2 main faults of this book. the author doesn't back up what he says... where does he get his information? and he uses terminology without explaining it, so it's easy to become lost if you're not already well- schooled in new age ideas. however, i am a new age freak. some might call me gullible, but i can't believe all these stories can be out there, without there being something to them. the author does a great job of explaining (to my satisfaction) how pole shifts, consciousness,electromagnetics, alien abductions, crop circles, area 51, roswell, etc. are all tied together. maybe his explanations are inadequate from a reference standpoint, but it's possible that he did some investigation and just figured this stuff out in the only way that makes sense, which makes the title of the book all the more appropriate. read it and listen to your instincts. there's more to life than what is right in front of us.

Quite amazing and interesting
Straight up, this book is one of the most interesting things ive ever read... Bob Frissel seems like a very interesting person and all of it was very very good. There were some parts that were too far fetched such as how the human race was created... but the previous reviewer was wrong about a "microscopic ship being lifted into the sky." It is far fetched but what he says is "this ship was only a few atoms thick" a few thick, he never said how wide, but thats not the point. He covers a lot about ascended masters, christ consciousness, sacred geometry(which is interesting beyond beleif), the greys, the fourth dimension, everything... but the important thing when reading this is to keep an EXTREMELY open minded, because anything is possible... right?

mind expanding
bob frissell is not going to give you the answers to all of life's questions in black and white. but the reason i really love this book is because it will open your eyes to the possibility that there is so much more to life than what you see on the surface. by no means do i agree with everything said, but it's a fascinating read-- it'll trip you out. for the experienced new age guru conspiracy theorist, this might be a little too "beginner" for you. but for anyone curious in delving into some of life's mysteries, the book hits a lot of subjects and will no doubt inspire you to head off on one of the tangents.

Nothing in this review is true . . .
I read this book as a project in reading books I would disagree with and keeping an open mind throughout. It was easy with some books. With this book, all I could do is laugh. A microscopic device mentally elevated by a lucky person walking through Egypt who just happens to think about the greys. LOL. I'm sorry. I'm not that open minded; My brain is still intact. I found some sections interesting...just interesting, nothing more. Other sections, I couldn't swallow a grain of salt big enough to read them. All in all: an entertaining read worth the price of the book because it made me laugh. A lot! ... Read more

Book Description

Since the beginning of human history Mars has been an alluring dream—the stuff of legends, gods, and mystery. The planet most like ours, it has still been thought impossible to reach, let alone explore and inhabit.

Now with the advent of a revolutionary new plan, all this has changed. Leading space exploration authority Robert Zubrin has crafted a daring new blueprint, Mars Direct, presented here with illustrations, photographs, and engaging anecdotes.

The Case for Mars is not a vision for the far future or one that will cost us impossible billions. It explains step-by-step how we can use present-day technology to send humans to Mars within ten years; actually produce fuel and oxygen on the planet's surface with Martian natural resources; how we can build bases and settlements; and how we can one day "terraform" Mars—a process that can alter the atmosphere of planets and pave the way for sustainable life. ... Read more

Reviews (66)

Mixed Feelings
This book is one of the few books that I have read on the subject of Mars exploration that has been written by an expert in the field. It is therefore well informed and Highly Interesting. Robert Zubrin put forward a convincing plan to bring man to the red planet. Unfortunately in the second part of the book the author goes a bit beyond his field. The economic arguments for colonizing mars are at time doubtful and naive. The plan to terraform Mars appears to be more science fiction than science. Finally the philosophical reason for the colonization are a matter of opinion that might not be shared by all. Over all the book is interesting, but one feels that the author should have more to the subject he knows well and not venture out to much into speculation, which blunt the overall effect of the book

The Red Planet minus Van Damme
Kiddies, put your sci fi books away. This is not your parent's Mars.

In this deep and enthralling book, Robert Zubrin lays out, point by point, his method of madness for traversing the intergalactic distances and heading to Mars. Using his Mars Direct plan, we seen a plausible situation in which we could take Mars within the next decade, and begin pushing our boundaries to the so called "final frontier."

Not only does he provide the means on a very achievable time table, he also makes arguments against the so called "dragons" on the way to Mars, namely the threats of solar radiation and other such impacts. Yet, the effect of these are so negligible on the overall mission, Zubrin has us believe that yes, Mars is attainable in our generation.

After we get there, however, Zubrin takes another ambitious step towards the future: terraforming. He sees Mars as an ecological playground. one that we can change and make habitable for the expansion of earth.

All in all, this book is the Mars Bible for the era. It shows us the most sound way to get across the vast distance, stay on the surface, and return safely, while maximizing our scientific payout for the mission. Hopefully, one day we can realize Robert Zubrin's dream and land on Mars within the next decade.

Too self-congratulatory
Zubrin is a bit too self-congratulatory. The time he takes in each chapter to pat himself on the back drags down an otherwise interesting, if unrealistic, study of human space travel to Mars. All his assumptions leave little to no margin of error. Recent events have shown that accidents do happen to either expensive and/or tragic results. We're not yet to the point emotionally, economically or politically where we can be as cavalier as Zubrin's plan requires.

On writing style, Zubrin manages to take an interesting subject and turn it into something dry and tedious to read. The pieces where he actually sticks to the science of Mars and of space travel, it's a quick and interesting read with informative graphics but these bits are hidden amongst long passages of minutiae relevant only to Zubrin.

Excellent Read
I have always had a fascination with astronomy. After reading this book, that fascination turned almost into an obsession with Mars. Zubrin lays out a plan that seems perfect to land the first man on Mars. This book is an interesting read, even for the non-scientist types, as Zubrin finds a healthy balance. Very interesting book and very intellect man. Not to be missed by anyone interested in space.

A Variety of Mars Data in One Place
Dr. Zubrin did a great job of bringing a lot of research about a variety of Mars related subjects into one place.

His writing style is not sterile like a textbook might be, or how you would expect a 'rocket scientist' to write. Instead, he is able to present his ideas with facts, figures and calculations instead of glorious ideas of how to settle the stars. At times, the book even made me chuckle.

I have read other books on this subject, and have seen documentaries regarding Mars exploration and Dr. Zubrin is arguably at the forefront of the effort to settle Mars.

The book completely opened my eyes as to how easy (relatively speaking) it would be to actually settle Mars.

HIGHLY recommended for anyone interested in the subject! ... Read more

Book Description

Detailed and fascinating portraits of seven neurological patients, including a surgeon consumed by the compulsive tics of Tourette's syndrome unless he is operating; an artist who loses all sense of color in a car accident, but finds a new sensibility and creative power in black and white; and an autistic professor who cannot decipher the simplest social exchange between humans, but has built a career out of her intuitive understanding of animal behavior.

"Among doctors who write with acuity and grace, Sacks ( The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat) takes a higher place with each successive book.... enlarges our view of the nature of human experience." --Publisher's Weekly

"... Dr. Sacks's best book to date."--The New York Time Book Review ... Read more

Reviews (34)

Headache? Just read about these poor folks
With the format and style of the earlier "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat", each chapter describing a patient suffering from a particularly unusual and often spectacular neurological disorder, Sacks successfully shows how poor our understanding of the functioning of our own minds really is. More than ever his primary focus is the human aspect of mental affliction, the emotional trauma involved, presumably so he can appeal to a wider audience. I feel that the earlier book actually has the best material and is certainly a better choice if picking one title. Though the cases in "The Anthropologist" are hardly dull, it does seem a little long winded and repetitive in places - is he paid by the page? Perhaps others would disagree, but I would prefer to see more of the clinical speculation and brain-function theorizing. This is my only criticism for what is for the most part provocative and illuminating reading.

Sheds Some Light On the Mind-Brain Relationship
An Anthropologist On Mars sheds some light on the mind-brain relationship and the concept of one's self. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, takes the reader through seven case studies of people with neurological disorders, exploring not only the particular disorders, but also his patients' individual personalities.

Read the seven amazing stories in this book, entitled "The Case of the Colorblind Painter", "The Last Hippie", "A Surgeon's Life", "To See and Not See", "The Landscape of His Dreams", "Prodigies", and "An Anthropologist on Mars". Oliver Sacks presents his seven case studies of neurological disorder in an intruiging manner, and I recommend An Anthropologist On Mars to anyone with an interest in the workings of the human mind.

Color blindness and autism
What if a painter is color blind. Absolute color blindness is a rare condition. Sacks encountered a painter who had been injured. The color blindness experienced meant to the painter that everythin appeared wrong. He particularly missed the colors of spring. Things were leaden. The artist did derive pleasure from looking at drawings. He did start painting again, black and white paintings. As time passed there was evidenced in the painting a lessening of fear and depression.

Sacks describes a a surgeon with Tourette's syndrome. Writers on temporal lobe epilepsy have spoken of the doubling of consciousness. One of the subjects of the essays, Franco, has a prodigious memory and a gift for painting. He paints the town of his boyhood incessantly. His Pontito is minutely accurate. Returning to the town was not the intense experience Franco expected. Everything seemed small.

Sacks writes of the savant syndrome in a child called Stephen, an accomplished artist. He has extraordinary powers of visual perception. Savant talents seem to have a more autonomous even automatic quality than normal ones.

The anthropologist on Mars is Temple Grandin. Her work devising cattle chutes is described. She is constantly trying to understand her own autism.

Oliver Sack's medical stories are sui generis. Running into them is always a delight.

One of his best books!
I've read several books by this author, including "The man who mistook his wife for a hat", "The island of the color blind" and "Seeing voices", but I have to say that this is the one I've enjoyed the most.

In keeping with the format of his hugely popular "The man who mistook his wife for a hat", Oliver Sacks presents his readers with several case stories that are both gripping and enlightening. As always, the author's greatest talent is being able to teach the general reader about the intricacies of the human mind, without reducing the particular patient to something other than human. The people behind each of these case studies are never reduced to being just freaks of nature, but are instead described with a great deal of respect.

I highly recommend all of Dr Sacks' books, but this is the best one to start with if you're new to his work. However, if lengthy footnotes are a pet peeve of yours, you may want to stay away. I, on the other hand, along with many other of his readers, really enjoy the many footnotes as they give his books more depth and points the reader in new interesting directions.

Unforgettable people
Science, medicine and psychology aside, these people who are triumphing over the most inhuman odds are unforgettable and inspiring. Most would be unlovable to us if we knew them personally, but that's not important. All of us know people who've had many more advantages in life who have not lived up to their potentials. These folks more than make up for the underachievers. They're all somehow brilliant in their own rights. ... Read more

Book Description

For many years Richard Hoagland alone hypothesized that sentient beings spent time on Mars millions of ye ars ago assembling behemoth structures whose ruins are still seen today. Here Hoagland redefines the solar system as a different place than NASA has presented. The book includes a new preface covering the Mars Global Surveyor photos and reactions of NASA. ... Read more

Reviews (65)

The complete history of the NASA coverup of The Face
In "The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever," author Richard Hoagland gives a heavily referenced history of The Face on Mars and other suspiciously "non-natural" structures and features of the Martian surface. He describes how The Face was first discovered shortly after the Viking Mission started sending back images from Mars. NASA immediate pooh-poohed the possibility of its artificial origin. The images of The Face were too startling to be ignored, though, and research by Vince DePietro, Greg Molenaar, Hoagland and others resulted in the discovery of other unnatural, pyramid-like structures located in the vicinity of The Face. Hoagland provides solid arguments for the claims he makes. Often, this slows the pace of reading this thick book. But, by taking his time in explaining his claims, he tackles many of the arguments that might arise in the reader's own mind. Hoagland's book describes how NASA has pointedly ignored evidence from noted scientists and organizations verifying the suspiciously non-natural nature of the Cydonia region on Mars that is home to these anamolous features. Finally, Hoagland documents how NASA has refused to PUBLICALLY rephotograph Cydonia and suggests that NASA may have already done so in secret. He offers that there may be dark reasons for this suspected duplicity. "The Monuments of Mars" describes an engaging (and ongoing) real-world mystery. But, it is also frustrating in that the evidence that could solve this mystery is being withheld by the very government agency that is supposed to be honestly and publicly disseminating it...

Get past the crappy writing and you're okay
Guys, Hoagland is a scientist, NOT A WRITER. This book reads like it was written by a high school dropout. Incomplete sentances about, stunted paragraphs, lots of ellipses leading into nowhere... But so what? His job is to look at stuff and figure out what it is. His brain is used to asking questions and answering them. What he's found is, at the least, very neat. At the most, it points to something new and exciting discoveries. WIthin this book, Hoagland describes how he, with the help of two sattalite imaging specialists, investigated a little photo taken from the Viking expedition to Mars. To make a long story short, it looks like a face, there's lots of other formations nearby that look similarly artificial, and Mr. Hoagland thinks that the whole picture points to some kind of prior high civilization on Mars. You judge for yourself. Read through the hopes and dreams that (unfortunately) distort what it is he's trying to get at. Look through the diagrams, the credentials of those who have worked with him on this project... put aside the aesthetics and glean out the science from the garbage. To those who say you can see mathematics in your bowl of cheerios -- does that negate the mathematics from every other source? C'Mon man, the brain is a pattern-finding machine -- that's what it's for. Because we see patterns in just about everything, does that mean there are no legitimate patterns to be found? Should we discard every pattern we don't intuitively agree with, or offends our tender sensibilities? When does a bowl of cheerios because less mathematically meaningful, than say, the circlular artwork in the Mosque? Anyway, give it a look. At 20% off, you can afford to.

Very gutsy, exhaustingly researched, a stunner...
I read some of the negative reviews here at Amazon and they all struck me as inane drivel of the highest degree. If you're going to agree or disagree with any thesis you have to show why. If all you're going to come up with is name-calling and arguments about "math in cereal" (!!!, man, give us a break) or other , even worse, "arguments" like "NASA says it aint no face and that's what i believe" you're in my mind absolutely and positively hopeless. If, in the end, NASA and any institution of that order is for you a credible source, why bother thinking? Turn your brain OFFICIALLY off and let whomever, may that be NASA or anybody else, programm it for you. Why read what Hoagland or a number of other researchers out there profess?

"The Monuments Of Mars" is a book for people who are keen of doing something rare: think for themselves. In order to do that, you need to entertain whatever available notion out there even if it totally comes in conflict with the definition of the world in your mind. Especially if such a notion is well argumentated and has been hardly refuted with adequacy.

For those not familiar with what's presented in this book, here's a very ( and i mean, very) short summary: Hoagland along with a team of scientists ranging anywhere from geologists to physicists to computer programmers who resoluted photos, to historians and other specialties, analysed a vast series of photographs taken by NASA of the Cydonia region in Mars, photos in which the infamous "Face" appears, along with other clearly geometrical features such as pyramids or the clear designs of a former city. All these features, and their undisputed geometry, one would have to be either blind not to see, or terminally brainwashed.

The only question which remained, was to first verify through statistical probability, what the odds were of these features having been made "naturally". The odds are so staggeringly low that it would be a travesty to dismiss these as natural creations. The next, and more important questions have to do with who made them and why.

Why resort to odds when we could have more and clearer photographs of these features so the matter could be put to rest? Well, that's just it (especially for the naysayers), because Nasa refuses to rephotograph the region with a high resolution camera saying there's nothing there to be seen..And that despite all the "noise" about these features. Mysterious if not downright conspiratorial? Yes, obviously and undoudtedly so.

I don't intend to go more into what Hoagland says. You can pretty much imagine in broad lines, and besides it's your decicion and your inclination whether you'll invest the effort in reading his book anyway. To me, if your inclination is beforehand negative, you would've easily fit in in a past world who thought the world is flat because the church or "scientists" say so. And i could list a high number of such embarrasing examples, there's no shortage of them nor will there ever be.

As to the book itself, it is one which is incredibly researched. The degree of scholarship in it is superb, and more importantly, it is not the work of ONE person. Hoagland did not sit down and think all this up as some would like the case to be. There's a vast array of people who worked with him from the scientific community and who agree with him. There's also a number of other resarchers who did NOT research this subject but yet came to the same conclusions with him. Sitchin would be one. Robert Temple would be another. And the list does go on you know, as any search on alternative archaelogy in Amazon or elsewhere would show you.

The fact that we know only 5000-7000 years of human history when this planet numbers over a million years of existence means that we are actually in the dark about our origins. At least as far as "mainstream science" is concerned and this is a fact they accept themselves while offering us all kinds of comical explanations and tons of "missing links" in the process. The truth might be in fact very simple, that is, simple if you actually realise that the Universe is very probably bursting with intelligent life, not only now, but for millions of years in the past, and that the chance that we, are in very intriguing ways connected with the "out there" is also nothing shocking. It only is if you allow the world in your mind to be something painfully small.

Only reading this book will more than likely not be enough to provide you with all the data supporting such theories. Yes i mean data, and not speculations. Raw data. You will need to pick up some Sitchin, some Temple, some Colin Wilson, or others. Only then will you able to form a more spherical and stronger opinion.

But if you haven't done so up to now, Hoagland's book is a great place to start.
Absolutely essential material for people not content with the hilarious version of the truth spoon-fed to us on a daily basis.

Devastating truth about the "face"
After the subsequent closer-up photos of the "face," it is undeniable that the so-called "face" is NOT a face after all. Where was Hoagland when the defining photos came out? Apparently working on the 5th edition. No wonder he wears a cape. Without it, he'd have to face the devasting truth that he is mortal after all.

1/ (Resonable Doubt)
Well.... the decision is yours. The Avebury region map overlay on Cydonia is hard to dismiss as coincidence. I just may take a visit to Stonehenge and check it out myself. The Brilliant Pebbles testing broadcast was also quite interesting. ... Read more

Book Description

Andrew Mishkin, a senior systems engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a leader of NASA's robotic program, brings us this insider's look at the Mars Pathfinder probe that electrified the world's imagination.

One hundred twenty-two million miles away from her controllers, a sophisticated robot smaller than a microwave oven did what had never been done before-explored the rocky, red terrain of Mars. Then, six-wheeled Sojourner beamed spectacular pictures of her one-of-a-kind mission back to Earth. And millions of people were captivated.

Now, with the touch of an expert thriller writer, Sojourner operations team leader Andrew Mishkin tells the inside, human story of the Mars Pathfinder mission's feverish efforts to build a self-guided, offroading robot to explore the surface of the Red Planet. With witty, compelling anecdotes, he describes the clash of temperamental geniuses, the invention of a new work ethic, the turf wars, the chewing-gum solutions to high-tech problems, the controlled chaos behind the strangely beautiful creation of an artificial intelligence-and the exhilaration of inaugurating the next great age of space exploration ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Valuable Resource
Like other books concerning the space program (e.g."Moon Hunters") this book is an interesting historical document concerning some of JPL's remarkable accomplishments. In addition however, the author provides valuable technical insights into the unique thinking, problem solving, and development obstacles which scientists and engineers encounter when exploring remote areas of our world and universe. From a project management perspective, Mishkin has demonstrated how issues over team dynamics, personality, scheduling, and budgets were successfully overcome to attain success beyond all expectations.
I think that this book would make excellent reading for scientists and engineers destined to manage major team oriented projects. This book also should prove of great interest to people working in space science, oceanographic work, or other such fields with similar problems and they will likely find several technical parallels to the mode of thinking that is applied to their own areas.
I would think that JPL would gain much in the way of public interest and support if similar books appear in the future.

Worth the read
Mishkin takes the reader on the bumpy, rock-strewn path of rover development at JPL and does so in readable terms. Forget acronyms or dry engineering terms here, it's a highly readable account of one of NASA's great achievements of the past decade. The book is full of anecdotes and good writing.
It also shows how the Mars program had too grand a scale with their intial rover program in the early 1990s. They scaled it back and came up with the smaller Pathfinder, or Sojourner (but what everybody just calls "the rover") that was very well executed in 1997.
Now, two more rovers are slated to land on Mars by Jan. 4, 2004. Read this book and the story of how long and interesting that voyage truly is will unfold. ... Read more

Book Description

The dramatic story of a band of space pioneers, who simulated a mission to the Red Planet in the most desolate regions on Earth.

Here is the incredible true story of a group of determined space voyagers who wouldn't wait for the space program to catch up with them. From 1999 to 2002, the stalwarts of the Mars Society undertook a virtual exploration of Mars in the most isolated spots on Earth, where they replicated and studied the real-life challenges of exploring the Red Planet. ... Read more

Book Description

The Cydonia Codex offers persuasive evidence of artistic and symbolic design on the surface of the planet Mars — and of an ancient base established there by the same beings, the Annunaki, that created humankind. The authors' research encompasses over ten years of study and analysis of NASA photographs of the "Face on Mars" and its surrounding complex. Beginning with the famous 1976 photograph of a mile-long formation in Mars's Cydonia region that strongly resembles a human face, Haas and Saunders present compelling evidence for a terrestrial connection between Cydonia and Mesoamerica. The book's side-by-side comparison of the face (a split-faced geoglyph) and masks at a temple in Belize lends support to the notion of a prehistoric Martian civilization paralleling ancient cultures on Earth. The implications here are staggering. If these structures are remnants of the Annunaki, then Earth's — and humankind's — history must be rethought. Includes black-and-white photos throughout, as well as illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Intersting Earth - Mars connection
When I first got this book it was to read more about the faces that have been seen on Mars.The authors have done an excellent job of identifing and describing not only the faces but numerous other structures that I wasn't aware even existed.I think if someone was only interested in the Face on Mars the book is well worth it.What I found really fascinating however was the connection between the images seen on Mars and the images found in ancient cultures here on earth.The authors have obviously done a great deal of research not only into the Martian structures but also into ancient Mesoamerican, Egyptian and other cultures and have shown how the images from Mars are repeated in the religous and cultural artifacts from those ancient civilizations.Its very thought provoking.

If I have any criticism its that the authors sometimes delve too deeply into some of the details regarding the ancient civilizations, however I'm sure that a reader who has an interest or some knowledge of that subject or is hungry for more information will appreciate the detailed work that they have done.

The information is well laid out and while the authors resist forming a conclusion the reader can judge for themselves how it all ties together.

All in all an excellent informative work.I hope they do a follow up book.

A codex of pictographic structures on ... Mars
I found this Adobe Reader, CD ROM book to be easy to use, very well written, and beautifully illustrated. The book features forwards by two of the "pillars" of Martian anomaly research, Richard Hoagland and Dr. Mark Carlotto, both of whom have also written books about the Face on Mars. If that isn't enough to get your attention, the book also has Keith Laney's enhancements of NASA photographs, which are of the highest quality. It is no wonder NASA has decided to make Laney one of their own and now use his work in their own research and publications. In my opinion Mr. Leney's enhancement of the 2001 image of the Face on Mars is surely a national treasure. One look at this image and you'll be convinced that the Face on Mars is real. If Mr Laney has any influence over at NASA/JPL, maybe he can open the door and tell N