John Noble Wilford is a science correspondent for The New York Times. His professional career began in 1956 at the Wall Street Journal, where he was a general assignment reporter and a medical reporter. In 1962, he joined Time to work as a contributing science editor, then moved in 1965 to The New York Times to be a science reporter. In 1969 he wrote the New York Times front-page article about man's first walk on the moon. His was the only byline on the front page, beneath the headline "Men Walk On Moon" and under the subheading "A Powdery Surface is Closely Explored." In 2008 Wilford received the University of Tennessee's Hileman Distinguished Alumni Award. He lives in New York.
Wilford, New York Times science editor , has produced an easy-to-read general introduction to Mars. He examines our fascination with Mars as the other planet in the solar system likely to harbor life, speculation that began with the ancients and took hold in the 19th century, when, based on their observations, astronomers erroneously concluded that Mars is inhabited by intelligent life. He details the findings of the unmanned probes that in recent years characterized Mars as it really is--a cold, dry world that, nevertheless, still exerts much of the same fascination on our imagination, embodied in current plans for manned missions to, and possible colonization of, the planet. Highly recommended.-- Thomas J. Frieling, Bainbridge Coll., Ga.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Wilford here provides a superb popular history of mankind's growing knowledge of Mars from antiquity, when it was associated with the god of war, to our unmanned satellite mapping of its surface. Mars is now dry and cold but water once inundated much of the planet--recent research indicates that a giant ocean may have covered most of its northern hemisphere. When water flowed, did life arise and then die out or do microbes survive in the hostile Martian environment? Is water locked in permafrost or polar caps, waiting for human colonists to release it? Wilford, championing the possibility of a joint U.S./Soviet mission to Mars, details the technological hurdles that must be overcome in order to get humans to the red planet and to establish settlements there. This is popular science at its best, and will appeal to those interested in the exploration of our solar system. Illustrations not seen by PW. (July)
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