Michael Carr is a Geologist Emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey, and has over 40 years' experience of planetary science research. In the early 1970s Dr Carr was a member of the Mariner 9 team and leader of the Viking Orbiter team. He was co-investigator on the Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Exploration Rovers and the High Resolution Stereo Camera on Mars Express. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was awarded the 1994 National Air and Space Museum Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on Mars. He is also the author of The Surface of Mars (1981) and Water on Mars (1996).

• 1. Introduction; 2. Overview; 3. Impact craters; 4. Volcanism; 5. Global structure and tectonics; 6. Canyons; 7. Channels, valleys and gullies; 8. Lakes and oceans; 9. Ice; 10. Wind; 11. Poles; 12. The view from the surface; 13. Climate change; 14. Implications for life; 15. Summary; Index.

'Mike Carr, Geologist Emeritus at the US Geological Survey, has participated in virtually all those missions and has probably seen more Mars imagery than anyone; no one is more qualified to write this book. … Astronomy has now abdicated much of the solar system to geology, and no geoscientist with an interest in the revolution should be without a copy.' Journal of Geology