"A City On Mars" - Not The Book We Wanted, But The Book We Needed

I've been enjoying SF since 1966, so I looked forward with pleasure to a popular science account about how humanity can accomplished the colonization of Mars, neatly organized for quick reading and complete with a 20-page bibliography for backup.

Kelly and Zach Wienersmith, the authors of "A City On Mars", delivered.

We see in the Amazon reviews that not everyone likes the answer - humanity lacks the technology - but facts are facts. You can't have an independent colony using technology to manufacture air, water and food without a big population base; even if we could ship X number of humans to Mars, they die easy. Meanwhile, Earth after a Giant Meteor Strike plus nuclear war is still friendlier to human life than Mars.

I don't *like* the answer, but that's the answer. The universe doesn't care what I like.

Let's try building a sustainable city on Earth first. It's not as much fun as Star Trek - but then, what is?

(my review)

Around town

 Another fun sight to see as I walk with friends.

Cheerful holiday season berries in my raingarden

 

This beautiful winter berries in my rain garden are not for human consumption, and the birds seem to ignore them as well. Some things are just pretty, I guess.

When I posted this on Facebook, people commented that it looks like cotoneaster, and which is very pretty, may not be favored by birds because it's not native. It can be very invasive. In my long term plan, I may choose to replace it with something native and edible, by me or by birds.