Magnificent Mars

Rating:
Summary: Stunning - a delight to the eye & rich in real science
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: Coo Coo!
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful photos of the real Mars... but
Review: 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.