Great book but AVOID crappy Kindle edition ( )

A cheeky bit of Satire dedicated to the Heinlein school of anti-authoritarian sci-Fi. there are some good bits of detail as to how humans might survive under the harsh environment, given a considerable importation of useful but reused supplies provided by the official settlement program. ( )

I was dissappointed in this book. I had read two other books by Zubrin which i thought pretty good.

In this book, Zubrin writes a humorous how-to fictional book. If Zubrin had stayed focused on Mars and on more mainstream values, such as not stealing, then it would have been very funny. It would have been like a Dave Berry version of getting along in a strange place.

But Zubrin sometimes jokingly, advocates stealing parts and even aluminum skin form space vehicles parked overnight, and of most women being part of a female motorcycle mafia gang, looting anything ungaurded. He riducules, without humor all existing governments and many institutions such as our schools. He advocates making money by mostly illegal and immoral methods, sometimes jokingly, sometimes not. He labels all those who work for a company, institution or agency as losers.

I would not read or give this book to any kid or adolescent as they might not be grounded yet in moral issues. They might, for example, try his recipe for making several types of bombs.

I bought the book thinking it would be a good fiction read to a kid at bedtime that could interest him or her in space exploration. But there's not enough realistic common good behavior on Zubrin's Mars, and too much theft and shady money schemes to call this a book about Mars. Instead it is a dark humor for adults here on earth. ( )

This is a kind of fun speculative look at life on Mars written in the form of a how-to guidebook published at some point in the future. Zubrin mixes in science and facts and a case for human colonization of Mars with dry humor and wit as he describes the best suit to buy, habitat to live in, jobs to get, et cetera, et cetera.

Sometimes he gets too involved in the science, and the reading can get a bit heavy. My eyes glazed over at the chemical equations involved in creating water, oxygen, power, et cetera while lost on Mars, but I also learned things. So. Yay learning! And it certainly made me laugh often enough to justify skimming a few pages of heavy science. ( )