Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

2001: A Space Odyssey is the classic science fiction novel that changed the way we looked at the stars and ourselves.... 2001: A Space Odyssey inspired what is perhaps the greatest science fiction film ever made- brilliantly imagined by the late Stanley Kubrick.... 2001 is finally here.... "Dazzling...wrenching, eerie, a mind-bender."- Time "Full of poetry, scientific imagination and typically wry Clarke... (more)

The Mars Trilogy: Book 1

Red Mars

by Kim Stanley Robinson

In his most ambitious project to date, award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson utilizes years of research and cutting-edge science in the first of three novels that will chronicle the colonization of Mars. For eons, sandstorms have swept the barren desolate landscape of the red planet. For centuries, Mars has beckoned to mankind to come and conquer its hostile climate. Now, in the year 2026, a group of one... (more)

Space Odyssey: Book 4

3001: The Final Odyssey

by Arthur C. Clarke

It began four million years ago when a gleaming black monolith cast its shadow on the stark African savanna *an inexplicable apparition that ignited the spark of human consciousness, transforming ape into man. It continued at the dawn of the 21st century when an identical black monolith was excavated on the moon *propelling Dave Bowman and his deputy Frank Poole on a mission to Jupiter that ended in the mutiny of... (more)

Rama: Book 1

Rendezvous with Rama

by Arthur C. Clarke

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredible, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter... (more)

The Mars Trilogy: Book 2

Green Mars

by Kim Stanley Robinson

In the Nebula Award winning Red Mars , Kim Stanley Robinson began his critically acclaimed epic saga of the colonization of Mars, Now the Hugo Award winning Green Mars continues the thrilling and timeless tale of humanity's struggle to survive at its farthest frontier. Nearly a generation has passed since the first pioneers landed, but the transformation of Mars to an Earthlike planet has just begun... (more)

Space Odyssey: Book 2

2010: Odyssey Two

by Arthur C. Clarke

2001: A Space Odyssey shocked, amazed, and delighted millions in the late 1960s. An instant book and movie classic, its fame has grown over the years. Yet along with the almost universal acclaim, a host of questions has grown more insistent through the years, for example: who or what transformed Dave Bowman into the Star-Child? What alien purpose lay behind the monoliths on the Moon and out in space? What could... (more)

Ringworld: Book 1

Ringworld

by Larry Niven

A new place is being built, a world of huge dimensions, encompassing millions of miles, stronger than any planet before it. There is gravity, and with high walls and its proximity to the sun, a livable new planet that is three million times the area of the Earth can be formed. We can start again!

The Martian Chronicles

by Ray Bradbury

Collection of stories about man's attempts to explore and settle Mars.

The Mars Trilogy: Book 3

Blue Mars

by Kim Stanley Robinson

The red planet is red no longer, as Mars has become a perfectly inhabitable world. But while Mars flourishes, Earth is threatened by overpopulation and ecological disaster. Soon people look to Mars as a refuge, initiating a possible interplanetary conflict, as well as political strife between the Reds, who wish to preserve the planet in its desert state, and the Green "terraformers". The ultimate fate of... (more)

Space Odyssey: Book 3

2061: Odyssey Three

by Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clark, creator of one of the world's best-loved science fiction tales, revisits the most famous future ever imagined in this NEW YORK TIMES bestseller, as two expeditions into space become inextricably tangled. Heywood Floyd, survivor of two previous encounters with the mysterious monloiths, must again confront Dave Bowman, HAL, and an alien race that has decided that Mankind is to play a part in the... (more)

The Right Stuff

by Tom Wolfe

First published in 1979 to extraordinary acclaim, Tom Wolfe’s landmark work became an instant bestseller, going on to sell more than 2.5 million copies. It is a true story that is as exciting as the best fiction—the tale of American heroes Yeager, Conrad, Grissom, and Glenn—men who were willing to put their lives on the line in pursuit of the final frontier. With stunning accuracy and captivating prose, Wolfe... (more)

Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet

Roving Mars: Spirit, Opportunity, and the Exploration of the Red Planet

by Steven W. Squyres

teve Squyres is the face and voice of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. Squyres dreamed up the mission in 1987, saw it through from conception in 1995 to a successful landing in 2004, and serves as the principal scientist of its $400 million payload. He has gained a rare inside look at what it took for rovers Spirit and Opportunity to land on the red planet in January 2004-and knows firsthand their findings. (more)

Failure is not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and (Thorndike Paperback Bestsellers)

Failure is not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and (Thorndike Paperback Bestsellers)

by Gene Kranz

A breathtaking, first-hand account of the early days of the NASA space program, through the eyes of the man who held it all together...

Space

by James A. Michener

Space. It is the object of dreams and daring of countless men and women who have made it the last, great frontier of human endeavor. James Michener has brought the human touch to that exciting exploration by bringing to life six men and women. Their dedication to the space experience defines its complexities and fascination as no other writer can.

Coyote Trilogy: Book 1

Coyote

by Allen Steele

The national bestselling story of Earth's first interstellar colonists-and the mysterious planet that becomes their home.

Grand Tour: Book 3

Mars

by Ben Bova, Dick Hill

Twenty-five astronauts of the international Mars mission set down on the harsh and unforgiving planet and soon face deadly meteor showers, subzero temperatures, and a mysterious virus. Reprint.

Grand Tour: Book 6

Return to Mars

by Ben Bova

Six years after the first manned Martian expedition, a second has been announced -- one motivated purely by its profitable potential -- and half-Navajo, half-Anglo geologist Jamie Waterman's conflicted soul is beckoning him back to the eerie, unforgiving planet.As commander of the new exploratory team, he will have to contend with a bitter and destructive rivalry, a disturbing new emotional attraction, and deadly,... (more)

The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space

The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and America's Race in Space

by Eugene Cernan, Walter Cronkite

Eugene Cernan is a unique American who came of age as an astronaut during the most exciting and dangerous decade of spaceflight. His career spanned the entire Gemini and Apollo programs, from being the first person to spacewalk all the way around our world to the moment when he left man's last footprint on the Moon as commander of Apollo 17. Between those two historic events lay more adventures than an ordinary... (more)

First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong

First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong

by James R. Hansen

On July 20, 1969, the world stood still to watch thirty-eight-year-old American astronaut Neil A. Armstrong become the first person to step on the surface of another heavenly body. Perhaps no words in human history became better known than those few he uttered at that historic moment. In a penetrating exploration of American hero worship, Hansen addresses the complex legacy of the First Man, as an astronaut and an... (more)

The Voices of a Distant Star: Hoshi no Koe

The Voices of a Distant Star: Hoshi no Koe

by Makoto Shinkai

To what distance would you go for your one true love? In a future filled with a boundless potential for interstellar peace and prosperity, Mikako joins a research team to explore the recent contact between humans and alien races. She ventures out into space, leaving behind Noboru, the one young man she loves. As she travels deeper into this new frontier, her only connection with her boyfriend is through cell-phone... (more)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: space exploration

by Arthur C. Clarke

by Kim Stanley Robinson

by Arthur C. Clarke

by Arthur C. Clarke

by Kim Stanley Robinson

by Arthur C. Clarke

by Larry Niven

by Ray Bradbury

by Kim Stanley Robinson

by Arthur C. Clarke

by Tom Wolfe

by Steven W. Squyres

by Gene Kranz

by James A. Michener

by Allen Steele

by Ben Bova, Dick Hill

by Ben Bova

by Eugene Cernan, Walter Cronkite

by James R. Hansen

by Makoto Shinkai