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A Traveler's Guide To Mars
With all the noise and kerfuffle about Mars recently I thought I should take a look at the Red Planet. I'm not well educated about astronomy, have to think hard to get the order of the planets right, but still wanted something with some depth. I found a great little guide for the uninformed visitor, "A Traveler's Guide to Mars" by William K Hartmann. This fairly inexpensive volume is full of all the information you're going to need, a large number of pictures, several maps and a great deal of information about previous voyagers to the planet. Indeed Hartmann was one of the scientists for the Mars Global Surveyor mission.
This book really does look like a typical traveler's guide with large print, bold headings, a good use of colour and text boxes. The style is light enough that when it gets scientific you don't notice too much. It is broken up into seven sections
- Introducing Mars: Past and Present.
- Noachian Mars: Exploring The Oldest Provinces
- Interlude: Landing on Mars
- Hesperian Mars: A Time of Transition
- Interlude: Rocks From Mars
- Amazonian Mars: The Red Planet Today
- Where Do We come From, Where Are We Going
The first section is a quick overview of the planet and a look at the history of Martian research. Section three looks at the various landings and what they discovered. Section five is a single chapter explaining the Martian meteors and what they might mean. Section seven is also small and looks at future Martian research. The other three sections look at the geography and geology of various parts of the Red Planet.
I found the whole book fascinating. I particularly liked the way Hartmann kept almost all his own tale in small sidebars called "My Martian Chronicles", 15 of them scattered through the book. These were interesting and meant that he could push his own barrow in a way that didn't intrude into the rest of the book, you could read them when you wanted. Throughout the book you get a huge amount of information about Mars and how the various bits were likely formed and what further exploration is likely to find.
All that said, it's not a book that can be taken in huge gulps. It took me several weeks to read it, picking it up and reading a few chapters then putting it down for a day or so, then perhaps another hour or two just looking at pictures, maps and reading sidebars. The layout does lend itself to this, however, so I'm not quite certain I'd call this a flaw, it seemed like a good way of making a 450 page book on Mars that much easier to digest. It also doesn't seem like a book that you need to read cover to cover, in order. I certainly didn't, reading bits about the meteors and landings and the last section before reading the section on Hesperian Mars.
The Workman Publishing web page on the book is not much use, with only a tiny excerpt from the book and while the book does have a selected reading list at the end it would have been nice to have a list of recommended web sites for further information as most of us don't have access to the sort of library likely to carry advanced astronomy journals or books.
If you're not an astronomy geek and want to know more about Mars then you may well find this book ideal. I certainly enjoyed my visit to the Red Planet.
You can purchase A Traveler's Guide To Mars from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
$3.75 less at Amazon! That's 30% off.
And why is she visiting Earth?
...you can try to keep abreast with a copy of Total Recall.
(ba dum ching)
No review of the hotels, restaurants, beaches, clubs, local customs etc. This book is no use to me for my vacation. I'm sticking with my Rough Guide to Saturn.
Kick in the Head
Also, is it accurate to say the Mars Needs Guitars?
Where's the URL for the website? I don't have the time to read a *gasp* book, so please help me out here!
Attention all planets of the Solar Federation! We have assumed control! - Neil Peart
At least it isn't two simple words:
Mostly harmless.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
If anyone is actually going, can I go with you?! =P
So, did anyone see anything really cool? It seemed to me that most of the people getting excited don't realize that you can see Mars all the time.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
The author has NEVER BEEN TO FUCKING MARS! The average Slashdot nerd could write a better Traveler's Guide to the Vagina than this outright fraud.
...that Mar has come back to visit!
Good grief, sometimes it's getting a little ridiculous with this whole "WOW MARS IS SO MUCH CLOSER OMG WTF LOL BBQ"
Mars is all of 1% closer this year than it has ever been in the last 600 years. This is an almost insignificant amount. "Even with a good telescope and a camera", writes "Bad Astronomy" debunker Phil Platt in on a page about the closeness of mars and a variety of bad astronomy being spread about it, "you'd have a hard time seeing the difference. In fact, the difference is so small it would just barely be detectable using Hubble."
http://www.chmodoplusr.com/
Those three books, by Kim Stanley Robinson, describe the colonization and terraforming of Mars. But there's so much exploration and description, by the end, you'll swear you've been there. Not a fast-paced read, but very good indeed. At least that way you'll get a nice dose of sci/tech, Mars politics, and space elevators along with your geographic descriptions.
Mostly harmless?
-- Cheers!
Does it have any good ideas on how to get there and back?
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
that no one is more experienced with traveling to Mars than William K. Hartmann.
Disecting a joke is like disecting a frog. Nobody really likes it, and in the end all you have is a dead frog. :)
Everything seemed to be going so nice
'till the end of all beings punched right through the ice
Well, I imagine the reviewed book will be pretty useful once we get there. In the meantime, how will we get there?
I definitely recommend people to check out The Case for Mars by Robert Zubrin.
It is a pretty intriguing book explaining how we could basically use "off-the-shelf" technology to get there and live off the land once we get there.
Why would I want to buy the Traveler's Guide to Mars when I can get the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?
I mean seriously, there are a lot more interesting places to visit in the galaxy than Mars. There's no reason why I should want a book telling me all about going there and paying to see the sights, when I can get a guide that tells me how to get around the whole galaxy for free!
The title of Ch. 6, "Amazonian Mars: The Red Planet Today", totally sold the book for me. Who are these Martian Amazons, and where did they come from?
I can't think of anything more arousing than the thought of lonely Martian/Amazon girls who have grown to heights of 7-8 feet in the lower gravity environment, and who could snap me in half like a twig.
when searching a publisher for a work like this there is one obvious option, but no, nothing to be found there:
lonely planet
even worse: all the books mentioned on the site above provide information about places on earth, the least lonely planet known to mankind!
Okay, my recent trip to Mars didn't go so well, so let me gift you with some advice gleaned by my mistakes.
1) How to get there (and back).
Answer: A rocket. Reallllly big. Lots of fuel, lots of food and water. DON'T forget the zero-g toilet and about a zillion barf bags. It's a bumpy ride, so take some seat cushions for the ascents and descents. Also take some sunglasses and SPF-1000000 sunblock.
2) Money.
Answer: You'll want to exchange currency at Mars Customs, located on Deimos. Avoid Phobos altogether - it's just a tourist trap. Martians have but 3 fingers on their 'hands' (okay, tentacles), so their math is a little funky. I'd advise taking a calculator for doing conversions both into their currency, and their math. Prices on Mars are generally reasonable, but you don't want to pay too much! Shop around. Oh yeah, bring a moneybelt. The natives are lightfingered little bastards, not that I'd want to generalize. Some of my best friends are Martians. Honest.
3) The weather.
Answer: Enroute is normal, unless you have a breach in the spacecraft. If that happens, it won't matter what you packed. On Mars itself, the air is somewhat thin, so pack a pressure suit. It's also somewhat chilly, so layer! Bring plenty of oxygen. It doesn't rain, so no umbrella is needed, but you may experience something the "Red Planet" is famous for: a sandstorm. Trust me on this - just stay in the spaceship during one. If caught outside, determine which way the sand is blowing, then get in the shadow of a rockface. Leave your galoshes at home.
4) The sights.
Answer: Lots of rocks and dirt. Some sand and dust, as well, plus two moons in the sky and a bright dot for the Sun. Don't miss the 'Face' on Mars. Inside is a typical Martian funhouse, full of those funny distorting mirrors. Those are a blast. A side-trip to the North Pole is full of frozen fun, but make sure to take a native guide to get the most out of your time.
5) The food.
Answer: Kind of bland, but worth the experience. Dried Martian dust-mite on a bed of Martian cabbage is the classic dish. Get used to dust on everything. It is safe to drink the water on Mars (Yes, it's there, but expensive!), as non-native microbes can't effect the Human body.
6) The natives.
Answer: As seen on TV! Little green guys with big eyes, and three tentacles per 'hand'. They used to be big on invading other planets back in the 50s and 30s, but they've mellowed out a lot since Perestroika.
7) The nightlife.
Answer: They like to boogie. Martian-tossing is the latest fad you'll find in all the nightclubs. They're real big on karaoke, as well, and classic Earth cinema is all the rage. "Santa Claus vs the Martians" is still #1 at the box office.
8) The beer.
Answer: They import it from Canada. Labatt Red is the drink of choice.
Don't forget to buy souvenirs for all your friends!
I for one, welcome our new Martian overlords. Next time you see that ol' tripod-of-death strolling by, give our masters a friendly wave! And by all means, do not cough. You never know what little Earth germ might wipe them all out.
this, but that does also fit the bill.
Shouldn't this book have been published by Lonely Planet?
blog |
I prefer "The Lubricated Guide to Uranus" myself...
I'll stick with the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy.
Something that's been bothering me for years.
Why can't I see "canals" by looking at high-quality photographs of Mars from a distance, and/or squinting?
Percival Lowell and his team at Flagstaff published detailed drawings in which there was a veritable spiderweb of canals, dozens and dozens of them spanning the whole planet.
It's now accepted that these long, linear features were a kind of optical illusion.
But why can't I experience the optical illusion for myself?
An interesting near-contemporary account is givenin this article in the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica "Of the reality of the better marked ones there can be no doubt, as they have been seen repeatedly by many observers, including those at the Lick Observatory, and have actually been photographed at the Lowell Observatory. The doubt is therefore confined to the vast network of lines so fine that they never certainly have been seen elsewhere than at Flagstaff. The difficulty of pronouncing upon their reality arises from the fact that we have to do mainly with objects not plainly visible (or, as Lowell contends, not plainly visible elsewhere). The question therefore becomes one of psychological optics rather than of astronomy. When the question is considered from this point of view it is found that combinations of light and shaded areas very different from continuous lines, will, under certain conditions, be interpreted by the eye as such lines; and when such is the case, long practice by an observer, however carefully conducted, may confirm him in this interpretation. "
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Lets not go overboard here...
Both are a little stale on travel an accomidations. I have a pretty good deal with an agent named "Klatoo."
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
You may think the two moons make for a really romantic atmosphere, but some things to think about:
1) Mars...Needs...Women!
2) Alcohol & 1/3 Earth gravity do NOT mix well.
I listened to that album sooooo many times in the '80s (usually while astoundingly drunk). Still have it in fact.
Like this , in less than 20 years given adequate funding.
-
genericLength
Now consider the following expression:
let { len = genericLength xs } in (len, len)
It looks as if len should be computed only once, but without Rule 1 it might be computed twice, once at each of two different overloadings. If the programmer does actually wish the computation to be repeated, an explicit type signature may be added:
let { len
[(n,s)] = reads t
Recall that reads is a standard function whose type is given by the signature
reads
Without Rule 1, n would be assigned the type forall a. Read a =>a and s the type forall a. Read a =>String. The latter is an invalid type, because it is inherently ambiguous. It is not possible to determine at what overloading to use s, nor can this be solved by adding a type signature for s. Hence, when non-simple pattern bindings are used (Section 4.4.3.2), the types inferred are always monomorphic in their constrained type variables, irrespective of whether a type signature is provided. In this case, both n and s are monomorphic in a.
The same constraint applies to pattern-bound functions. For example, in
(f,g) = ((+),(-))
both f and g are monomorphic regardless of any type signatures supplied for f or g.
"Mar's closest visit to the earth..."
Come on. It should read: "Mars' closest visit to the earth...".
Anybody read Kim Stanley Robinson's series 'Red Mars', 'Green Mars' and 'Blue Mars'? It is quite an extraordinary representation of what the colonization of mars might be. Definately worth the read.
It should read "Mars's [...]". The possessive s is only ommited when the noun is plural, not when it otherwise ends with an s. You know, one does look a bit foolish when pointing out an editor's obvious typo by suggesting a gramatically incorrect correction.
Unless you are under the impression that there is more than Mars. :-)
-- MG
I heard that some of the canal lines he claimed to see were actually cataracts and other defects of his own eyes.
http://www.chmodoplusr.com/
From This place
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
Hey, I forgot all about that, that last year I would step outside, point at the sky, and go "planet-planet-planet-planet" and my wife and everyone in her family thought I was totally weird or something.
but it really is as close as it will be for another 60,000 years, what is wrong with using that event to get the whole world to go out and take a look at mars.
It's marketing, and it is a beautiful site when it's close. What you don't understand is that people don't want to go out and look at mars every time it's at opposition... about once every 60,000 years is enough for them --- it's a marketing event for astronomy and what's wrong with that? what's to debunk?
-pyrrho
there is no such think as "minoring" in a subject.
btw, I don't know what you are talking about, when earth and mars are closest, mars is always at opposition.
The difference this time is that mars is also near perhelion while earth is near aphelion....
-pyrrho
Everybody knows all the fun is happening at Uranus!
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
No so much defects as veins on his retina - the way he was using the telescope (bright light source, very high f/ number, etc) made it work like an ophthalmoscope. Think of how when you go to the optician and they shine a light in your eys - often you can see the veins. There was an article in Sky and Telescope in 2002, but I don't have the issue to hand.
If we ever did land on mars would we have to worry about disease etc. THey put the moon landing team in quarantine for a while after they came back. THe moon is a pretty dead, sterile place but mars has a possibility. I mean if there is life it would probably be of the microscopic bacteria/single celled organism type. We know how much bugs from the old world annihilated populations in the new world. Imagine what something from another planet could do!
-- Karma Karma Karma Karma, Karma Chameleon - Boy George
Does the book mention Hrossa, Sorns, or Pfifltriggi?
If you're missing home, or you want to show off Earth to your Martian friends, do take time off to visit EarthLand (note the dark, grey sky, and the still reddish-brown rocks; a dead giveaway for the eagle-eyed!). Pretty amazing piece of terra-forming technology out there; it's very realistic! But if you're on a tight budget, don't bother visiting the place, unless you're dying to see some actual water; note that, as the parent said, water on Mars is expensive, so they charge the sky (pun intended) for entry.
Then again, you don't want to miss the classic Martian sunrise for the world; you know you've seen it on television, but it's quite breath-taking actually to be there!
Problem with Martian tourism is, because it's only recently been opened, there are a lot of touts around promising you Heaven. Don't get ripped off by falling for obviously Photoshopped images; yes, good ol' Martians have made some significant progress in Terra-forming, but no, water is still scarce. I'd say it's still a backpacker destination, and not quite somewhere you want to go with the family; I mean, you don't want to be caught in a situation where you'd have to use your family's water ration of the day just to clean Junior's diaper, for instance.
More than mere navel gazing.