The Big Book of Mars
From Ancient Egypt to The Martian, A Deep-Space Dive into Our Obsession with the Red Planet
(Sprache: Englisch)
The most comprehensive look at our relationship with Mars yesterday, today, and tomorrow through history, archival images, pop culture ephemera, and interviews with NASA scientists, for fans of Andy Weir and For All Mankind.
Mars has been a...
Mars has been a...
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The most comprehensive look at our relationship with Mars yesterday, today, and tomorrow through history, archival images, pop culture ephemera, and interviews with NASA scientists, for fans of Andy Weir and For All Mankind.Mars has been a source of fascination and speculation ever since the ancient Egyptians observed its blood-red hue and named it for their god of war and plague. But it wasn't until the 19th century when canals were observed on the surface of the Red Planet, suggesting the presence of water, that scientists, novelists, filmmakers, and entrepreneurs became obsessed with the question of whether there s life on Mars.
Since then, Mars has fully invaded pop culture, inspiring its own day of the week (Tuesday), an iconic Looney Tunes character, and many novels and movies, from Ray Bradbury s Martian Chronicles to The Martian. It s this cultural familiarity with the fourth planet that continues to inspire advancements in Mars exploration, from NASA s launch of the Mars rover Perseverance to Elon Musk s quest to launch a manned mission to Mars through SpaceX by 2024. Perhaps, one day, we ll be able to answer the questions our ancestors asked when they looked up at the night sky millennia ago.
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IN THE BEGINNINGOnce upon a time, the planet Mars was a wondrous place filled with intelligent beings. Standing ten to twenty feet tall, these brilliant Martians feverishly dug canals to irrigate their dry planet and desperately tried to contact us, the people of Earth.
Some hundred years ago, that s what the greatest minds in the world believed, and so it was. This was an era when telephones, automobiles, airplanes, radios, and television were new and magical wonders. The impossible, it seemed, was never more possible. So, when newspapers spread scientific theories and hyped the next big advance communication with Martians people thought, why not? The long-distance phone bills would cost a fortune, but still, what a time to be alive!
I discovered this peculiar period of interplanetary excitement while researching Nikola Tesla s attempts to communicate with our supposed neighbors. In the process I stumbled upon someone who d claimed to already be hobnobbing with them. His name was Dr. Hugh Mansfield Robinson, and in the 1920s he was in touch with a big-eared, nearly seven-foot-tall Martian woman named Oomaruru. Telepathically.
Forget Tesla. Who was this Robinson guy?
I switched my focus and dug into this other story. For someone who likes writing about weird history, this was striking gold. Robinson s conversations with Oomaruru made headlines all around the world. Earth was fascinated with all things Mars, regardless of who was offering it.
The obsession with the Red Planet goes back even further, to a time long before the early twentieth century. Thousands of years ago, at least, when its red color conjured images of bloodshed instead of the oxidized iron dust covering its surface.
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Ancient Egyptian astronomers noticed the fiery orb s retrograde motion and named it Har Decher, meaning the Red One.
As time trudged forward, other curious civilizations gave it their own names based on its blazing visage. Chinese astronomers saw the fire star and considered it a sign of bane, grief, war and murder. The Hebrews called it Ma adim, from their word for red, adom. They believed that those born under the influence of Mars would enter bloody occupations, such as murder, the military, or surgery. By 600 BCE, the Babylonians dubbed it Nergal, after their god of war and destruction. Bloodshed became the presumptuous theme for the Red Planet. For whatever barbaric acts these peoples were committing in their own kingdoms, they must ve thought all hell was breaking loose on faraway Mars.
When the Babylonians gazed at the skies to develop a calendar, they created the seven-day week and named each day for a known celestial body: the sun, the moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. The day attributed to Mars is Tuesday (the association is more apparent in Spanish, in which the day is known as Martes); its association with war and aggression led them to perform special rituals on Tuesdays to avoid hostile influence from the Red Planet. Thousands of years later, Mars remains in our lives at least once a week.
In the mid-300s BCE, while pondering, well, everything, Aristotle observed the moon passing in front of Mars, which led him to conclude that it, and the other planets, were farther away from Earth. In the meantime, he and the rest of Greek civilization carried on the tradition
As time trudged forward, other curious civilizations gave it their own names based on its blazing visage. Chinese astronomers saw the fire star and considered it a sign of bane, grief, war and murder. The Hebrews called it Ma adim, from their word for red, adom. They believed that those born under the influence of Mars would enter bloody occupations, such as murder, the military, or surgery. By 600 BCE, the Babylonians dubbed it Nergal, after their god of war and destruction. Bloodshed became the presumptuous theme for the Red Planet. For whatever barbaric acts these peoples were committing in their own kingdoms, they must ve thought all hell was breaking loose on faraway Mars.
When the Babylonians gazed at the skies to develop a calendar, they created the seven-day week and named each day for a known celestial body: the sun, the moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. The day attributed to Mars is Tuesday (the association is more apparent in Spanish, in which the day is known as Martes); its association with war and aggression led them to perform special rituals on Tuesdays to avoid hostile influence from the Red Planet. Thousands of years later, Mars remains in our lives at least once a week.
In the mid-300s BCE, while pondering, well, everything, Aristotle observed the moon passing in front of Mars, which led him to conclude that it, and the other planets, were farther away from Earth. In the meantime, he and the rest of Greek civilization carried on the tradition
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Autoren-Porträt von Marc Hartzman
Marc Hartzman has been called "one of America's leading connoisseurs of the bizarre" (ABCNews.com) and is the author of several books, including The Big Book of Mars, Chasing Ghosts, and We Are Not Alone. More of his love for the unusual can be found on his site WeirdHistorian.com.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Marc Hartzman
- 2020, 256 Seiten, Maße: 20,7 x 25,5 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: Quirk Books
- ISBN-10: 1683692098
- ISBN-13: 9781683692096
- Erscheinungsdatum: 02.07.2020
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
A very well researched, hilariously written, & beautifully illustrated account of Mars & its exploration in human culture. Some serious fun! Hartzman did Mars history a great service. Dr. Pascal Lee, co-founder and chairman of the Mars Institute and planetary scientist at the SETI Institute
Hartzman clearly enjoyed researching and writing The Big Book of Mars as much as we've had reading it...you'll learn a lot of very surprising things about our centuries-old relationship with the Red Planet and have a lot of fun in the process."
How it Works, 5 star review
The Big Book of Mars makes for an excellent coffee table type of book. It s simple, well-written, and way more entertaining than I expected. A perfect entry-point to get you started learning about the planet.
Little Astronomy
A fascinating pop history."
The Florida Times-Union
[The Big Book of Mars] is both easy and incredibly fun to read. It is the kind of book that makes you want to put it down every few sentences to share a weird or interesting fact you just learned with whoever happens to be nearby, and I highly recommend it.
GeekMom
Expertly written, organized and presented, The Big Book of Mars is an inherently fascinating and engaging read from first page to last.
Midwest Book Review
A gorgeous book with something for everyone...each page is brimming with facts and details as well as beautiful images, posters, and photos from past to present.
San Francisco Book Review
A must-have . . . smorgasbord of Martian-related weirdness.
Weird Universe
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