White Mars

The discussion of how to build a better society is central to this book, and it is good. Cut off from Earth by an economic disaster, several thousand Mars colonists are thrown back on their own resources to sustain themselves. The focus is almost exclusively on the Mars of the mind-what kind of society can be formed/should be formed in the isolation of the Martian frontier? The characters endlessly discuss what it means to be human under these conditions. What institutions are necessary, and which ones can be avoided? How are we to raise children? How are we to conduct ourselves in a larger society? How are we to cope with our variegated behaviors when freedom brings us into conflict with one another? These questions and more are raised and raised again.I don't agree with many of the answers White Mars seems to provide, and so I was tempted to give the book three stars. For example, I don't agree that Mars should be set aside as a scientific preserve. However, I believe the most important thing is that the questions were asked and various opinions aired. White Mars is a valuable addition to the debate on Mars and on how human beings interact with our society.The science is really beside the point, which also tempted me to give White Mars three stars. The discussion on physics and the quest for meaning at the sub-particle level is half-developed and never really tied into the main story. There's also the discovery of native life on Mars, which is more science fantasy than science fiction. The more mundane science of maintaining a community of several thousand in total isolation on Mars is completely ignored, which is also a disappointment. As an answer to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, White Mars falls so short in this department that I can't even say there was an effort at competition.At its heart, however, White Mars is a discussion on values and humanity. All other factors aside, this discussion makes the book worth reading and pondering.

In White Mars, the authors have written a nifty utopian tale for the technological age. Although the series of events on earth that leads to the eventual isolation of the martian colony struck me as highly improbable, I gave it little consideration as I was swept up in the real drama: The creation of a new and better society--a "mature culture" leaving behind the myths, preconceptions, and bigotries that plagues mid-twenty-first century earth. I liked to see them attack problems such as a lack of water, crime, a threatening over-population (curiously, artificial birth control is barely mentioned)with a kind of cooperative rationality. And,of course, the appearance of a singularly unique alien. Even though I'm particular when it comes to hard science fiction, I highly recommend this book.