Last night when a star streaked by,
I told it I wanted to be numb again.
I remember when I was numb.
Like a child in a womb,
I was protected and cradled,
from the pain that is existence.
But then like a child stepping on a mine,
I discovered I had a heart.
A drill and a heart with holes,
A salt and an open wound,
Is like a mind and some memories.
Analysing turned into paralysing,
and beliefs turned into illusions.
When finally thinking became supressing,
I embraced the fake highs and true lows.
But everyday I inch closer,
Everday I grow wholer.
Everyday I find a new hole.
So when the star streaks by tomorrow,
I think I'll ask it for the same old rotten dusty heart.
How We'll Live on Mars by Stephen Petranek (TED Books)
Ah, what a monumental book for me. Listening to the TED Talk was how I got into Mars colonization in the first place, and re-reading it was what sparked my post about Mars on day two of this challenge thing.
All in all, this book is very well-written. Providing a structured understanding of the steps we need to take to get to Mars – from the funding to the food/water/shelter on Mars, to the colonization and terraforming – if you want a quick overview of how these things are going to be carried out, this book is the place to go. It offers succinct explanations that can be understood by the layman (I mean, I first read this in 6th or 7th grade).
My biggest gripe while re-reading this book was the optimism. There's nothing inherently wrong with optimism- but I found it a little concerning Mars was depicted more as a heroic adventure story than an engineering challenge of magnificent proportions.
I utilize this book mostly as a Mars 101 lecture, which after all, is what TED is all about.
Been wanting to read this book for the longest time, and finally got to knock it out. A 300 page read, this book has one of the most unique “voices” I have come across. The book contains short, crisp sentences in fragmented narrative structures that bounce back and forth between timelines and locations – and yet the book manages to feel seamless, expansive and smooth. Heavily descriptive and mastering “show don’t tell”, the book manages to get us both in the head and the surroundings of our main character – “Offred”.
In the introduction, Margaret Atwood writes:
“If you mean an ideological tract in which all women are angels and/or so victimized they are incapable of moral choice, no. If you mean a novel in which women are human beings — with all the variety of character and behavior that implies — and are also interesting and important, and what happens to them is crucial to the theme, structure and plot of the book, then yes.”
It is very important to understand this basic perspective to consider Atwood's novel.
The book captures beautifully the humans in tyranny- those that simultaneously suffer from it and uphold it. It depicts the deep, flawed guesswork that goes into forming friendships and alliances in a dystopian world, and the longing and nostalgia for love that has been lost.
