Mars Reading List
Introduction
Mars has fascinated people for centuries. There is a vast literature
about the fourth planet that encompasses non-fiction, fiction, technical,
and popular writings. Here we list but a tiny fraction of this literature,
with the intent of providing the Educator with some references that can be
used either in the classroom or to provide background in planning a unit
or lecture on Mars. Most of the items listed here are either highly
recommended or are at least very recent.
The Solar System (books)
- Beatty, J.K. and A. Chaikin, eds., The New Solar System, 3rd ed.,
Sky Publishing Corp. and Cambridge University Press, 1990.
- An excellent review of what we know about the Solar System,
current through the Voyager encounter with Neptune in 1989,
highly recommended.
- Burrows, W.E., Exploring Space, Random House, New York, 1990.
- A very interesting historical and personal look at the
United States' robotic exploration of the planets, highly
recommended.
- Couper, H. and N. Henbest, The Space Atlas, Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich, New York, 1992.
- Many diagrams, maps, etc. in color, lots of facts,
very up-to-date, and Highly Recommended for Children and Adults.
- LaFontaine, B., History of Space Exploration Coloring Book,
Dover Publications, Inc., New York, 1989.
- Lauber, P., Journey to the Planets, 4th ed., Crown Publishers,
New York, 1993.
- For kids, up-to-date.
- Simon, S., Our Solar System, Morrow Junior Books, New York, 1992.
- Written for Children, Lots of color photographs of
places in our solar system, up-to-date.
Mars (non-fiction books)
- Burgess, E., To the Red Planet, Columbia University Press, 1978.
- Carr, M.H., The Surface of Mars, Yale University Press, 1981.
- Cattermole, P., Mars, The Story of the Red Planet, Chapman
and Hall, London, 1992.
- Cooper, H., The Search for Life on Mars, Holt, Rinehart,
and Winston, 1980.
- Ezell, E. and L. Ezell, On Mars: Exploration of the Red Planet
1958 - 1978, NASA SP-4212, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1984.
- Hartmann, W.K. and O. Raper, The New Mars, The Discoveries of Mariner 9,
NASA SP-337, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1974.
- Kieffer, H.H. et al., eds., Mars, Univ. of Arizona
Press, Tuscon, 1992.
- Ley, W. and W. von Braun, The Exploration of Mars,
Viking Press, New York, 1956.
- Rovin, J., Mars! Corwin Books, Los Angeles, 1978.
- Looks at the history of humanity's fascination with Mars,
from early astronomers to science fiction novels and films,
to the search for life by the Viking landers.
- Viking Lander Imaging Team, The Martian Landscape, NASA SP-425,
U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1978.
- Viking Orbiter Imaging Team, Viking Orbiter Views of Mars,
NASA SP-441, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1980.
- Wilford, J.N., Mars Beckons, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1990.
Mars (Articles)
- Characteristics of Mars:
- Carroll, M., "The changing face of Mars," Astronomy, March 1987.
- Edgett, K., P. Geissler, and K. Herkenhoff, "The sands of Mars,"
Astronomy, June 1993.
- Haberle, R., "The climate of Mars," Scientific American, May 1986.
- Kargel, J.S. and R. G. Strom, "The ice ages of Mars," Astronomy,
December 1992.
- Robinson, M., "Exploring small volcanos on Mars," Astronomy, April 1994.
- Sprungman, B., "What's that on Mars? Let's face it!" Odyssey,
December 1993.
- Squyres, S., "Searching for the waters of Mars," Astronomy, August 1989.
- Life on Mars:
- Carroll, M., "Digging deeper for life on Mars," Astronomy, April 1988.
- Chaikin, A., "The case for life on Mars," Air and Space (Smithsonian
Institution), February-March 1991.
- DiGregorio, "Is Mars alive?" Final Frontier,a May-June 1993.
- McKay, C.P., "Did Mars once have Martians?" Astronomy, September 1993.
- Moons of Mars
- Benningfield, D., "The odd little moons of Mars," Astronomy,
December 1993.
- Meteorites from Mars?
- Anonymous, "Martian meteorite unmasked," Sky and Telescope, June 1994.
- Viking:
- Anonymous, "Mars: 5 Years After Viking," Astronomy, July 1981.
- Gore, R., "Sifting for life in the sands of Mars,"
National Geographic, January 1977.
- Mars Observer:
- Ainsworth, D., "Mars Observer: Return to the Red Planet,"
Astronomy, September 1992.
- Begley, S., "Lost in space," Newsweek, September 6, 1993.
- Cook, W.J., "The invasion of Mars," U.S. News and World Report,
August 23, 1993.
- Storad, C., "Life after Mars Observer," ASU Research
(Arizona State University), Spring-Summer 1994.
- Wilford, J.N., "Costly failure of mission to Mars is tied to
rupture of fuel system," The New York Times, January 6, 1994.
- Mars Surveyor and Pathfinder Projects:
- Anonymous, "NASA issues Mars recovery plan," Astronomy, June 1994.
- USSR & Russia Missions to Mars:
- Cooper, H.S.F., Jr., "Annals of Space: The Planetary Community,
I- Phobos," The New Yorker, June 11, 1990.
- Inside look at the people and politics behind the USSR
Phobos missions, 1988-89.
- Klaes, L., "The rocky Soviet road to Mars," Spaceflight
(British Interplanetary Society Magazine), August 1990.
- Future Mars Exploration:
- Begley, S., "Next stop: Mars," Newsweek, July 25, 1994.
- Sagan, C., "Why send humans to Mars?" Issues in Science and
Technology, v. 7, n. 3, pp. 80-85, 1991.
- Turner, F., "Life on Mars: Cultivating a planet-- and ourselves,"
Harpers Magazine, August 1989.
- Mars and Arizona:
- Boice, H.E. Jr., "Lowell Observatory at 95," Arizona Highways, May 1989.
- Bond, B., "100 Years on Mars Hill," Astronomy, June 1994.
- Edgett, K.S., "Mars Observing in Arizona: Geologists continue a
100-year tradition," Arizona Geology,
v. 23, n. 1, pp. 10-11, Spring 1993.
- Storad, C., "Mars-Arizona Connections, Past and Future,"
ASU Research (Arizona State University), Spring-Summer 1994.
Mars Fiction
- The Classics
- Bradbury, Ray, The Martian Chronicles (1950)
- Burroughs, Edgar Rice (Famous Mars Series)
- A Princess of Mars, (1912)
- The Gods of Mars, (1913)
- The Warlord of Mars, (1913-1914)
- Thuvia, Maid of Mars, (1916)
- The Chessmen of Mars, (1922)
- The Master Mind of Mars, (192?)
- A Fighting Man of Mars, (1930)
- Swords of Mars, (1934-1935)
- Synthetic Men of Mars, (1939)
- Llana of Gathol, (1941)
- John Carter of Mars, (1941-1943)
- Clarke, Arthur C., The Sands of Mars (1952)
- Heinlein, Robert A., Red Planet (1949)
- Heinlein, Robert A., Stranger in a Strange Land (1961)
- Weinbaum, Stanley G., "A Martian Odyssey" (short story, 1934).
- Wells, H.G., War of the Worlds (1895)
- Recent Novels on Mars Colonization
- Bear, Greg, Moving Mars, Tor Books, New York, 1993.
- Bova, Ben, Mars, Bantam, New York, 1992.
- Robinson, Kim Stanley, Red Mars, Bantam, New York, 1993.
- Robinson, Kim Stanley, Green Mars, Bantam, New York, 1994.
- Sykes, S.C., Red Genesis, Bantam, New York, 1991.
- For Young (& Old!) Readers
- Disch, Thomas M., The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars,
Doubleday, New York, 1988.
- Silverberg, Robert, Lost Race of Mars, Scholastic Book
Services, New York, 1960.
Return to
Table of Contents.
TES 1994-1995 Curriculum Guide / Arizona Mars K-12 Education Program