The Rivers of Mars: Searching for the Origins of Cosmic Life
by Piers Bizony
Aurum Press/General Publishing, 1997
softcover, illus., 190pp.
ISBN 1-85410-495-0
US$14.95

The Hunt for Life on Mars
by Donald Goldsmith
Dutton, 1997
hardcover, illus., 267 pp.
ISBN 0-525-94336-6
US$24.95

It's no surprise that in a little over a year since the announcement of evidence of life in Martian meteorite ALH 84001, several books have been written on the subject. Although the news, and controversy, regarding last August's announcement have faded even while Mars is explored by spacecraft, there is still considerable interest in this field. Two authors take two different approaches to exploring life on Mars in Donald Goldsmith's The Hunt for Life on Mars and Piers Bizony's The Rivers of Mars
     Goldsmith sets his book up as a scientific "trial" regarding the evidence of past life on Mars, with himself as presiding judge and the readers as the ultimate jury. Both sides of the Mars life argument are presented in the book, with plenty of background information about Mars itself and the development of early life on Earth, to search for analogues with the possible development of past life on Mars. Goldsmith expresses no opinion whether ALH 84001 shows evidence of past life or not: that decision is left up to the readers.
     Bizony takes a broader view of life on Mars in his book. The discovery of evidence of past life in ALH 84001 takes but a single chapter in the book, although it is the centerpiece of the book. Bizony looks at the history of our studies of Mars, with particular attention to the suite of Viking experiments designed to detect life, and the mixed results from them. Bizony, like Goldsmith, looks at future missions to Mars, but the book also examines more far-reaching topics like SETI and the anthropic principle.
     Both books are well-written, although they have somewhat different audiences. Goldsmith's book is designed more for the general reader who may know little about the discovery and the science behind it, or even how the scientific process works. Goldsmith does a good job explaining these in an easy-to-understand manner, although he sometimes gets too deep into his scientific courtroom metaphor. Bizony is oriented a little more to an advanced reader who is interested in the details behind the ALH 84001 and Viking work and who wants to take a look at the bigger picture of life in the universe.

Before the Beginning: Our Universe and Others
by Martin Rees
Addison-Wesley/Helix, 1997
hardcover, 291pp.
ISBN 0-201-15142-1
US$25/C$33.95

The concept of multiple universes has long been a staple of science fiction, especially when the universes can interact with one another. However, our own universe may share a larger "multiverse" with many other universes, including some drastically different than our own, all a result of the Big Bang. Noted cosmologist Martin Rees explores this possibility in his book Before the Beginning.
     Rees's book is, in reality, an exploration of our current understanding of cosmological issues, from the formation of our universe to one of its eventual fates. In particular, he looks at inflation, the period right after the Big Bang when the universe expanded dramatically, increasing in size by a factor of 10³⁰ or more in fractions of a second. This inflation may hide from us other universes, with other physical laws and constants: Rees points out there are several fortunate coincidences which together allow stars to make carbon; if one of those conditions changed even slightly, stars would not make carbon and there would be no life as we know it in our universe.
     At times the discussion of how these other universes are related to our own in a wider space Rees dubs the "multiverse" can be confusing. However, Before the Beginning provides a good discussion of cosmology and our current understanding of the universe. Anyone interested in learning more about how we currently see the universe, and some speculation about its place in a wider scheme, will be interested in this book.

Yerkes Observatory 1892-1950: The Birth, Near Death, and Resurrection of a Scientific Research Institution
by Donald E. Osterbrock
Univ. of Chicago Press, 1997
hardcover, illus., 384pp.
ISBN 0-226-63945-2
US$40

October 22 marks the 100th anniversary of Yerkes Observatory, located along the shores of Lake Geneva in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. At the time of its dedication it was one of the most powerful telescopes in the world, a 40-inch refracting telescope (the largest refracting telescope used in research; larger telescopes were reflecting telescopes that used mirrors, not lenses). For a brief time after its dedication Yerkes was one of the hotbeds of astronomy, but then it went downhill in the early 20th century as astronomers looked elsewhere. Yet, in the 1930s the observatory sprung back, thanks to one of best collections of astronomers in the world assembled in a single facility. The ups and downs of Yerkes are discussed in astronomer Donald Osterbrock's book.
     The book focuses on the first half-century of the observatory's history, starting with its creation by the young University of Chicago and a young but talented astronomer there, George Ellery Hale. Osterbrock recounts the rise of Yerkes, then its slow decline after Hale leaves it for the bigger and better telescopes of southern California. Only the intervention of a new director, Otto Struve, in the 1930s saved the observatory from obscurity as he helped assemble a team of astronomers there from theoretician Subrahamyan Chandrasekhar to Gerard Kuiper, one of the founders of modern planetary astronomy.
     This book is intended for those with an interest in astronomy and its history, but not necessary those with a strong background in the field. The book focuses mostly on the people and events which shaped the observatory and its place in modern American astronomy. When reading this book you'll find that the people and personalities, more than the observatory's telescopes and the science that came from them, were the keys to creating a successful observatory.

A New Force at a New Frontier
by Kevin Madders
Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997
hardcover, illus., 604pp.
ISBN 0-521-57096-4
US$150

Considerable attention has been given to the histories of the American and Soviet/Russian space programs since the dawn of the Space Age. However, the two countries are not the only spacefaring powers: Europe has quietly been building up its own space capacity and is a key player in many fields, including commercial satellite launches. Europe's space history has been largely unexplored, though, until Kevin Madder's comprehensive work, A New Force at a New Frontier.
     Madders provides a detailed, scholarly examination of Europe's space programs, starting with British interest in developing launch systems (and ballistic missiles) in the 1950s. From there the often-uneasy relationships between Britain and the rest of Western Europe (as well of other intra-European tensions) often strained progress. The book looks at the failure of ELDO, the European Launcher Development Organization, which tried but largely failed to develop a native European rocket, and the success of ESRO, the European Space Research Organization, which eventually transmogrified into the current-day ESA.
     Madders provides a comprehensive look at all aspects of European pace efforts to the present day, including how ESA and its predecessors worked with, or against, NASA. The size and cost of this volume will keep away all but dedicated researchers and libraries, but for those with a genuine interest in the history of Europe's push into space, A New Force at a New Frontier will be an excellent resource.