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For the love of Mars : a human history of the red planet

2023

Format:	Book
Author:	Shindell, Matthew, author.
Title:	For the love of Mars : a human history of the red planet / Matthew Shindell.
Publisher, Date:	Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, 2023.
Description:	xvi, 226 pages, 12 pages of plates : illustrations (some colour) ; 23 cm
Summary:	"Mars and its secrets have fascinated and mystified humans since ancient times. Its vivid color and visibility to the naked eye, its geologic kinship with Earth, its potential as our best hope for settlement-Mars embodies everything that inspires us about space and space exploration. In this book, National Air and Space Museum Curator Matthew Shindell captures the majesty of the red planet and the work done by people on Earth to explore it. He connects our current period of human exploration of Mars to the work done through the centuries and across cultures by asking how the quest to understand Mars has shaped our knowledge of ourselves, our own planet, our solar system, and beyond. For the Love of Mars reveals why Mars has piqued scientists' interest for centuries. It brings to light how difficult and sometimes flawed martian discoveries could be for earth-bound planetary explorers and, by focusing on the human stories behind the telescopes and behind the robots we have come to know and love, shows how Mars exploration became more sophisticated through the years in ways that helped expand knowledge about other facets of space and the universe. A must read for everyone curious about Curiosity and the Red Planet"-- Provided by publisher.
Subjects:	Astronomy -- History. Mars (Planet) Mars (Planet) -- Exploration -- History.
Genre:	Nonfiction novels.
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:	Prologue : Mars in the time of COVID-19 -- Introduction : keeping up with Mars -- Mars and the cosmic state -- Mars in the medieval imagination -- Restructuring the world -- The making of modern Mars -- Cold war red planet -- Mars and the new millennium -- Conclusion : The human future of Mars?
LCCN:	2022035682
ISBN:	9780226821894 0226821897
Other Number:	1346349442
System Availability:	5
Current Holds:	0
# Local items:	5
Control Number:	1034862
Call Number:	523.43 Shin
Course Reserves:	0
# Local items in:	5
# System items in:	5

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Library Journal Review

Shindell, a curator at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and author of The Life and Science of Harold C. Urey, examines the changing systems of beliefs and science about Mars, Earth's nearest planetary neighbor. The book starts with depictions of Babylonian, Chinese, and Mayan astrological practices that related to the planet as a god who sent messages for people to interpret. A belief in these omens led many cultures to systematically observe and record what they saw in the night sky. Jewish, Islamic, and Christian natural philosophers later connected Mars to changes in the physical world. Medieval physicians related the planet to human health, even partially blaming Mars for the Bubonic plague. Technology--from maps and telescopes to printing and the internet--further changed people's understanding of the planet, and writers such as Dante and Descartes imagined who might live there. Shindell documents the eras of Mars exploration and colonization, the space race, and the current focus on climate change by looking at the planet from the lens of popular culture and the creation of national space agendas. VERDICT This insightful history will charm readers of popular science, science fiction, and history.--Catherine Lantz

CHOICE Review

For the Love of Mars describes changes in perceptions of the Red Planet since antiquity, from one civilization to another across Earth. Shindell (Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum) emphasizes context for these views. Early civilizations viewed Mars and other planets as gods with the power to affect people and events or thought that their changing appearances, motions, or conjunctions in the sky foretold occurrences on Earth. The advent of telescopic observations revealed Mars as a world, and observations through the early 20th century showed markings widely interpreted as dark seas or light-colored continents. A few astronomers claimed to see canals, envisioning networks constructed by Martians to convey water from polar ice caps to arid lower latitudes. Today, NASA leads efforts to locate water, search for traces of life, and potentially establish astronauts on Mars, with 10 successful landings so far and productive orbiting spacecraft. A rapt, computer-owning public awaits each new image from rovers that climb over rocks and across craters, follows the progress of a tiny Mars helicopter, and comments on social media. Contemporary media, such as the film The Martian (2015), depict science enabling human survival on Mars. Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty; professionals. --Stephen P Maran, American Astronomical Society

Booklist Review

Smithsonian curator Shindell takes readers on a tour of the changing views of the Red Planet in science, history, and literature. Starting with the ancient Mayans, Chinese, and Babylonians, Shindell examines how the planets were woven in the religious beliefs of these influential civilizations. In the Middle Ages, the Europeans blamed Mars for the bubonic plague as well as other illnesses they attributed to the alignment of the planets. During the Renaissance, as Galileo challenged society's perception of our solar system, the literature of the time depicted Mars as a strange and forbidding place. As books became more readily available, early sf writers like H. G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs conceived of adventure and menace originating from the Red Planet. After an initial push during the space race of the 1960s, efforts to reach Mars stalled and fizzled, but orbiter and lander Viking missions and, more recently, the Mars rovers have given humanity a fuller picture of our celestial neighbor's terrain and past. Armchair astronomers and history buffs alike will find this to be a fresh and engaging account.

Summary

A tour of Mars in the human imagination, from ancient astrologers to modern explorers.

Mars and its secrets have fascinated and mystified humans since ancient times. For the Love of Mars surveys the red planet's place in the human imagination, beginning with ancient astrologers and skywatchers and ending in our present moment of exploration and virtual engagement.

National Air and Space Museum curator Matthew Shindell describes how historical figures across eras and around the world have made sense of this mysterious planet. We meet Mayan astrologer priests who incorporated Mars into seasonal calendars and religious ceremonies, Babylonian astrologers who discerned bad omens, figures of the Scientific Revolution who struggled to comprehend Mars as a world, Victorian astronomers who sought signs of intelligent life, and twentieth- and twenty-first-century scientists who have established a technological presence on the planet's surface. Along the way, we encounter writers and artists from each of these periods who took readers and viewers along on imagined journeys to Mars.

By focusing on the diverse human stories behind the telescopes and behind the robots we know and love , Shindell shows how Mars exploration has evolved in ways that have also expanded knowledge about other facets of the universe. Captained by an engaging and erudite expert, For the Love of Mars is a captivating voyage through time and space for anyone curious about Curiosity and the red planet.

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	ix
	Prologue: Mars in the Time of COVID-19	xii
	Introduction: Keeping Up with Mars	1
1	Mars and the Cosmic State	15
2	Mars in the Medieval Imagination	42
3	Restructuring the World	67
4	The Making of Modern Mars	91
5	Cold War Red Planet	117
6	Mars and the New Millennium	149
	Conclusion: The Human Future of Mars?	179
	Acknowledgments	189
	Notes	191
	Bibliography	207
	Index	217

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