Twenty years ago, when I was reading Omni magazine and Ben Bova was its editor, I didn’t like Bova.  I never read his stories.  Now I’ve read this long book that Felix passed on to me written five years after Omni went defunct.  I will read other books of his.

 Mars is a science fiction book, quite different from science fantasy which has become the predominant style.  It was well written with a good story (a prerequisite for me).  There are quite a few characters.  They actually almost make it past being two-dimensional, but not quite.  However, it is rare that characters get to be three-dimensional in science fiction.

 The book chronicles the preparations for and the first manned-expedition to mars.  It steals a little from HG Wells’ War of the Worlds but not in a bad way.  The last 150 pages had me reading straight through.  When I finished the book, I decided to go out and buy Return to Mars, its sequel.