2020 Book Brag
Books I read in 2020. All are recommended, unless otherwise noted. STEM Stuff Sarah Stewart Johnson, The Sirens of Mars: Searching For Life on Another World (2020). Dr. Johnson, an assistant professor of Planetary Science at Georgetown, interleaves the history of our search for life on Mars with her personal story, pencil portraits of key figures from ancient times to present day, and philosophical musings about the meaning of the search for extraterrestrial life. Good (sometime gripping) accounts of early space program missions. This beautifully written text is the best book I’ve read in a long while. Willy Ley, Mariner IV to Mars (1966). Johnson’s book caused me to reread this. Of interest primarily to remind us how little we knew about Mars only 55 years ago, and how much we wanted to find some evidence of life there. Alan Lightman, Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine (2018). In this literate and charming text...