"The true extent of this alien craze escaped my attention and on almost every single page, there was something to which I mumbled, "Wow, I didn't know that." Among the many well-deserved accolades about David's book is, " The Martians is ... a fizzing terrific read." (Mary Roach, author of Packing for Mars) In fact, it is far more than that."
"I was born in the 1960s, and I grew up with Martians. Some of my earliest memories are of watching Bugs Bunny cartoons featuring Marvin the Martian, and I encountered Martians in sitcoms, comic books, and sci-fi novels. Decades later, as a science writer who specializes in astronomy, I became interested in the origins of our cultural infatuation with Mars. Where did it come from? And what I found astonished me."
Early twentieth-century America harbored a widespread belief that Mars hosted a civilization, with newspapers treating such ideas as scientific fact. Major outlets like The New York Times in 1906 published serious accounts of supposed Martian society and what humans might learn from super-intelligent neighbors. Popular culture reinforced the fascination through cartoons (Marvin the Martian), sitcoms, comic books, and science-fiction novels, embedding Martians in collective memory. The phenomenon challenges modern assumptions about extraterrestrial belief and reveals surprising historical details. Science interest and popular imagination combined to produce enduring public curiosity about Mars.
Read at Psychology Today
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