Red Mars. I finally finished reading it. Although I had difficulties understanding some of the detail descriptions Robinson used on landscapes and people’s feeling, I still quite enjoy it as the first novel I choose to read the original instead of translated version.

The most important reason about why I liked the book is the way that future is described. Ordinary sci-fi always talks about some technologies or machines, the story around it or the impact to society because of it. To me, the science behind Red Mars is more like social science, political science than physics, mechanics or space science. Story of Red Mars was surrounded by the debate where Mars should be terraformed; Under the supervision of UNOMA (United Nations Office of Martian Affairs) and the Mars Treaty, how should Mars manage itself from being eaten by transnational enterprises; the immigrants; the distribution of resources; how to build a new society differ from Earth; the new Mars.

You would fall asleep if you don’t like these things. I was attracted by it. In fact, at the very moment I read, I feel kind of depressing about what had (would) happen in that future. We can sustain on Mars, we can terraform Mars, but we failed to keep our society in order. Politically, Mars had become some kind of battle field between the UN, nations, and transnational, as people did on America the New World 300 years ago. In the society, Mars gold rush results in riots and risen crime rate. The relationship between G7 nations and The South worsen because of the allocation of resources on Mars and other stuff. In the end, revolution broke out on Mars in year 2061; by then nations on Earth was busying fighting like World War 3 (the term was not used in the fiction) and couldn’t take care of the Martian crisis.

I was later find out (on Google) that was how Robinson always describe things in his novels. It seems that Robinson doesn’t believe in regional co-operation and international integration could lead to forever peace. I was to innocent to think of that; maybe civilizations are destined to rebuild itself from self-destructions over and over again – even if it’s on Mars.

Red Mars had a timeline from Terrain year 2027 to 2061. The entire Mars Trinity goes all the way to 2212; there is 1 more century for me to read. I would just read on slowly to the future in the future :-P.