Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (English) Paperback Book

Description: Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson In the year 2026, a group of one hundred colonists is about to attempt to conquer the barren, desolate landscape of Mars. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel • Discover the novel that launched one of science fictions most beloved, acclaimed, and awarded trilogies: Kim Stanley Robinsons masterly near-future chronicle of interplanetary colonization. "A staggering book . . . the best novel on the colonization of Mars that has ever been written."—Arthur C. Clarke For centuries, the barren, desolate landscape of the red planet has beckoned to humankind. Now a group of one hundred colonists begins a mission whose ultimate goal is to transform Mars into a more Earthlike planet. They will place giant satellite mirrors in Martian orbit to reflect light onto its surface. Black dust sprinkled on the polar caps will capture warmth and melt the ice. And massive tunnels drilled into the mantle will create stupendous vents of hot gases. But despite these ambitious goals, there are some who would fight to the death to prevent Mars from ever being changed. Author Biography Kim Stanley Robinson is a winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestselling Mars trilogy and the critically acclaimed Forty Signs of Rain, Fifty Degrees Below, Sixty Days and Counting, The Years of Rice and Salt, and Galileos Dream. In 2008 he was named one of Time magazines "Heroes of the Environment." He serves on the board of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. He lives in Davis, California. Review "Absorbing . . . a scientifically informed imagination of rare ambition at work."—The New York Times Book Review "Tremendous . . . a high-water mark in novels of Earth emigration."—The Washington Post Book World Review Quote "Absorbing . . . a scientifically informed imagination of rare ambition at work." -- The New York Times Book Review "Tremendous . . . a high-water mark in novels of Earth emigration." -- The Washington Post Book World Excerpt from Book "And so we came here. But what they didnt realize was that by the time we got to Mars, we would be so changed by the voyage out that nothing we had been told to do mattered anymore. It wasnt like submarining or settling the Wild West--it was an entirely new experience, and as the flight of the Ares went on, the Earth finally became so distant that it was nothing but a blue star among all the others, its voices so delayed that they seemed to come from a previous century. We were on our own; and so we became fundamentally different beings." All lies, Frank Chalmers thought irritably. He was sitting in a row of dignitaries, watching his old friend John Boone give the usual Boone Inspirational Address. It made Chalmers weary. The truth was the trip to Mars had been the functional equivalent of a long train ride. Not only had they not become fundamentally different beings, they had actually become more like themselves than ever, stripped of habits until they were left with nothing but the naked raw material of their selves. But John stood up there waving a forefinger at the crowd, saying, "We came here to make something new, and when we arrived our earthly differences fell away, irrelevant in this new world!" Yes, he meant it all literally. His vision of Mars was a lens that distorted everything he saw, a kind of religion. He would spout the same nonsense in private conversation, no matter how you rolled your eyes. Chalmers stopped listening and let his gaze wander over the new city. They were going to call it Nicosia. It was the first town of any size to be built freestanding on the Martian surface; all the buildings were set inside what was in effect an immense clear tent, supported by a nearly invisible frame, and placed on the rise of Tharsis, west of Noctis Labyrinthus. This location gave it a tremendous view, with a distant western horizon punctuated by the broad peak of Pavonis Mons. For the Mars veterans in the crowd it was giddy stuff: they were on the surface, they were out of the trenches and mesas and craters, they could see forever! Hurrah! A laugh from the audience drew Franks attention back to his old friend. John Boone had a slightly hoarse voice and a friendly Midwestern accent, and he was by turns (and somehow even all at once) relaxed, intense, sincere, self-mocking, modest, confident, serious, and funny. In short, the perfect public speaker. And the audience was rapt; this was the First Man On Mars speaking to them, and judging by the looks on their faces they might as well have been watching Jesus produce their evening meal out of the loaves and fishes. And in fact John almost deserved their adoration for performing a similar miracle on another plane, transforming their tin-can existence into an astounding spiritual voyage. "On Mars we will come to care for each other more than ever before," John said, which really meant, Chalmers thought, an alarming incidence of the kind of behavior seen in rat overpopulation experiments; "Mars is a sublime, exotic and dangerous place," said John--meaning a frozen ball of oxidized rock on which they were exposed to about fifteen rem a year; "And with our work," John continued, "we are carving out a new social order and the next step in the human story"--i.e., the latest variant in primate dominance dynamics. John finished with this flourish, and there was, of course, a huge roar of applause. Maya Toitovna then went to the podium to introduce Chalmers. Frank gave her a private look which meant he was in no mood for any of her jokes; she saw it and said, "Our next speaker has been the fuel in our little rocket ship," which somehow got a laugh. "His vision and energy are what got us to Mars in the first place, so save any complaints you may have for our next speaker, my old friend Frank Chalmers." At the podium he found himself surprised by how big the town appeared. It covered a long triangle, and they were gathered at its highest point, a park occupying the western apex. Seven paths rayed down through the park to become wide, tree-lined, grassy boulevards. Between the boulevards stood low trapezoidal buildings, each faced with polished stone of a different color. The size and architecture of the buildings gave things a faintly Parisian look, Paris as seen by a drunk Fauvist in spring, sidewalk caf Details ISBN0593358821 Author Kim Stanley Robinson Pages 640 Series Mars Trilogy Language English Year 2021 ISBN-10 0593358821 ISBN-13 9780593358825 Format Paperback Publication Date 2021-11-23 DEWEY 813.54 Series Number 1 Publisher Random House USA Inc Imprint Del Rey Books Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2021-11-23 NZ Release Date 2021-11-23 US Release Date 2021-11-23 UK Release Date 2021-11-23 Illustrations MAP WITH SCREENS Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:133946600;

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