No prizes for guessing what this post is about. 
Among my other Christmas presents were a couple of Barnes & Noble gift cards, totaling $45. As always, I take just about any excuse to go to the bookstore after a chiropractor appointment since it's just across and up the street. As has been my habit of late, I nosed around the Science and Philosophy sections, finding one book I had hoped to locate, and then grabbing two more that just looked too interesting to pass up. They are:
Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists - Dan Barker
After almost 20 years of evangelical preaching, missionizing, and Christian songwriting, Dan Barker "threw out the bathwater and discovered that there is no baby." In Godless, Barker describes the intellectual and psychological path he followed in moving from fundamentalism to free thought. Godless includes sections on biblical morality, the historicity of Jesus, biblical contradictions, the unbelievable resurrection, and much more. It is an arsenal for skeptics and a direct challenge to believers. Along the way, Barker relates the positive benefit readers will experience from learning to trust in reason and human kindness instead of living in fear of false judgment and moral condemnation.
Year Million: Science at the Far Edge of Knowledge - Damien Broderick (Ed.)
In fourteen original essays, leading scientists and science writers cast their minds forward to 1,000,000 C.E., exploring an almost inconceivably distant future.
How to Live on Mars - Robert Zubrin
Thinking about moving to Mars? Well, why not? Mars, after all, is the planet that holds the greatest promise for human colonization. But why speculate about the possibilities when you can get the real scientific scoop from someone who's been happily living and working there for years? Straight from the not-so-distant future, this intrepid pioneer's tips for physical, financial, and social survival on the Red Planet cover:
- How to get to Mars (cycling spacecraft offer cheap rides, but the smell is not for everyone.)
- Choosing a spacesuit (The old-fashioned but reliable pneumatic Neil Armstrong style versus the sleek new - but anatomically unforgiving - elastic "skinsuit.")
- Selecting a habitat (Just like on Earth: location, location, location.)
- Finding a job that pays well and doesn't kill you (This is not a metaphor on Mars.)
- How to meet the opposite sex (Master more than forty Mars-centric pickup lines.)
With more than twenty original illustrations by Michael Carroll, Robert Murray, and other renowned space artists, How to Live on Mars seamlessly blends humor and real science, and is a practical and exhilarating guide to life on our first extraterrestrial home.
