How We'll Live on Mars

By: Stephen Petranek

Narrated by: Stephen Petranek

Award-winning journalist Stephen Petranek says humans will live on Mars by 2027. Now he makes the case that living on Mars is not just plausible, but inevitable.

It sounds like science fiction, but Stephen Petranek considers it fact: Within twenty years, humans will live on Mars. We’ll need to. In this sweeping, provocative book that mixes business, science, and human reporting, Petranek makes the case that living on Mars is an essential back-up plan for humanity and explains in fascinating detail just how it will happen.

The race is on. Private companies, driven by iconoclastic entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Paul Allen, and Sir Richard Branson; Dutch reality show and space mission Mars One; NASA; and the Chinese government are among the many groups competing to plant the first stake on Mars and open the door for human habitation. Why go to Mars? Life on Mars has potential life-saving possibilities for everyone on earth. Depleting water supplies, overwhelming climate change, and a host of other disasters—from terrorist attacks to meteor strikes—all loom large. We must become a space-faring species to survive. We have the technology not only to get humans to Mars, but to convert Mars into another habitable planet. It will likely take 300 years to “terraform” Mars, as the jargon goes, but we can turn it into a veritable second Garden of Eden. And we can live there, in specially designed habitations, within the next twenty years.

In this exciting chronicle, Petranek introduces the circus of lively characters all engaged in a dramatic effort to be the first to settle the Red Planet. How We’ll Live on Mars brings firsthand reporting, interviews with key participants, and extensive research to bear on the question of how we can expect to see life on Mars within the next twenty years.

Comparable

As with many others, I will agree that this ressembles nat geo's MARS series. A more in depth look into what it would take to get to the red planet, then making it habitable. I enjoyed listening to it because it looks into the certain aspects that the show didn't, as in terraforming. overall worth it if you show curiosity towards Mars.

Well presented reason why we haven't gone to Mars yet, and why we should

Well reasoned explanation why we didn't go to Mars after the Moon. How short sighted government and public stymied space exploration, and how private companies are leading the way towards the future of space exploration. Yea!

Excellent.

What did you like best about this story?

This book was very interesting, I couldn't stop listening. There are a lot of very interesting ideas and proposals, would definitely recommend!

Cant wait till we are there!

I am an Aresophile, and I still learned quite a bit. I would have liked more content, but it would have probably mired the book down. Highly recommended!

Watch Mars on NatGeo

The series was based on the book. The tv show is better, but I like the depth of explanations that the author goes into.