“Mars tugs at the human imagination like no other planet.”
The fourth planet in our Solar System, Mars has captured humanity’s imagination for thousands of years. Sharing the name with the Roman god of war, Mars is roughly half the size of Earth but shares some incredible similarities that have only continued to inspire scientists and astronomers. On the back of famous expeditions such as Curiosity and Opportunity, we now have a greater understanding of the surface of Mars than certain parts of our world, and humans stepping foot on the planet is now a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. Join us at What We Reading for the best Mars books!
The Case For Mars – Robert Zubrin
For a book that captures the longstanding fascination humanity has had with the Red Planet, as well as how colonisation of it is more than possible, Robert Zubrin’s The Case for Mars remains one of the best works going.
An accomplished aerospace engineer and founding member of The Mars Society, Zubrin flexes all of his knowledge across the book, providing readers with a step-by-step guide on everything from producing fuel and oxygen on Mars to terraforming the planet’s surface. Still one of the definitive Mars books, Zubrin blends thousands of years of wonder with a future of producing sustainable life on the Red Planet that appears tantalisingly close.
Mars: Making Contact – Rod Pyle
Rob Pyle offers readers a stunning guide to how Mars has been explored in Mars: Making Contact. Utilising extraordinary details and documents, Pyle traces the history of human observations of the Red Planet. From 22 grainy photographs snapped from the Mariner spacecraft in 1965 to the Curiosity and Opportunity Rovers on the planet’s surface, it is a stunning tour guide through the greatest discoveries we have made, and how our understanding of the planet has shifted.
Pyle also puts the planned first manned mission to Mars under the microscope, documenting the challenges such a mission faces ranging from the type of spacecraft required to the physical and psychological toils of such a journey.
Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, And The Exploration Of The Red Planet – Steven Squyres
Steven Squyres is the face and voice behind NASA’s famous Mars Exploration Rover mission. Having first dreamed of the mission in 1987, it landed in 2004 after a payload of over $400 million.
Roving Mars is his account of the incredible personal and scientific journey from conception to landing, offering readers some of the most striking insights ranging from the characters behind to the scope and significance of the findings it unearthed.
Mars: The Pristine Beauty Of The Red Planet – Alfred S McEwen, Candice Hansen-Koharcheck And Ari Espinoza
HiRISE was the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet. And, through Mars: The Pristine Beauty of the Red Planet, the Red Planet is shown in astonishing new detail. These photographs have redefined our understanding of the planet, and the book stands as a triumphant collection of the best never-before-seen images from a NASA mission.
High-resolution colour imagery is coupled with explanatory captions in twenty-four different languages, showcasing all of Mars’ incredible eroding slopes, avalanches, polar landscapes, and strange impact craters.
Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity’s Chief Engineer – Rob Manning And William L. Simon
The Curiosity Rover stands as one of the most successful scientific projects in recent history, and engineer Rob Manning gives readers one of the most valuable peaks behind the curtain into the inner workings and complexities of such an endeavour in Mars Rover Curiosity.
Serving as the chief engineer on the Curiosity Rover, Manning’s work is a collection of compelling stories from how the project was envisioned, the technical and personal setbacks that went into bringing it to life, as well as the incredible findings it would eventually yield. The result is not only one of the most insightful Mars books for astronomers everywhere, but also one of the most potent takes on how space continues to inspire incredible feats of engineering.
Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, And The Birth Of A World – Oliver Morton
For those looking for a Mars book that documents what the Red Planet’s landscape actually looks like, and how our understanding has continually evolved, Oliver Morton’s Mapping Mars is still a must-read.
Chronically everything from nineteenth-century visionaries, sci-fi writers, spy-satellite pioneers and Arctic explorers who have all dedicated their lives to discovering more about the Red Planet, Mapping Mars is both a celebration of how the Solar System’s fourth planet has captured our imaginations and stands as our next great adventure.
Mission To Mars: My Vision For Space Exploration – Buzz Aldrin
As the second man to walk on the Moon, Buzz Aldrin is undoubtedly one of the authoritative voices on space exploration. In Mission to Mars, he offers readers his own opinions on what getting people to the Red Planet looks like, and how it might be achieved.
Aiming to get humans to the planet by the year 2035, Aldrin uses all of his first-hand experience and aerospace engineering skills to present a vision that is both incredible in its scope, and compelling in its arguments. Not only does Aldrin answer the big questions of ‘how’ humans can get to Mars, but also ‘why’ they should.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
