Magnificent Mars

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Harvard-trained astronomer Ken Croswell set the standard for elegance and eloquence with his stunning photographic triumph, Magnificent Universe. Now, with insightful prose and astonishing images, he presents the red planet's full glory in Magnificent Mars, showing volcanoes taller than Mount Everest, spiral-shaped polar caps of ice, and a canyon system that could stretch from Ohio to California. Here is a concise synthesis of the latest research on Mars, accompanied with the very best full-color images, expertly reprocessed to look even better than NASA's own versions, from the Hubble Space Telescope, Viking, Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and other spacecraft. Highlights include a foldout panorama of the Martian surface; a never-before-published, rainbow-colored topographic map; and a sequence showing a full rotation of Mars, courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope. Many of these images have never appeared in a book before. Few have ever looked so good.

In lyrical prose, Dr. Croswell weaves these stupendous images into a virtual tour of Mars by organizing them around the four elements -- Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. From the northern plains of Vastitas Borealis to the towering Olympus Mons and other volcanoes of the Tharsis bulge, we explore the red planet's geology, topography, and surface. From the frigid climate to the massive dust storms that can engulf the entire globe, we examine the thin Martian atmosphere and the clues it preserves to the planet's wetter past. And, from the flood channels that spill into Chryse Planitia to the vast potential lakebed of ancient Hellas, we see stunning images of ancient rivers and floods, triggering speculation that a warm, wet Mars may have given rise to life that survives to this day. The tour concludes with a voyage to the planet's two potato-shaped moons, Phobos and Deimos, complete with rainbow-colored topographic maps. Unique color-coded tables on Mars, its atmosphere, its life history, its moons, and NASA missions to the planets appear in a useful reference section, along with a glossary and suggestions for further reading.

With its large format, superb images, and compelling text, Magnificent Mars is the next best thing to standing on the red planet itself. In future years NASA will launch numerous missions to Mars, and Magnificent Mars is the definitive guide to what these spacecraft will see. Indeed, the first human explorers to Mars may want to take a copy of Magnificent Mars aboard their spaceship.

What you notice first is the grand scale and beauty of this book. Measuring almost 11"x14", this coffee-table sized volume presents what must be about a hundred spectacular full-page color photographs, a variety of maps, and fascinating tables about the history and physical data of Mars. These images are stunning.

Being something of a photo buff myself, I was struck by the extremely high reproduction quality of the photos. These are the very best Mars images from HST, Viking, Mars Global Surveyor, Pathfinder and so on. But they seem even better. The author mentions that many were digitally reprocessed by Tony Hallas, an expert astrophotographer. The results are just astonishing, and a delight to the eye for sharpness and drama.

For weeks, this beautiful book sat on my coffee table in the living room. Invariably, I found even my non-astronomy friends and family amazed and delighted as they leafed through the dramatic images.

A word of caution - don't let the beautiful cover fool you into thinking this is just another coffee-table picture book. Far from it.

As a science teacher, I was deeply impressed with the hard science that Croswell presents in this book. He organizes the text around the themes of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. Each section illustrates and describes the dramatically changing geology, atmosphere, volcanic landscape, and water in the life of Mars. Was Mars once lush with water and far warmer than today? Could life have sprouted there as it did on Earth?

Beautiful pictures aside, the "beautiful science" of the accompanying text is what really grabbed me. Croswell presents the careful research that reveals Mars as a complex and amazing planet with a dramatic history of change. His description of sweeping changes in the landscape and atmosphere of Mars during its three major phases (Noachian, Hesperian, and Amazonian) will be easily read and enjoyed by any scientifically curious person.

Magnificent Mars is beautiful, scientifically rich, and highly recommended!
January 11, 2004