Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I found the subject matter really interesting. The book was well written and easy to understand. I highly recommend this book.

This was a fantastic read. I could of done with this book 18 years ago when I was writing my dissertation on water on Mars. It certainly explains everything you ever want to know about Mars. The author writes with passion and explains everything so well. I loved the flow of the book and ease in with I took in all the information. For the 5th star I would of loved to see some pictures to break up the text. It would of given it that extra dimension. The text was so informative that its probably the most comprehensive book I have read so far about Mars. I really couldn't put this book down and I read it in one day.

I really can't recommend this book enough. If you have any interest in Mars then I know you will love it to. Its definitely a must read book.

So much praise goes out to the author and publishers for bringing us this fantastic book that I became easily engrossed in and learnt so much from. I will definitely be looking out for more books by this amazing author.
The above review has already been placed on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK where found and my blog today https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/the-red-planet-by-simon-morden-elliott-thompson-4-star

I fascinating natural history exploration of Mars.
I personally don’t enjoy as much personal information about the author but still very interesting information about the formation of the Martian landscape.

I found this book fascinating and informative, it is the first book of this type that I have read but I found the information included to be accessible.

I was very kindly given an eArc copy of this book by Elliot & Thompson in return for an honest review. I would like to thank the publisher for this opportunity.

"We know about mass extinctions: if Mars once had a tree of life, the changing environment might simply have taken an axe to it." -- Simon Morden

I'm a self-confessed science nerd. If there's a space programme on the TV or a space themed movie you can guarantee I want to watch it. Books about space or science are also high on the list of things that I enjoy.

Firstly, our esteemed author Simon Morden. Or as I should correctly title them, Dr Simon Morden BSc PhD. He's an actual rocket scientist with degrees in geology and planetary geophysics. So, he's certainly qualified to write this particular book.

'The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars' by Simon Morden does exactly what the title suggests. Admittedly most of the book is conjecture and highly educated guesswork based on what we know of how our own planet was formed, what we can see from orbiting satellites and the results of data returned to Earth from probes such as Pathfinder. In fairness to the author a great deal of human history is based on conjecture and highly educated guesswork based on fragments of source material from the past so we can't really hold that against him.

This book charts the life cycle of Mars from it's creation when the solar system as we know it was being created to the present day. The final chapter of the book covers what may happen in the next 100-200 years as we continue to study Mars and the ethics involved with landing humans on the planet for either exploration or colonisation.

"For our own selfish reasons, we crave the idea of a second Earth - and to have one so close and yet so far is tantalising - but we know that Mars was never that. It was never ours. It is it's own and we have to accept it for what it is." -- Simon Morden

This book was absolutely fascinating in all honesty but I also understand that planetary geology and formation is a bit of a niche subject. At points I was lost entirely as this book, in places, presupposes a level of knowledge with regards to geology that I do not have. In other places there were sufficient explanation for the novice to understand and interpret what was being said.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in planetary formation but also to anyone interested in the real science behind books such as The Martian by Andy Weir.

This was such and interesting read, it's not my usual genre but I was intrigued and I wasn't disappointed. It makes you think and I now want to read more.

The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars by Simon Morden uses a bit of "You Are There" SF time and space travel (think Sagan's "ship of the imagination") to introduce us to the latest theories about the planet's development.

This was a fascinating reading on the red planet. I loved how it started with the history and what would happen in various stages of planet's existence if you would be there. Also the writing style in some parts of the book was interesting because it tried to make you feel the planet and understand it like you were there personally. I liked the book because I could find out more things about Mars.

Very thorough description of what was once a very mysterious planet (although not so much now with all of the rover landings in the past decade). I really enjoyed learning a lot of the early history of the planet, how it was formed, the fact that it once was teeming with water etc... If you've ever wanted to know more about Mars, I would highly recommend picking this up and reading it.

I see Mars show up in headlines and articles more frequently, and the more I learn about it, the more I realize how little I actually know about this planet. It was fun to read this deep dive into the history of Mars (as far as we know). Morden is up front that what he talks about in the book could be proven wrong as we continue to explore and learn more about this planet, but he does not shy away from going into detail where he can and sharing current theories and explanations for some of the mysterious aspects of Mars.

One interesting thing is that some of the chapters describe Mars from the second person point of view. It was a fun way to get a better feel for what Mars might be like. Only occasional chapters do this, so it did feel a bit jarring to go back and forth between the different points of view, but I thought it was helpful overall.

This book paints a picture of a planet with a history all its own that we know so little about, and it makes it clear that there are mysteries we won't have answers to until the planet can be better explored. While I have no desire to be one of those explorers, I look forward to the discoveries that are certain to happen as we get closer to visiting Mars!

Thank you to Simon Morden, Elliott & Thompson, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review this book!

Simon Morden’s The Red Planet: A Natural History is a detailed look at the history of Mars’ geology, and there lies both its appeal and, for some perhaps, its lack of appeal. As fascinating as much of the book is, I confess it sometimes got a little too deep into the weeds (or the rock formations) for my own preferences, though having “too much information” is hardly a major indictment for a non-fiction work. And certainly the questions about how much water Mars had and when/for how long are fascinating, as is their connection to the possibility of life on the supposedly “dead” planet.

Morden begins, well, at the beginning. Or technically, if we’re talking about Mars, before the beginning, starting instead with the formation of the solar system and then explaining how the various planets, including Mars, formed and then ended up where they are today. Or at least, he explains the best theories behind those events. Early on he’s explicit about how “we stand on uncertain ground [as] there are different routes Mars could have taken to reach the same point … but we don’t know which one … or even whether it traveled just one.” It’s why he calls Mars and “unreliable narrator.” He’s also upfront about how when faced with “alternative explanations . . .I may pick my favorite.”

Once Mars has formed, Morden divides the planet’s history into large epochs, and then methodically explains the creation — and sometimes the disappearance — of some of the planet’s major features, such as Olympus Mons (2nd tallest mountain in the solar system) Valles Marineris (a canyon the length of the United States), the Great Dichotomy (the vast difference in the altitude of the northern and southern halves of the planet), and the Medusae Fossae Formation (source of all that dust), along with the formations of craters, ice caps, rivers, oceans, and more. The author also periodically intersperses more imaginative second person chapters placing the “you” on the planet, allowing for some more vivid language and description, though Morden also turns his descriptive skills to a few other events described in the more prosaic chapters.

As noted, the book goes into a great wealth of detail, a bit too much so for me and perhaps for others, though not so much that one can’t work their way through it (or, if you’re a skimmer, you won’t be forced to skim too much). And while it’s dense, it isn’t particularly technical or arcane, so comprehension is never an issue. At the end, Morden considers the possibility of human exploration and/or colonization. He makes a number of good points and in fact I wish that section had been longer and ironically, more detailed. Guess you can’t please everyone all the time.

I liked the way this book is laid out, a brief intro from the author and then a trip to the planet Mars. From then the author goes into how Mars was formed, what changes it went through and is still going through. The climate, geography, geology, atmosphere.

For a planet smaller than Earth, this red blob in the night sky seems to have been through it all. A planet that has impacts leaving massive craters, a dry dusty atmosphere, frozen areas and one of the largest volcanoes known, it makes earth's largest volcano in Hawaii more like a peak in comparison.

A complete book about the Red planet. It is exhaustive and informative. But it is lacking illustrations and at times feels overloaded with excess information. I expected many pictures but these were Missing. But still I learnt a lot of things about next frontier of human civilization.

This is a fascinating and detailed look into the geological history of Mars. It doesn't provide all the answers, but where there are competing theories, it presents the most likely ones. It's interesting to learn how the different size and composition of Mars compared to Earth affected its development. It's also tantalizing to learn how much water ice occurs near the surface, and how that could affect the possibility of human colonization of the planet.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

"The Red Planet" is two books in one. On one hand, you have the spectacularly described science of Mars, and on the other you're given a taste of the maybe. It just works so well. Simon Morden makes the science exciting and easy to understand, while throwing some truly fascinating scenarios into the mix. This is the best book about Mars I've ever read!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Well-told book full of fantastic information about Mars, which casts a whole other light on the science fiction books I'm used to reading. Far from easy however and very dense with information, only for true fans of the Topic.

Libro ben raccontato e pieno di fantastiche informazioni su Marte, che gettano tutta un'altra luce sui libri di fantascienza che sono solita leggere. Tutt'altro che facile comunque e densissimo di informazioni, solo per veri appassionati dell'Argomento.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

Mars is a cold tease, an object of immediate interest to anyone who believes humanity needs to continue to venture outward. It’s neither so hostile or so far from us to preclude manned
missions entirely, and it has its own resources that could, with a bit of planning and savvy, be used to support an expedition. Still, Mars: A Natural History is as close as you or I will ever get to Mars: not only does Simon Borden take us through its past, told through the features of its landscape, but he uses bursts of a second-person narrative to put us on the surface of Mars itself, both in the past and present, to as though we were literally exploring the red tunes. Borden’s talent for description, already developed through his primary vocation as a science fiction author, is well on display here, both in the analysis of Mars’ geological features, and in the narrative imaginings that take us there as future and past explorers. For the space buff or lay exogeologist, The Red Planet recommends itself

A fascinating look at our neighbor, this is a historical record of Mars, as well as a detailed look at its geography. So many things are impossible to know for sure, but the author makes educated guesses. Simon Morden is a science-fiction writer, so his non-fiction book is very approachable and reads almost like a novel. Some parts are so lovingly described in detail that you can picture yourself there. There is also some hard science that went a little over my head, but in general this book is easy to follow and very engrossing.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Elliott & Thompson!

I find cosmology in general quite fascinating – after all it has told us many large truths about the universe and there is more to come. In the night sky, I always look up to see if I can see bright Venus & Jupiter or the pale red Mars. Light pollution in the cities increasingly makes this a less pleasurable experience though.

This book packs a wealth of information about Mars – how the planet formed, what it has gone through since and what can we look forward to. The length of a day on Mars is very close to Earth, a year is much longer and gravity is far weaker. While understandably, quite a bit of it is speculative, the book does well to point out the difficulties in current theories in explaining Mars evolution. The section on the dust which gives Mars its distinctive red shade makes for very interesting reading.

The last section on the future of Mars and our potential relationship with it is very pragmatic and sensible. I have seen very casual writings about establishing colonies, terraforming Mars as if these are simple things to do.

This book has some excellent information on our neighbouring planet. The writing is a bit dense though and I had to labour through many sections.

Recommended for the interesting & comprehensive information it packs.