10. In reading The Sirens of Mars, were you attracted to any of the scientists’ life stories in particular? If yes, whose story interested you most? Why?
11. The birth of the author’s first child and the landing of the Curiosity rover occurred nearly simultaneously in August of 2012. Throughout the first year of her son’s life, she follows the updates of the mission but worries that she won’t be able to “catch up” with her colleagues. Discuss this tension between professional and personal ambition. Why do you think this tension is felt so acutely by women? Do you think there is a point at which individuals have to choose one over the other? Why or why not?
12. Why are humans constantly in search of other life in the universe, including on Mars? Why is the planet a “siren” to humans, like the title of the book suggests? What is at stake in this search? After reading The Sirens of Mars, do you feel it is likely that evidence of other living organisms will be discovered in our lifetimes?
13. At various points in the book, the author grapples with the underlying meaning of studying planets for evidence of life. She presents several viewpoints, at one moment asking, “What if it was pointless?…Would any of it matter against the backdrop of an empty cosmos?.” Later, representing another point of view, she argues the search for life in other worlds is “the search for infinity, the search for evidence that our capacious universe might hold life elsewhere, in a different place or at a different time or in a different form.” Consider these two viewpoints: the first that our efforts are futile, and the second that our efforts are representative of a greater hope. Where do you fall on this spectrum of thought? Do you find the search for life futile or hopeful?
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The Sirens of Mars Page 33
