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Mars

From Myth and Mystery to Recent Discoveries

  • Book
  • © 2009

Overview

Authors:
  1. Markus Hotakainen

    1. Espoo, Finland

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  • Presents up-to-date information and beautiful imagery to complement the text
  • Very readable text with no math nor scientific jargon
  • A true “biography” of Mars and the knowledge we have gained on the Red Planet
  • Received the annual State Award for Public Information granted by the Ministry of Education in Finland

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Fourth Rock from the Sun

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 1-9

  3. God of War, Heavenly Body

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 10-25

  4. Martian Canal Engineers

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 26-41

  5. Planetary Ups and Downs

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 42-63

  6. Unidentical Twins

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 64-77

  7. The New Mars

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 78-99

  8. Museum of Water

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 100-123

  9. Dead or Alive?

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 124-135

  10. Gallery Mars

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 136-155

  11. Fear and Panic

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 156-171

  12. One Really Giant Leap

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 173-191

  13. Green Thumbs of the Red Planet

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 192-199

  14. Little Green Persons

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 200-215

  15. Mars Rocks!

    • Markus Hotakainen
    Pages 216-231

  16. Back Matter

    Pages 232-256
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Keywords

About this book

MARS ON OUR MINDS No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own . . . – Herbert George Wells: War of the Worlds (1898) Yes, they would. And they did, actually very firmly. In the last years of the nineteenth century it was almost an established fact that there were intelligences greater than that of humans and that they were residing on our planetary neighbor, Mars. Ever since those days, people have been waiting for the attack of the little green creatures of the Red Planet with fear, even with fear verging on panic. For a long time “Martian”has been synonymous with “extraterrestrial being. ” Knowledge about Mars has increased tremendously since the end of the nineteenth century. A mysterious world shrouded in myth was first mapped with the aid of telescopes and then later imaged by planetary probes. Thus, our celestial sibling has become ever more familiar to us and a more everyday part of our culture. A substantial portion of science fiction is focused on Mars or on our own imaginary voyages to the Red Planet. In the world of movies Mars has symbolized the threat of communism, the fear of everything new and strange, and a future utopia for humanity.

Reviews

From the reviews:

"With an easily readable, understandable style … Hotakainen begins this book with a long history of Mars, particularly concentrating on the early-20th-century speculations that the planet contained canals indicating the presence of intelligent life. … There is an excellent colored map of Mars near the back flap, many photographs accompanied by good explanations … . Summing Up: Highly Recommended. Libraries serving general readers, lower- and upper-division undergraduates, and two-year technical program students." (W. E. Howard, Choice, Vol. 46 (9), May, 2009)

"The book covers the early observers like Herschel, Schiaparelli and Lowell right through the latest space missions of NASA in the USA and now ESA in Europe. The style is light-hearted, almost flippant in places, and non-technical, as befits a book aimed at a general readership. … As a beautifully presented, very readable, not-too-technical but scientifically respectable and up-to-date account of interesting things about Mars, the latest contribution … about the Red Planet is to be welcomed by interested non-specialists everywhere." (F. W. Taylor, Contemporary Physics, November, 2009)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Espoo, Finland

    Markus Hotakainen

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