The idea of looking for life in the universe began to make sense to me... a chance to discover the smallest breath in the deepest night and, in doing so, vanquish the void that lurked between human existence and all else in the cosmos.
In honor of Perseverance landing on Mars, of course I had to pick up a book about the red planet. And I'm so glad I chose The Sirens of Mars. In haunting and lyrical prose, Johnson provides both a straightforward account of the history of Mars space exploration, as well as a memoir of her journey to becoming the planetary scientist that she is today. In doing so, she also puts forth an examination of what constitutes life, and our very human urge to shed our isolation and find it beyond our planet.
My favorite parts of this book are around the Mars space exploration, which is the majority of the book. We are taken from the early days of astronomers peering at the bright red orb in the sky all the way through to NASA's most recent Mars missions. I found Johnson's narrative in these parts to be clear and easy to understand for the layman, even though this is a scientific topic. It was great fun and absolutely fascinating to read about all the logistical challenges of trying to do even simple things far away, and the ingenuity and tireless work that went into making these missions a success.
While I had previously known about the missions in passing, it was eye-opening to see them through the lens of searching for life. In particular, I never considered the crucial question of how someone would go about recognizing alien life. I always imagined, when meeting life from another planet, that it'll be somewhat like E.T., a clearly visible alien entity. I never considered that it could be infinitesimal microbes hanging in suspended animation hiding in the most inhospitable environments on Mars. It completely changed my way of thinking, and made me realize how difficult this seemingly obvious task really is.
Where I felt the book was a little more uneven is when it centered around Johnson's own experiences and musings. On the one hand, it was inspiring to read about her journey through this challenging field. And her evocative prose served to heighten her reflections around life and our place in the universe. On the other hand, at times, her prose turned meandering and excessively ponderous. And some of the technical jargon when she talks about her personal experiences, especially regarding geology, were hard to follow. But this is just a few pages here and there, and it didn't take too much away from an otherwise beautiful and easy-to-understand narrative.
One thing this book could have used are some illustrations and photos to go with the events described. As it stands, I did have to frequently look up images so that I could fully visualize a lot of the things that were talked about in here.
I'm not sure how I missed this book when it was published last year, since I always have my eyes peeled for books on space exploration. But I'm so happy to have finally noticed this book, especially during such an exciting time for Mars exploration. Now that I'm all caught up on the previous missions and also on what Perseverance is trying to accomplish, I'll be able to follow the current mission in more detail over the next few years, and cheer on its successes with better understanding.
Readaroo Rating: 4 stars
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