A City on Mars

Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through?

By: Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

* THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Scientific American’s #1 Book for 2023

* A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * A Times Best Science and Environment Book of 2023 *

“Helpfully pulls back the curtain on some of the lesser-discussed challenges to humanity’s off-Earth pursuits . . . Any reader enthusiastic about space settlement will find much to appreciate in this book . . . [The Weinersmiths] write with a confident belief that humanity will one day travel off-planet.”–Science

From the bestselling authors of Soonish, a brilliant and hilarious off-world investigation into space settlement

Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no war, no Twitter—beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? Critically acclaimed, bestselling authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith set out to write the essential guide to a glorious future of space settlements, but after years of research, they aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. Space technologies and space business are progressing fast, but we lack the knowledge needed to have space kids, build space farms, and create space nations in a way that doesn’t spark conflict back home. In a world hurtling toward human expansion into space, A City on Mars investigates whether the dream of new worlds won’t create nightmares, both for settlers and the people they leave behind. In the process, the Weinersmiths answer every question about space you’ve ever wondered about, and many you’ve never considered:

Can you make babies in space? Should corporations govern space settlements? What about space war? Are we headed for a housing crisis on the Moon’s Peaks of Eternal Light—and what happens if you’re left in the Craters of Eternal Darkness? Why do astronauts love taco sauce? Speaking of meals, what’s the legal status of space cannibalism?

With deep expertise and a winning sense of humor, the Weinersmiths investigate perhaps the biggest questions humanity will ever ask itself—whether and how to become multiplanetary.

Get in, we’re going to Mars.

©2023 Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“This playful ‘homesteader’s guide’ to space settlement presents a bleak view of the pursuit . . . The authors examine the increasingly popular dream of a multi-planetary human race with a skepticism informed by ethical, logistical, and legal anxieties.”—The New Yorker

“A wonderful example of what it means to really think a difficult project through, a skill that many of us should acquire . . . The Weinersmiths are self-confessed space geeks who tread a fine line between the sort of constructive critique that would still qualify them as bona fide members of the space-settlement movement and a style of gentle ridicule that might get them rejected as traitors to the cause. A City on Mars is, foremost, a case study in the application of common sense.”—Shlomo Angel, Wall Street Journal

“An exceptional new piece of popular science . . . Forceful, engaging and funny… an essential reality check for anyone who has ever looked for home in the night sky . . . hilarious. The breezy prose is studded with charming cartoons . . . This book will make you happy to live on this planet—a good thing, because you’re not leaving anytime soon.”—New York Times Book Review

Fun and informative

Whether or not you agree with the conclusions I think there's some valuable insights and takeaways presented.

Humorous and serious look at space settlement

The authors were thorough in their research and ideas. They also wrote in a very humorous way. The narrator was fabulous! Well worth the credit.

Interesting, thoughtful, and fun book

I greatly enjoyed this book partly because it explored several issues that I have thought about when hearing about how complex the living conditions are in zero-G, and how hard it is on the humans experiencing it. It has often appeared to me that those talking about manned missions to Mars in the next few decades seemed to be leaving the astronauts' short-term and long-term health out of the equations. I came away from this book with a feeling of relief. "Maybe someone else IS thinking about these issues, and maybe this book will bring important considerations to the attention of more people."

And the reader was GREAT!!!

Just one question:
Where is the pdf with illustrations that was mentioned about halfway through the book? I looked, and I'm not finding any link.

A City on Mars

The narrator was top notch & the content hilarious and insightful. I would highly recommend for anyone, but especially those interested in space and space settlement.

Very fun and very informative!

This is a great book to learn and expand our horizons about space settlements and space travel, as well as a deeper look at human nature. I definitely recommend giving this one a listen!

A realistic examination of space settlement

This book is more or less a sequel to Mary Roach’s “Packing for Mars.” The authors examined various aspects of space settlement circa 2023.

This book tells it like it is - space is a horrible place to live. The authors examined the impact of space exploration on human physiology, psychology, geography of Luna and mars, logistics, politics in a not-boring way.

the last part of the book about space law was particularly interesting to me - I don’t think many books have looked at space from the legal angle.

Overall, this book is interesting and realistic. I’d recommend to space nerds looking for a realist assessment of space exploration in the 21st century.

Honest, enjoyable discussion of off world settlement

I really liked this book, and this audiobook. It covers a wide range of topics related to life in space, bringing a ‘big picture’ and evidence based approach to to topic that’s been missing, while being presented in an engaging and easy to listen to way. It piqued my interest to learn more before coming to my own conclusions about their Weinersmith’s conclusions; this is so complicated!

No Rush to Settle Space

A very comprehensive overview on the current state of knowledge regarding space settlement, told with humor and interesting anecdotes.

Important challenges for long-term settlement have not been studied thoroughly, the short-term economical case is often overstated, and a scramble to claim territory on the moon could cause far worse problems for humanity than whatever long term benefits we could expect.

Also, space sex.

Brilliant.

We're not going anywhere. mmkay? space is boring and Martian rocks won't be that much suffering from Earth rocks. Let's focus on fixing problems on Earth.

Good book that has its own angle

Really enjoyed listening to this book, narrator is great and even the parts where the authors narrate are excellent. The information and how it is presented is also top notch, the authors obviously did extensive research, present it in an interesting fashion, and provide several perspectives on the topics that are not entirely cut and dry. In short, if you are interested in space travel and settlement I think this is a must listen.

The one "But..." I have is that the authors tend to get wrapped around their conclusions. For instance they begin the space law section by stating that International Space Law matters, will effect how expansion into space occurs, and is not something that can be ignored. Then shortly there after cite numerous times where super powers like China and India have ignored said law, done what they wanted that blatantly broke it, and suffered no repercussions. It's difficult to reconcile their statements with reality. Another example is that while they cite a lot of space history in the novel and how quickly it emerged and how technology advanced so quickly they use many examples that assume there will be little to no technological advancement in the next decade or two. Things like how dangerous construction in space is when we today have very advanced robots today (go check out Boston Dynamics Atlas or Spot for instance) that could possibly be doing that instead of humans in the next decade.

On the whole though, while I am a big space enthusiast, I agree with the authors conclusions for the most part; space is *hard* and their novel on the subject is very likely the most realistic consideration of settling in space I have ever read. The vast majority of enthusiasts on the subject had wave away how difficult some (or many/all) of the things we have to do to actually settle in space will be.