Book Review: A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith
Originally posted on 07 Feb 2024
- Title: A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?
- Author: Kelly and Zach Weinersmith
- Year: 2023
- Type: Nonfiction
A space colonisation pop-science book written by a webcomic artist/author and a behavioural ecologist specialising in parasites.
Summarised like that, you’d think this book would be a total train wreck, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. To be honest, I was skeptical when I saw Zach promoting this book on his web comic (which I follow via RSS). Sure, his comics are thought-provoking and erudite, but space colonising? That’s pretty far out of both of your wheelhouses, Weinersmiths.
How wrong I was. This was actually a great read. The authors did an overwhelming amount of research for the book and presented it in such a clear (and often amusing) way. They cover the topics everyone should be thinking about with regards to space colonies, including sociological, political, and legal. The entire thing was fascinating and more than once I stayed up too late just to learn more.
Definitely a book I’ll recommend to anyone who’s interested in anything space-related.