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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Book Review - Martian Summer

About the Book
Spend a summer on the Phoenix Mars mission-something that has taken nearly the entirety of human knowledge to achieve

There's never been a better time to be an armchair astronaut.  Forget this planet.  The economy is terrible, global warming is inevitable, and there are at least eight major wars happening right now.  That's why Kessler left home and moved to Mars.  Well, not all the way to Mars.  The closest spot on earth you can get without a rocket.  In the summer of 2008, he lived a space dream, spending three months in mission control of The Phoenix expedition with 130 top NASA scientists and engineers as they explored Mars.  This story is a human drama about modern-day Magellans battling NASA politics and the bizarre world of daily life in mission control.   Kessler was the first outsider ever granted unfettered access to such an event, giving us a true Martian exclusive.

The Phoenix Mars mission was the first man-made probe ever sent to the Martian arctic.  They planned to find out how climate change can turn a warm wet planet (read: Earth) into a cold barren desert (read: Mars). That might seem like a trivial pursuit, but it's probably the most impressive feat we humans can achieve.  It takes nearly the entirety of human knowledge to do it.  This is only the sixth landing on Mars, and it might be the last.  During this amazing summer, Phoenix discovered a giant frozen ocean trapped beneath the North Pole of Mars, exotic food for aliens and liquid water.  This is not science fiction.  It's fact.  Not bad for a summer holiday.

Andrew Kessler is a creative director at HUGE, a New York interactive agency.  He co-produced Mars: The Quest for Life on the Discovery Channel and holds a degree in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.  He lives in Brooklyn, NY.



My Take on the Book

This book was full of so much rich plot. The author does an amazing job at weaving together a storyline that drew me in and held me from the beginning to the end. I had first heard of the author after seeing part of the above interview on youtube and I was intrigued by his experiences and the mission that he was a part of. This book take you on the journey of the Mars Mission and the author takes material that might be considered dry and makes it exciting. 


For anyone who has ever wished to be an astronaut, this book will boggle your mind and encourage you to continue living your dreams. I know that for me this book was a blast and one that made me wonder when the first manned mission to Mars would actually be coming. 


This is a great read that I would encourage of all!


All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions. 
 
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