A City on Mars

Scientific, educational, and fun as hell

Scientific, educational, and fun as hell

Can a book be hilarious, deeply-researched, utterly original and wise all at the same time? If it's by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, of course it can. This is a sensational book; whether you read it in your snuggle tunnel or your pregnodrome, read it

A refreshing, clear-headed breath of life-support oxygen amidst all the tech-bro naivety and hype on space colonisation. Impeccably researched and argued, yet witty and very easy to read. Superb!

Listen up, humans. How to poop in space will be the least of our concerns. Herein are challenges most space-heads, including me, never even considered: not just technological, but legal, ethical, geopolitical. Despite the breadth and depth of research, this is a clear, lively, and hilarious read. Slam dunk, Weinersmiths!

There's a tendency to have a rather ethereal and even utopian view of space settlement. Kelly and Zach Weinersmith bring us a highly entertaining and down to Earth (or should one say down to Mars?) view of our future in space, filled with humour and cogent insights

Engaging, wildly informative, insightful and frequently funny

An exceptional new piece of popular science . . . Forceful, engaging and funny… an essential reality check for anyone who has ever looked for home in the night sky . . . hilarious. The breezy prose is studded with charming cartoons . . . This book will make you happy to live on this planet—a good thing, because you’re not leaving anytime soon

If humanity's future looks to be in doubt, is living off-world not the ultimate insurance policy for our species? A City on Mars... answers this question very bluntly: don't pin your hopes on it... All this makes the book sound a much grimmer read than it is. It is peppered with cartoons and jokey-back references, and between each section are interludes tackling some enjoyable anecdotes from space

This might be the best book ever written about humans in space, or at least the funniest. I don't know of anything else quite like it: an extended, comical confrontation between the dreams of space colonies and the gross, dangerous, tedious realities. Read it before you go

A very funny book, underpinned by deadly serious questions about the future of humanity

The Weinersmiths, a wife-and-husband research team, co-wrote the New York Times bestselling Soonish . Dr. Kelly Weinersmith is adjunct faculty in the BioSciences Department at Rice University. Her research has been featured in The Atlantic , National Geographic , BBC World , Science , Nature and more . Zach Weinersmith makes the acclaimed webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. His work has been featured in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, Forbes, Science Friday and elsewhere.