The Sirens of Mars

Beautifully written — this was multiple books in one (and also, badass Sirens of Titan reference). Johnson gives a history of our history with Mars and the mystery of what it contains, from Galileo in the mid 17th century to present day, but also stops for some needed detours. The best of these asides was a gentle but accurate description of how important a role peer review, credentialism, government/military funding, and tenure politics in the academic community have derailed (or nearly derailed) many careers that were on the right track to study Mars. The most striking of these was the story of Carl Sagan, who was rejected for tenure from both Harvard and MIT because his undergraduate thesis advisor wrote scathing letters, behind his back, to both institutions. Sagan landed at Cornell, and of course enjoyed an amazingly productive career, but it was only after his collegiate advisor wrote a public letter apologizing for derailing his career that he knew why he was mysteriously rejected.

The book really comes alive when the author, planetary scientist Sarah Stewart Johnson, comes into the story — and this is where it turns into a passionate autobiography or sorts. She writes beautifully about the responsibility of being one of the only female scientists at the highest levels of her profession, and of the heartbreak she and her advisors faced on multiple occasions when Mars probes broke or lost contact with Earth. I wouldn’t say that this is a highly technical work, and it is for the better that way. I haven’t really read, until this, a human story about our relationship with the red planet, and how multiple times so much of human society was so curious (at times convinced one way or another) about whether our neighbor harbors. Ironically, we still don’t know for sure, and that is perhaps why this book is so important today.