Beyond Reality discussion

Post here to discuss Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Spoilers ahead!

Eager to hear others’ thoughts. I have deep admiration for the complexity and richness of the world and characters that Robinson created for this dense, intense, beautifully imagined novel.

What I loved was the science and exploring part. I was there for the page long descriptions of the Marsian landscape that let the planet come into being so vividly before my mind's eye. That is something that is important to me in SF and surprisingly few authors go deeper into natural science (or I've always read the wrong ones).

The science may be a tad dated, but overall this is still one of the most serious attempts to reconcile actual science with the idea of terraforming.

I also love that the idea of terraforming wasn’t *limited* to the science involved; it encompasses the entire weight of human history, and the small and at times petty conflicts between individuals and groups, and philosophy and politics and colonialism and capitalism...

Exactly. It’s the science to say “you get volatiles from the gas giants, and here’s how, and what you might need.” It’s human to say “there might be a problem making people several million miles away ship most of a planetary atmosphere to you over decades...among other considerations.”

I have read the series, but it was a long time ago. I really enjoyed it, especially the science and writing.

I, too, read the whole series a number of years ago. I remember liking it, although parts of it hurt my brain—my memory says there were some long, complicated scientific info dumps that, for me, detracted from the story, but I’m sure they added accuracy or reality to the story. What I liked was the complexity of the whole story. It took itself seriously, and so I, as a reader, took the ideas and themes seriously, too.

I definitely learned more about areology from this series than I did from anything else. Sure the info dumps took me out of the story a bit, but they helped me understand why Mars was building in a certain way, and not what might make more sense to me instinctually.

The science in this book is meticulously imagined and well researched. It was a bit daunting to try to absorb it all. The descriptions of the Martian landscape were sweeping, although I admit that the constant parade of places just washed over me at some point.

But the book went beyond the Martian scientific speculation to imagine the effects of this planet on the colonists, and on those remaining on Earth. There is a wide spectrum of responses to Mars, from Anne who sees it as a giant nature reserve that should remain unchanged, Sax who sees all change in terms of terraforming, Arkady who wants to create a new society, and Phyllis who sees Mars as a pool of resources to be exploited by Earth corporations. But there are so many positions in between; the Arabs who see Mars as a chance to continue a nomadic way of life, temporary workers just trying to earn hazard pay before returning to Earth, I could go on an on. An ambitious work to try to imagine all aspects of settling our nearest neighboring planet.

I totally agree, Chris. This was a reread for me, and the scope of everything that KSR considered and rendered in this novel was truly and deeply impressive. I connected even more to the flawed and egomaniacal and passionate and troubled cast of characters this time through, as well.

I did not get to re-read it for this discussion, but I often wonder if the folks who are put off of it are so because of the politics involved. KSR, in all of his books, tends to get into why political systems disrupt authentic attempts at science. Perhaps that can sometimes get in the way of the fascinating science which he uncovers. I don't know. But I liked the above comment about the flawed, egomanical, passionate, troubled characters.

I've finished my re-read. Here are some possible Easter eggs many could have missed

Nadezhda Francine Cherneshevsky, or Nadia. Her surname most likely an allusion to Nikolay Chernyshevsky(1828 –1889) a Russian revolutionary democrat, materialist philosopher, editor, critic, and socialist
Arkady Bognanov is most likely allusion to Soviet SF author Arkady Strugatsky and early Russian socialist and author of Mars utopia Red Star Aleksandr Bogdanov)
Sasha Yefremov is an allusion to Ivan Antonovich Yefremov a Soviet science fiction author and social thinker.


it should be noted that like most English authors, KSM got both patronymics and surnames wrong. One can argue that "this is changes from the future" but we don't see them in names/surnames of US group, so I assume pure ignorance (without any intent). If second name of Nadia is derived from her father's name Francine (quite rare in Russia) then it should be Francinovna. And her surname in feminine should end with -a, not -y. Even Arkady written as "Nikelyovich" and it should be most likely from Nikolay i.e. Nikolayovich. The same with Maya.

The name of town Senzeni Na is actually “What Have We Done?” a South African anti‐apartheid folk song, which is fitting for the chapter on the revolution.

The Prison camp Korolyov is after Serhiy Pavlovych Korolyov, a lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer.

Wow, highly informative. I remember wondering if any of the names might've been based on real life persons (Arkady sounded like it would've, for some reason). Thank you, Oleksandr.

I finished this book last weekend as a part of Dewey's 24 hour readathon. I must confess, I was not totally keen about this book in the beginning. The flash forward intro chapter threw me off and I found the character of Maya to be annoying with no other reason for being in the narrative except as a love interest. However, as the book moved along, it really picked up steam and by the climax I could see how everything from the beginning on had led up to that point. Even Maya turned out to be not as bad as I initially thought. All in all, it was a good read. Don't know when I will get to the sequels, but I do hope to read those one day.

You can read my full review on Goodreads or on my personal blog.

Happy reading!