Arcadia Public Library

"Mars is ingrained in our culture, from David Bowie's extra-terrestrial spiders to H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. The red planet has inspired hundreds of scientists, authors and filmmakers--but why? What is it about this particular planet that makes it so intriguing? Ancient mythologies defined Mars as a violent harbinger of war, and astrologers found meaning in the planet's dance through the sky. Stargazers puzzled over Mars's unfamiliar properties;...

"A young planetary scientist intimately details the search for life on Mars, tracing our centuries-old obsession with this seemingly desolate planet. Mars was once similar to Earth, but today there are no rivers, no lakes, no oceans. Coated in red dust, the terrain is bewilderingly empty. And yet multiple spacecraft are circling Mars, sweeping over Terra Sabaea, Syrtis Major, the dunes of Elysium, and Mare Sirenum-on the brink, perhaps, of a staggering...

Drawing on contacts at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, award-winning science writer and documentary producer Rod Pyle provides an insiders look into the amazing projects now being developed here and abroad to visit the legendary red planet.

Contains the original story by H.G. Wells, and describes how Orson Welles was inspired by the tale of Martian invasion to create the radio broadcast in 1938 which frightened over one million people.