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(Hardcover)
What would it be like to visit Mars—to explore the distinctive, untouched terrain that inspired astronomers and stirred so many sci-fi writers’ imaginations? Two highly capable robotic geologists—Spirit and Opportunity—made that amazing voyage, and spent the last four years roaming the Red Planet’s unique landscape. Thanks to 120 stunning 3-D and color images shot by these rovers, we can come along—and right now, it’s the closest we can get to actually setting foot on Mars. These super-realistic pictures pop off the page, allowing us to see for ourselves the rocks, craters, valleys, and other geologic configurations that define the Martian terrain. Compelling and accessible text guides us on this exhilarating tour, revealing the thrill of each discovery, along with the perils and near misses. Featuring a fold-out flap with embedded 3-D viewer (which actually allows customers to view the three-dimensional images right in the store), it’s the perfect gift for any armchair astronomer.
"Jim Bell takes us on an extraordinary journey across often mysterious, sometimes perilous, and always fascinating Martian terrain. A must-read for anyone who's ever dreamed of exploring the Red Planet."
--Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut
"See this other world like no one before you could. . . make discoveries that fiction writers only dream about!"
--Bill Nye, "The Science Guy," and member of the Mars team
"Bell has accomplished the impossible—he has brought the surface of Mars down to Earth."
--Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural history Author of The Pluto Files
"Experience Mars as never before . . . the next best thing to going there."
--Ann Druyan, co-writer COSMOS, co-creator, Contact
“These images transport us Earthlings to new depths of Martian discoveries.”
--Dava Sobel, author, Longitude and Galileo's Daughter
Professor of astronomy at Cornell, Jim Bell was in charge of the photography on the Spirit and Opportunity rover missions to Mars that touched down in 2004.
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January 03, 2009: I've had this one on my wish list and lucked out during the clearance sales, finding it at 50% off. It's touching to find this just after the news releases of solid evidence of ice found, too. No martains, =o)) and very peaceful. Hopefully, we'll have the common sense to stick with it's peaceful cultivation and the labors of a research haven.
I Also Recommend: Mars, Meet the Space Rangers, Voyage through Space, The Moon Book, America in Space.
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November 17, 2008: I know what you're thinking: Mars in 3D? Somebody took hokey '50s era ViewMaster Viewer technology to make 21st century digital shots of the Martian landscape look more ... awesome? Lame! But here's the thing: they aren't lame. Scanning the Martian terrain through the book's built in red/blue glasses (note to older viewers: put on your reading glasses first) somehow makes the Red Planet more familiar and even stranger. More familiar because suddenly you're noting the planet's earthlike hills and depressions, its stubby rocks and sheer cliffs ... stranger because they never look *quite* like the ones we see on Earth. So as much as you want to say, "Ha! Looks just like the the Grand Canyon or Death Valley or the Sahara Desert!" it never does. Indeed, the word "otherworldly" applies here. It's also cool to have someone who was actually part of the NASA team that sent these two camera-packed rovers to Mars explain their mission and their improbably long life on the Martian surface. (Built to work for only 90 Martian days, thanks in part to windstorms that blew the dust off their solar panels they rolled around taking pictures for 10 times that long.) All in all, Mars 3-D takes you on a truly awesome trip -- one you literally couldn't take any other way.