Red Planet. Photo by Alpoma.

I got this with the Mars Reports I ordered from Amazon to fill out the order to £19 for the free shipping. It’s tempting to simply copy the quotes from the back and leave it at that.

“A brilliant, sustained achievement which presents not just our changing representations of Mars, but the developing map of humanity’s consciousness through science, technology, culture and art. Oliver Morton is a superb writer who has made a specialist subject enthralling and universal.” – Irvine Welsh.

“A remarkable book… to read this book is to become infected with a fascination I hadn’t realised Mars held.” – James Hamilton-Paterson, London Review of Books.

“The best book on Mars that money can buy.” – Charles Sheffield, New Scientist.

I don’t know about the last one, I haven’t read every Mars book, but it is extremely good. I bought it because I though the concept of mapping Mars was quite a niche subject. Well, I’ve been proved comprehensively wrong. Morton uses maps to open up the human experience of Mars. (more…)