NEW MARS BOOK Oliver Morton, a former science editor for The Economist, has published a book on Mars, Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World, which The Economist reviews here.

The book appears to be less about Mars itself than about the people who are bringing it to life -- metaphorically -- namely the mappers and enthusiasts who are showing that it is more than just a dead ball of rock and dust.

The MS rates a (questionable?) mention:

The best chapters are those that report from the scene, such as ... a convention of the Mars Society, which Mr Morton regards as “an undeniably utopian and escapist organisation, and there is nothing wrong with that.”

Hm.