The Rock from Mars: A Detective Story on Two Planets |  | Author: Kathy Sawyer
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Rating:  8 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 1400060109
Dewey Decimal Number: 576.839
EAN: 9781400060108
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Product Description
In this riveting book, acclaimed journalist Kathy Sawyer reveals the deepest mysteries of space and some of the most disturbing truths on Earth. The Rock from Mars is the story of how two planets and the spheres of politics and science all collided at the end of the twentieth century.
It began sixteen million years ago. An asteroid crashing into Mars sent fragments flying into space and, eons later, one was pulled by the Earth’s gravity onto an icy wilderness near the southern pole. There, in 1984, a geologist named Roberta Score spotted it, launching it on a roundabout path to fame and controversy.
In its new home at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the rock languished on a shelf for nine years, a victim of mistaken identity. Then, in 1993, the geochemist Donald “Duck” Mittlefehldt, unmasked the rock as a Martian meteorite. Before long, specialist Chris Romanek detected signs of once-living organisms on the meteorite. And the obscure rock became a rock star.
But how did nine respected investigators come to make such startling claims about the rock that they triggered one of the most venomous scientific battles in modern memory? The narrative traces the steps that led to this risky move and follows the rippling impact on the scientists’ lives, the future of space exploration, the search for life on Mars, and the struggle to understand the origins of life on Earth.
From the second the story broke in Science magazine in 1996, it spawned waves of excitement, envy, competitive zeal, and calculation. In academia, in government agencies, in laboratories around the world, and even in the Oval Office–where an inquisitive President Clinton had received the news in secret–players of all kinds plotted their next moves. Among them: David McKay, the dynamic geologist associated with the first moon landing, who labored to achieve at long last a second success; Bill Schopf of UCLA, a researcher determined to remain at the top of his field and the first to challenge McKay’s claims; Dan Goldin, the boss of NASA; and Dick Morris, the controversial presidential adviser who wanted to use the story for Clinton’s reelection and unfortunately made sure it ended up in the diary of a $200-an-hour call girl.
Impeccably researched and thrillingly involving, Kathy Sawyer’s The Rock from Mars is an exemplary work of modern nonfiction, a vivid account of the all-too-human high-stakes drive to learn our true place in the cosmic scheme.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 A Story of Big Science March 16, 2006
John Matlock (Winnemucca, NV)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
From movies and television the public has an image of the scientist being a selfless, mild mannered, seeker of knowledge. 'Taint so.
Scientists are people just like the rest of us. They are competitive with each other and with the world at large. They establish theories and points of view that they will defend almost to the death. When an alternative view comes around there is not the dispassionate scientific openness that allows honest discussion. Instead there is a very passionate series of thoughts centered around what this will do to the grants and funding that that scientist has. With that comes money, status, grad students -- all the things that matter most to a scientist.
This is the story of a rock found in Antarctica. First it was just a rock. Then it became clear that it came from Mars. (The evidence is well developed in the book.) Then they spotted things that might indicate that there was or had been life on Mars. Then it hit the fan.
Life anywhere but Earth has all kinds of meanings (for instance to the churches - intelligent design and all that). There could be entirely new branches of biology. The story of proving that this was or was not evidence of life on Mars fills the rest of the book. It was a vicious fight. It's a supurb book.
Was there life on Mars? We really don't know. Even with all the space craft that have visited Mars, including the two rovers, we really don't know.
Tales of the Rock Star May 11, 2006
R. Hardy (Columbus, Mississippi USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
We are fascinated by the possibility that there may be some sort of life elsewhere than on the Earth. The possibility that there is no life elsewhere is equally interesting, but it doesn't, for instance, make interesting science fiction movies. Life outside of Earth has most often been imagined on Mars, which for all its differences from our planet is the one that is most similar to our own. Thus, when on 7 August 1996 researchers announced that they had found evidence that might show fossilized life on Mars, it was not just a scientific announcement, but one which that non-scientist President Clinton had to take part in making. _The Rock from Mars: A Detective Story on Two Planets_ (Random House) by Kathy Sawyer tells how the announcement came about, the science behind it, and the personalities (and the infighting) that made it happen and have kept research in the arena to the current day at various cutting edges at the limits of our understanding. Sawyer, a science reporter for the _Washington Post_, has made this story not only interesting but exciting, a refreshing view of how big science is done these days.
The story began sixteen million years ago with an asteroid slamming into Mars. This sent up debris, and some of the debris became asteroids in their own right, and came down on Earth. This particular rock came down 13,000 years ago, and remained in the ice of Antarctica until it was discovered in 1984. The special nature of the rock, wasn't understood until 1993, when geochemists started examining it, and found that it was 4.5 billion years old; it was the oldest known rock from any planet including our own. More important, they found carbonates and iron crystals that were similar to such chemicals produced by organisms on Earth. Sawyer carefully explains the process of examining the rock; acid, electron scanning microscopes, ultraviolet lasers and more are brought upon it. There is lots of evidence that was turned up, and whatever the aftermath of the research, the team of David McKay, a famously careful and conservative researcher, did such a thorough job that the evidence was never in question. It was the interpretation of the evidence that proved to be troubling. Many scientists were upset that the researchers were taking undue advantage of a hot story and making it seem that their interpretation was factual rather than tentative. NASA was criticized from the start for hyping the research and using it for political reasons. In the ten years since the announcement, the controversy has become less prominent, but among scientists who are looking into the subject, there are still opposing camps on the matter, and vehement disagreements, and hurt feelings.
As Sawyer winds up the story, there is no overall agreement on just what McKay's team turned up. There have been different ways of looking at the rock since then, none of them making a conclusive case. This is not a bad thing. Because of the controversy, new techniques have been brought into play and new discoveries have been made. For instance, what was learned about possible earthly contamination of the rock will be used when bits of Mars are brought back by robot spacecraft sometime in the future. Because of the controversy, there has been increased interest and better explanations for the origins of life on Earth in the most unlikely and unwelcoming of environments. With its depiction of all-too-human scientists attempting objectivity when contemplating the great mystery of life elsewhere, Sawyer's account is an appealing picture of a good example of how science works.
Human Reaction In the Face of a Possible Paradigm Shift July 13, 2006
G. Poirier (Orleans, ON, Canada)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is a page-turner! The possibility of having discovered traces of ancient Martian life, no matter how primitive, has sent ripples throughout the (mainly scientific) world. This book gives an excellent overview of the entire story - from the 1984 discovery of this Martian rock in the Antarctic to the present time. As expected, there was much debate about whether the rock did indeed show signs of primitive, ancient Martian life. Consequently, two main camps formed: those trying to prove that the rock did show such signs of Martian life and those proposing alternative explanations for the rock's interesting features. I think that the author has done an excellent job in presenting the story without taking sides in the occasionally heated debates that took place over the years. There are no good guys and no bad guys here, just people trying to understand what had been found in the face of a possible paradigm shift. This book can be enjoyed by anyone because of its clear prose and engaging writing style. Nevertheless, because of its subject matter, it will likely be more popular among science buffs.
Fascinating March 7, 2006
History Buff (Fairfield, IA United States)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was fascinated to read the about how the Mars rock came to the have such an impact on the public and scientific mind set. This little rock has quite the personality.
The machinations of how one project comes to be officially accepted, who gets run over in the process, and who becomes the hero is very interesting. Very well researched and written.
I was especially taken with the accounts of Robbie Score, the woman who found the rock.
What a fun book.
The Rock From Mars August 8, 2008
Thomas E. Prince (Louisville, Ky.)
Every space buff should read this book. Like a mystery story, it is a page turner, but with a difference. This mystery story really happened, and the story continues with the Mars lander. Highly recommended.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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