Mars via the Moon: The Next Giant Leap (Springer Praxis Books)

An excellent book on why the Moon is the next giant leap. Despite all the calls by the delusional 'Mars in a Decade' fanatics, the reality is that we are a long, long, LONG way from proving the technologies needed to land humans on the Red Planet. Seedhouse does an excellent job at explaining how the Moon will be used as a proving ground for developing the myriad technologies needed for a manned Mars mission sometime before the end of the 21st century. It makes for exciting and compelling reading.