Mars and Island One

From: babbler36 [mailto:babbler36@...]

> I have read _The Case for Mars_, and I would recomend buying it.
> Zurbin does not realy address orbital vs. Martian surface,

For good reason. Mars always comes up short in any fair comparison on a
level field.

> and it
> very concending, like talk of space settlement is mere no-sence. But
> it does do a good job of putting forward a discription for Mars
> Direct. Even if you disagree with the second half of the book
> (colonization and terraformation of Mars), the 1st is still
> interesting.

I would agree, and would even go further and say that his later book,
Entering Space, is (aside from the O'Neill-bashing portion) a very handy
reference and belongs on every space enthusiast's bookshelf. In fact, I
thought it strange that pretty much every space proposal made over the
past few decades was treated in an encouraging and supportive manner
_except_ for O'Neill's.

Regards,

Mike Combs