Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars: Space, Exploration, and Life on Earth by Kate Greene

I was intrigued by the topic around which the book revolves. It is about a scientific study which involved people mimicking the life they would lead if they were stationed on Mars. Recently, I have come across many videos of this concept in the media and thought this would increase the information I have about it.
In a way, this book did give me a whole new view into what such a scenario would entail, but it was more than that. It is a personal narrative with the author’s emotions and life reflected in everything written. This additional aspect was both helpful and not because it caused the narration to digress and take multiple tangents before focusing on the exact topic that each chapter was based. We get a technical as well as psychological take on what people living in close quarters and feeling remote and distanced from the rest of their known world. This is topical in another sense with the isolation that the pandemic has thrust on many. I personally know of a lot of my friends and family who have lived through some strange and unprecedented isolation. Despite that, the number of detours got mildly weary. This does not mean that the book is not intriguing, it is. Given the author’s background and the way she wrote, I thought she could have changed the order of presentation to make it a more crisp collection.
Overall, this is something people even slightly interested in the world’s fascination with space would like.