Mars: A New View of the Red Planet

Description

Mars has always fascinated humanity and the findings of the past decade have revolutionized ideas about our nearest neighbour - revealing its watery past and geological similarity to Earth. This giant volume, filled with the latest and most magnificent images to be sent back from Curiosity, will walk you in the footsteps of the NASA probes and rovers that have been surveying the planet from 1964 until the present day. Experience its other-worldly beauty as you hover over sinister dust devils, immense icecaps and textured rock formations. Mars charts an incredible course across this unfamiliar planet, depicting all sides, seasons, channels and chasms, from the North Pole to the Southern Highlands. Witness the soaring heights of Olympus Mons - the tallest volcano in the Solar System - watch a giant dust storm tear through the canyons of the Valles Marineris, and explore the broad valleys of Chryse Planitia, scarred from catastrophic floods. Detailed and accessible essays explain how Mars was formed, shedding light on its internal and external structure, weather systems and unique geographical features, as well as on the compelling evidence of water and microscopic life. Each image is accompanied by a caption that explains in unparalleled detail the abstract patterns and peculiar geology that form this majestic planet. Featuring over 200 spectacular photographs and informative colour diagrams, an atlas of the surface and details of the most recent scientific discoveries, Mars is the perfect introduction to the Red Planet. Review: This is the current magnum opus on Mars - This is a fabulous book, but not for casual browsing, but rather to savor a huge amount of fascinating, but mainly orbiter aerial photos. For those old enough to remember the first 200 odd pixel monochrome Mariner pictures of Mars, the images in this book are like science fiction. Giles Sparrow has undoubtedly put a lot of effort into this sumptuous volume. The text is measured, knowledgeable, up-to-date, covering virtually every aspect of the planet , but short on geological analysis. Otherwise, A to Z stuff. Personally I would have preferred more geologically informative captions (with more sizing-scales as a previous reviewer mentions), but of course this would require a lot more research. Rather than a seeming tendency in places to include 'bling' images (and rare ones) which are thin on info, I would have been interested in more classic images packed with a lot more explanatory data - even at the risk of being speculative. Don't misread me here. This is a book filled with up-to-date images (and text), mainly from orbiters, and strictly speaking, it is ultimately an aerial-survey of Mars. Nonetheless, it has enough to more than satisfy the appetite of all interested in this desolate, violent and fascinating world. (See below for PS) It is a visually gorgeous book which comes perilously close to being 'ultimate'. Certainly there is nothing of its kind in print. No one interested in planetary exploration should be without this tome. PS. If I have a quibble, it is that I would have liked more 'Rover' type-photos, the sort of "Postcards from Mars' (Jim Bell) panoramas, the sort of groundviews that one not versed in interpreting aerial ( and false coloured) imagery could relate to... PPS. Quercus, there is still a gap in the market for the 'ultimate' Rover photo-book, something that continues where Jim Bell left off ten years ago.......... with the sort of 'terrestrial-type' ground-level panoramas unique to the Rovers - backed-up with geologically informed text on the topography and orogeny in picture...(where Bell was short) Review: Fantastic present - We bought this for a friend, he loved it a big star gazer and planet knowledge. Thought it was fantastic and the large book with great pictures. Just couldn’t believe how big the book was.