InQ Episode 74: "Red Mars"

When you are the first 100 people on Mars, there are a few things that need to happen. First, you need to get along. That’s a given (but not as easy as it looks..). You also have to have an infrastructure that allows you to breath, travel, explore, and, maybe just live. Also not that easy.. Especially when you have factions on Earth trying to dictate how THEY want Mars to be, factions on Mars trying to replicate Earth, those who want Mars to remain the same, untouched and those who are simply trying to do their job! Not an easy combination. Winner of the Hugo and the Nebula Award, Kim Stanley Robinson has created a very believable Martian colonization scenario from all perspective. Written in the third narrative but allowing every major player (and every major field of study) to have its own chapter, the author manages to present to his reader the various discoveries, joys, disappointments and road blocks that such a set of scientist (soon followed by various waves of immigration) deals with when faced with such a fascinating yet daunting endeavor. Kim Stanley Robinson puts the science back in science fiction. For all you dreamers out there, lets’ go to Mars!