The Martian Race, by Gregory Benford

I'm convinced that Benford is one of the finest science fiction writers of all time. Like Timescape, this book is solid with scientific speculations grounded in the realm of the plausible. Once I started on it, it was nearly impossible to put it down. As the title implies, the story is about a race to reach the Red Planet, but would that be all? It takes a split second to notice the double entendre and figure out that the word "race" could have more than one meaning. You can figure out on your own what the second meaning is.

After a couple of bad movies on missions to Mars, it was a joy to read a well-thought out story on the topic. For some reason, at times I was reminded of good old Arthur C. Clarkes' 2001 series. It may have been due to the fact that this is hard sci-fi rather than a silly space opera kind of thing. If you wonder what it would be like to take steps under a Martian sky, this book is for you. I'll be surprised if you don't think it's award winning material.