The Sands of Mars by Arthur C. Clarke (Pan, 1964)

I found this little paperback at a school fete.  It's in beautiful condition: spine tight and pages uncreased (though a little yellowed).

 

THE HOSTILE SANDS OF MARS

It is the twenty-first century.  On Mars a dedicated group of pioneers--among them some of Earth's finest brains--struggle to change the face of a planet...

The Mars of this novel has no fabulous cities or exotic princesses; it is the planet which modern science has revealed to us, and the book's authenticity provides a far greater excitement than would fantasy.

Against this background, Arthur C. Clarke has woven a thrilling story about a group of very real people, to show that, amidst the wonder of future science, human nature will stay very much the same.

 It is the twenty-first century--and alas, we still don't have our Mars colony. 

However, Mars is the flavour of the month at the moment, so what better time to look at what we thought we knew about the planet more than half a century ago?   The Sands of Mars was Arthur C. Clarke's first full length novel, originally published in 1951, so it's an oddly quaint little future.  Reporters bash out their copy on typewriters, communication is by fax, and women still work in stenographers' pools.  Also it's obvious that Clarke thought of exploration as something carried out by human explorers rather than automated probes.  It's clear that while he'd put a great deal of thought into the problems of living in zero gravity and planetary navigation, the thought of computers and their potentials never occurred to him!

"That's the trouble with all those old stories.  Nothing is deader than yesterday's science fiction."

(Page 48)

All in all, it reads a bit more like an episodic travelogue than a novel: the point of view character goes places, is shown around, and things happen--briefly.  (Including the discovery of animal life on Mars!)  It's a novice effort, but Arthur C. Clarke would soon be turning out better work.