White Mars

Rating:
Summary: Not the best Aldiss novel for me
Review: For this novel, in fact, I think 3 stars is a bit generous, although 2 would be too harsh. There are some interesting flashes, but too much of it is philosophising in a preachy sort of way, and when science fiction takes its stand with Chimborazo it seems almost out of place. Most of this novel seems to be set in a desert anywhere on the Earth - I had none of the real alien feel that Mars should give, as so well done by Philip K Dick and C S Lewis in radically different ways, even Ray Bradbury - and who can forget Samuel Delany's 'Triton' - these were real places to visit, really alien and challenging.

And then the people in 'White Mars' seem to be placed there in the ethnically acceptable mix just as they were in 'Star Trek' - a pretty old scenario in present times. I also wonder why so many utopian or alternative societies have to be built on deprived or degraded environments. Even imagined societies I admired immensely, such as Ursula LeGuin's anarchic society in 'The Dispossessed'. About the only way of avoiding the difficulties of evolving a society from where we are today, seems to be by setting it vastly in the future as in H G Wells's 'Time Machine' and W H Hudson's 'A Crystal Age.' To me, I would be much more impressed to have a new social order develop under my nose as I read about it, from the base of our current world and mix of societies.

I am also displeased in that an 'alien' influence seems to be required to 'help' people develop their social skills. Humankind may not be the ideal society we would dream of, but we have achieved enormously and I have confidence that we can keep pushing forward, even through the dark times, into a new and better world and by our own initiative.

In all, I was disappointed in this novel, partly because I have admired so much of Mr Aldiss's earlier work.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best Aldiss novel for me
Review: For this novel, in fact, I think 3 stars is a bit generous, although 2 would be too harsh. There are some interesting flashes, but too much of it is philosophising in a preachy sort of way, and when science fiction takes its stand with Chimborazo it seems almost out of place. Most of this novel seems to be set in a desert anywhere on the Earth - I had none of the real alien feel that Mars should give, as so well done by Philip K Dick and C S Lewis in radically different ways, even Ray Bradbury - and who can forget Samuel Delany's 'Triton' - these were real places to visit, really alien and challenging.

And then the people in 'White Mars' seem to be placed there in the ethnically acceptable mix just as they were in 'Star Trek' - a pretty old scenario in present times. I also wonder why so many utopian or alternative societies have to be built on deprived or degraded environments. Even imagined societies I admired immensely, such as Ursula LeGuin's anarchic society in 'The Dispossessed'. About the only way of avoiding the difficulties of evolving a society from where we are today, seems to be by setting it vastly in the future as in H G Wells's 'Time Machine' and W H Hudson's 'A Crystal Age.' To me, I would be much more impressed to have a new social order develop under my nose as I read about it, from the base of our current world and mix of societies.

I am also displeased in that an 'alien' influence seems to be required to 'help' people develop their social skills. Humankind may not be the ideal society we would dream of, but we have achieved enormously and I have confidence that we can keep pushing forward, even through the dark times, into a new and better world and by our own initiative.

In all, I was disappointed in this novel, partly because I have admired so much of Mr Aldiss's earlier work.

Rating:
Summary: charcters
Review: i need some information about the main charcters for a project please send me some information please.

Rating:
Summary: white mars
Review: In White Mars, the authors have written a nifty utopian tale for the technological age. Although the series of events on earth that leads to the eventual isolation of the martian colony struck me as highly improbable, I gave it little consideration as I was swept up in the real drama: The creation of a new and better society--a "mature culture" leaving behind the myths, preconceptions, and bigotries that plagues mid-twenty-first century earth. I liked to see them attack problems such as a lack of water, crime, a threatening over-population (curiously, artificial birth control is barely mentioned)with a kind of cooperative rationality. And,of course, the appearance of a singularly unique alien. Even though I'm particular when it comes to hard science fiction, I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: White Mars, or How Flawed Beings Build Utopia
Review: The discussion of how to build a better society is central to this book, and it is good. Cut off from Earth by an economic disaster, several thousand Mars colonists are thrown back on their own resources to sustain themselves. The focus is almost exclusively on the Mars of the mind-what kind of society can be formed/should be formed in the isolation of the Martian frontier? The characters endlessly discuss what it means to be human under these conditions. What institutions are necessary, and which ones can be avoided? How are we to raise children? How are we to conduct ourselves in a larger society? How are we to cope with our variegated behaviors when freedom brings us into conflict with one another? These questions and more are raised and raised again.

I don't agree with many of the answers White Mars seems to provide, and so I was tempted to give the book three stars. For example, I don't agree that Mars should be set aside as a scientific preserve. However, I believe the most important thing is that the questions were asked and various opinions aired. White Mars is a valuable addition to the debate on Mars and on how human beings interact with our society.

The science is really beside the point, which also tempted me to give White Mars three stars. The discussion on physics and the quest for meaning at the sub-particle level is half-developed and never really tied into the main story. There's also the discovery of native life on Mars, which is more science fantasy than science fiction. The more mundane science of maintaining a community of several thousand in total isolation on Mars is completely ignored, which is also a disappointment. As an answer to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, White Mars falls so short in this department that I can't even say there was an effort at competition.

At its heart, however, White Mars is a discussion on values and humanity. All other factors aside, this discussion makes the book worth reading and pondering.

Rating:
Summary: White Mars, or How Flawed Beings Build Utopia
Review: The discussion of how to build a better society is central to this book, and it is good. Cut off from Earth by an economic disaster, several thousand Mars colonists are thrown back on their own resources to sustain themselves. The focus is almost exclusively on the Mars of the mind-what kind of society can be formed/should be formed in the isolation of the Martian frontier? The characters endlessly discuss what it means to be human under these conditions. What institutions are necessary, and which ones can be avoided? How are we to raise children? How are we to conduct ourselves in a larger society? How are we to cope with our variegated behaviors when freedom brings us into conflict with one another? These questions and more are raised and raised again.

I don't agree with many of the answers White Mars seems to provide, and so I was tempted to give the book three stars. For example, I don't agree that Mars should be set aside as a scientific preserve. However, I believe the most important thing is that the questions were asked and various opinions aired. White Mars is a valuable addition to the debate on Mars and on how human beings interact with our society.

The science is really beside the point, which also tempted me to give White Mars three stars. The discussion on physics and the quest for meaning at the sub-particle level is half-developed and never really tied into the main story. There's also the discovery of native life on Mars, which is more science fantasy than science fiction. The more mundane science of maintaining a community of several thousand in total isolation on Mars is completely ignored, which is also a disappointment. As an answer to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, White Mars falls so short in this department that I can't even say there was an effort at competition.

At its heart, however, White Mars is a discussion on values and humanity. All other factors aside, this discussion makes the book worth reading and pondering.

Rating:
Summary: Bad, bad, bad
Review: This is absolutely the worst SF book I've read in the last 20 years. Who are those people that gave it a 3 or 4 star rating? The dialogue is contrived, the characters are bland. It's just an Utopian philosophy book disguised, and then thinly, as a novel. It's extremely boring. Does the author really think humanity is going to live in simbiosis with some Martian rock and conquer the Universe? Get serious please. This book doesn't even begin to compare with The Red Mars trilogy.