"Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he...

A science fiction classic about the colonization of Mars.

Explore the science behind a trip to Mars, from launch to landing on the Red Planet. Set to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell," this jaunty journey follows five adorable, bobble-headed astronauts as they learn how to bathe in zero gravity, grow veggies in space, and entertain themselves on the six-month trip.

Lieutenant Patricia Kelly Elizabeth Strickland--otherwise known as Podkayne--is a third-generation Martian. Her grandfather, Manny, was one of the first men to set foot on Mars. So Poddy has some planet-sized shoes to fill. That's why she's joined the Music, Arts, and Drama Division of the Martian Navy. Though some may say her voice is a weapon in itself, Poddy passed the audition. And now she's going to Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons, to be...

"They were sent to build a utopia, but all they found on Mars was death. Frank Kitteridge has been abandoned. But XO, the greedy--and ultimately murderous--corporate architects of humanity's first Mars base made a costly mistake when they left him there: they left him alive. Using his skills and his wits, he's going to find a way back home even if it kills him. Little does he know that Mars isn't completely empty. Just over the mountain, there's another...

Five-time Hugo Award-winner Larry Niven weaves together time travel and fantasy through short stories and a novella to create an utterly unique book on the origin of the Martian "canals." Hanville Svetz was born into a future earth that matches the sorriest predictions of Greenpeace. With most of Earth's original species extinct, Svetz travels back and forth in time retrieving them. Svetz learns that Mars was inhabited, and how the sapient Martian...

With the Earth out of water and land and under the threat of nuclear war, the United States looks to Mars for precious resources and prepares a man, mentally and physically, to survive the hostile Martian environment.

Steve Squyres is the face and voice of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. Squyres dreamed up the mission in 1987, saw it through from conception in 1995 to a successful landing in 2004, and serves as the principal scientist of its $400 million payload. He has gained a rare inside look at what it took for rovers Spirit and Opportunity to land on the red planet in January 2004-and knows firsthand their findings.

Presents facts about the planet Mars, and discusses what it would be like to take a trip there.

Could there have been life on Mars? Learn about the red planet and find out! --Page 4 of cover.