A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?

Kelly Weinersmith · Zach Weinersmith

Nov 2023 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Kelly Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith, and Brittany Pressley

About this audiobook

* THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Scientific American’s #1 Book for 2023
* A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice * A Times Best Science and Environment Book of 2023 *

“Helpfully pulls back the curtain on some of the lesser-discussed challenges to humanity’s off-Earth pursuits . . . Any reader enthusiastic about space settlement will find much to appreciate in this book . . . [The Weinersmiths] write with a confident belief that humanity will one day travel off-planet.” –Science  

From the bestselling authors of Soonish, a brilliant and hilarious off-world investigation into space settlement

Earth is not well. The promise of starting life anew somewhere far, far away—no climate change, no war, no Twitter—beckons, and settling the stars finally seems within our grasp. Or is it? Critically acclaimed, bestselling authors Kelly and Zach Weinersmith set out to write the essential guide to a glorious future of space settlements, but after years of research, they aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. Space technologies and space business are progressing fast, but we lack the knowledge needed to have space kids, build space farms, and create space nations in a way that doesn’t spark conflict back home. In a world hurtling toward human expansion into space, A City on Mars investigates whether the dream of new worlds won’t create nightmares, both for settlers and the people they leave behind. In the process, the Weinersmiths answer every question about space you’ve ever wondered about, and many you’ve never considered:

Can you make babies in space? Should corporations govern space settlements? What about space war? Are we headed for a housing crisis on the Moon’s Peaks of Eternal Light—and what happens if you’re left in the Craters of Eternal Darkness? Why do astronauts love taco sauce? Speaking of meals, what’s the legal status of space cannibalism?

With deep expertise and a winning sense of humor, the Weinersmiths investigate perhaps the biggest questions humanity will ever ask itself—whether and how to become multiplanetary.

Get in, we’re going to Mars.

Ratings and reviews

A non crazy review - A really in depth guide to exploring the galaxy. they touch on issues that so many people don't think, want to think of, or care to think of. I could find 10000 people who want to be the first people to die on mars, but colony implies children...is that ok? they touch on realistic views of what people should consider. do they inject some of their own personal beliefs, and views? of course. It's a comedy book two people wrote about their opinion on it. If you love science, space, physics, and anatomy youll enjoy this book. The added flavor of comedy on it makes it really entertaining.

Unfortunately the authors make serious logical errors, they often leap to unwarranted conclusions with little or poor explanation, and there is a strong tendency towards straw-man representations of arguments they disagree with so as to make.them seem more silly or ill considered than they are.

About the author

The Weinersmiths, a wife-and-husband research team, cowrote the New York Times bestselling popular science book Soonish, a Wall Street Journal and Popular Science book of the year. Dr. Kelly Weinersmith is an adjunct faculty member in the BioSciences department at Rice University. Her research has been featured in The Atlantic, National Geographic, BBC World, Science, and Nature. Zach Weinersmith makes the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. He illustrated the New York Times bestselling Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration, and his work has been featured in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, Forbes, Science Friday, Foreign Policy, PBS, and elsewhere. The Weinersmiths live on an old farm in Virginia with their two children.