by Michael DiMario

Title: For The Love Of Mars: The Human History Of The Red Planet
Author: Matthew Shindell
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Publication Date: 2023
Total Pages: 248

National Air and Space Museum curator and science historian Matthew Shindell describes how human history around the world made sense of the red planet which collimates to our present-day Martian fascination. Shindell discusses Mayan priests who wrapped Mars into seasonal calendars and religious ceremonies, of the Babylonian priests who foretold unexplained events and the influence of Mars, and the beginning of astronomy that tried to make sense of what Mars revealed to its earliest scientific observers.

For the Love of Mars discusses the evolution of human imagination from the very earliest astrologers to the present-day Mars missions. Human fascination with Mars sets the stage and kindles the spirit of solar system exploration and all its possibilities. From the believe of Martian canals flowing water with vegetation along the banks of Martian canals, to the invasion of Earth by Martians authored by HG Wells, to our kinship with the Mars rover Oppy, Shindell expertly takes the reader of a tour of human Mars history and the influence upon our present day culture and how we perceive Mars.