The Sirens of Mars

The paper is too thin even though it's a Penguin publication. Looks like a pirated copy.

This is a fascinating book, both to see how Mars science has developed and to see how a Mars scientist developed. Professor Johnson does such a great job of intertwining her personal journey with the historical journey of many other humans fascinated by the Red Planet.Perhaps the most fascinating thing for me was to read her account of all the experimentation of the past, both over the centuries and the experiments that she herself has been involved in. It's fascinating to contemplate how we know what we know, and also, how often what we know turns out to be deeply incomplete or even simply wrong. I feel like I learned a lot not just about the science she describes, but also how science itself works, about its deeper structure.Did I mention that it's SUPER READABLE? Because it is. Actually as I read, I kept thinking, I can't wait until my two young daughters are old enough to read this book! I know they will love it, and I hope that it sparks their interest in looking at the world(s) around them and wondering what they can find out more!

This is a beautifully written book that is the autobiography (in part) of a young student who becomes a planetary scientist, and astrobiologist while simultaneously being involved with the scientists and engineers who are building the rovers and exploring Mars in search of life and clues to how our own planet evolved. She is now a professor at Georgetown University teaching Astrobiology, and is also serving on the science team for NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover.It is also the history of Mars exploration by NASA through the eyes of one of its own scientists. Her excitement and enthusiasm for the research being undertaken and the possible consequences of finding traces of life on another planet, specifically Mars, is boundless, and colors the whole book. Flashbacks to a few pivotal moments in the early exploration of Mars and what some of those early explorers speculated and thought emphasizing how for centuries the human race has been captivated by Mars, are woven into the general flow of her story which enhances her own life and work as well as that of the other scientists similarly engaged in Mars exploration.There is enough excitement, and even tension, within her story to keep any reader engaged throughout. Her writing is poetic and lucid, making this a very readable book for those who are not scientists. And for those who wish to explore further, there are 60 pages of notes citing the refences used in her research, and a 10-page index.This is her first book. One can only wait with bated breath to see what more she will produce in the future, especially if life or the remnants of life is discovered on Mars.

As a lifelong amateur astronomer and observer of Mars, I absolutely love this book. It was a balanced blend of our historical relationship with the planet Mars and what we have learned about the Red Planet from the perspective of a young scientist's personal journey in search of life on Mars.A lot of passion went into the writing of this book--truly a labor of love. My only complaint, as others have mentioned, is the lack of illustrations and images. There were so many great opportunities to insert and image here and there to complement the beautifully written text. I realize that there are probably 10s of thousands of images of Mars on the internet. How would one choose? Perhaps these will appear in a future edition or reprinting? The footnotes also contain a wealth of information that I found quite useful. It fills in a lot of scientific details that would have interfered with the beautiful prose.My daughter is finishing up a Ph.D. in astrophysics and I will gift her a copy of this book. I believe Sarah Stewart Johnson’s book will inspire more women to go into science.

Being truthful, I selected this book because I thought it was a sci-fi or horror novel, turns out it is both a history of mans fascination with mars and the authors recollections of both her grandfather and father who were both equally smitten by the red planet and passed this on to her.Sarah Johnson has managed to make this slight book both incredibly enjoyable and easy to follow while incorporating a genuine love of the scientific search fro truth about mars and indeed Earth and its own inhabitants, the book is really only 182 pages long so it is not a long read but it is a wonderful one covering a very long journey both in terms of distance and understanding and the ability to keep the reader involved in that journey should not be underestimated.This is really a deeply personal look at ones own family and a wider scientific exploration of what it may truly mean if we are alone in the universe and of how one little red planet held us in its thrall and continues to do so, firing imaginations and inspiring countless books and films.

One reviewer quoted on the back cover describes The Sirens of Mars as “a love letter to a planet.” I couldn’t have expressed it better, because Sarah Stewart Johnson’s book, more than any other I’ve read, expresses the allure of the Red Planet. Johnson is a scientist, and this is her first book. She writes about what she knows and loves, and along the way, gives us potted biographies of key personnel in humanity's quest to understand and explore Mars. She also tells her personal journey, from that of an empathic student who couldn’t bring herself to dissect a fruit fly to one who designs experiments to test for the building blocks of life on an alien world. It’s an engaging journey, one I would have hated to have missed. The Sirens of Mars has a permanent home in my library.