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adventuresinfictionland's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
zinelib's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.25
Kate Greene shares the story of her time on fake-Mars, which was an enclosure in Hawaii meant to simulate life for Mars colonists, with special attention to how food impacts the crew's mood and cohesion. Greene is a science writer, so chapters are punctuated with facts about space travel and other stuff. To me, one of the most interesting tidbits is that cis women are actually far more suited to space travel than cis men, mostly because their calorie intake and energy output is more efficient and weighs less. Women are psychologically and physically better at the rigors of space, too! Will that change anything? Not on your life!
abbiky's review against another edition
3.0
Read 8 chapters for my college English class. Interesting to learn more about space travel, but not particularly compelled to read the rest.
becksusername's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Terminal illness, War, Death of parent, Confinement, and Death
boggremlin's review
3.0
I really enjoyed Greene's essays about space, time, and family. For the most part, the framework is a research study she participated in that attempted to replicate the effects of monotony in food diets on astronauts by assigning team of individuals to live in a bio-habitat in Hawaii for a four-month period. But within that framework, Greene explores the nature of time and distance on human relationships; the human desire to explore and to find a home; the ethics of funding space research and travel (and the nature of the relationship between NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX); queer identity; and much more. There's a real thoughtfulness to the pieces in this book, which I read over the course of a few weeks. I think it's a good idea to read this with a bit of space in between (no pun intended), but the overall bones of the book are good and interesting. It's a nice counterpoint to some of the more science-heavy space exploration titles out there, and Greene's background as a science reporter is put to good use here. Her references to the end of her marriage with her longtime partner and the death of her brother add a sense of resonance and wistfulness to these essays without being overbearing or maudlin.
Recommended for more thoughtful space enthusiasts, or for those who are interested in the sociological ramifications of space travel.
Netgalley Review.
Recommended for more thoughtful space enthusiasts, or for those who are interested in the sociological ramifications of space travel.
Netgalley Review.
joygarcialim's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.25
The best thing about this book was the pockets of information, which weren’t related to the HI-SEAS mission but relevant to aspects of space travel. The information was disorganised though, and the author throws unrelated paragraphs of information, without much flow or contextualisation.
The anecdotal experiences about being on “Mars” wasn’t very in-depth or detailed, and I couldn’t envision the author’s experience very much. There were a lot of anecdotes about her personal life too and for the most part, the author failed to make it less than boring or give any direct relationship or cause-and-effect with her mission. I also fail to see why the author gave price breakdowns for things in her personal life, like her honeymoon. But I guess it’s a point of reference of how much things cost, if it’s inflation-adjusted.
Also I didn’t expect to read this line “I was not like other girls and not like the boys either” but wow.
The anecdotal experiences about being on “Mars” wasn’t very in-depth or detailed, and I couldn’t envision the author’s experience very much. There were a lot of anecdotes about her personal life too and for the most part, the author failed to make it less than boring or give any direct relationship or cause-and-effect with her mission. I also fail to see why the author gave price breakdowns for things in her personal life, like her honeymoon. But I guess it’s a point of reference of how much things cost, if it’s inflation-adjusted.
Also I didn’t expect to read this line “I was not like other girls and not like the boys either” but wow.
youngsenn's review against another edition
2.0
learned a lot about space exploration but not so much about the mock mars experiment the author participated in. felt very disjointed.
act4life25's review
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced digital copy.
Thank you to Libro.fm for an advanced listening copy.
Being completely honest, I would have DNF’d this book if I did not have the audiobook to accompany the text. I found a lot of the material to be long-winded and uninteresting. However, there were some chapters (such as “On Boredom,” ironically) that I did find interesting. There are a few small clips that I would share with students since I think they could be great talking points, however, I think most of my students would not find this book interesting.
Thank you to Libro.fm for an advanced listening copy.
Being completely honest, I would have DNF’d this book if I did not have the audiobook to accompany the text. I found a lot of the material to be long-winded and uninteresting. However, there were some chapters (such as “On Boredom,” ironically) that I did find interesting. There are a few small clips that I would share with students since I think they could be great talking points, however, I think most of my students would not find this book interesting.