I have read most of the books my favorite authors have written, especially those who are unfortunately already deceased, but there is always one that slips through the cracks and gives me joy from time to time. This is the case of “Mars time”. 
Last week, at my usual bookstore, I found a reissue of this book, which I didn't even know I had yet to read... so I bought it and got to work.
The book is a typical Philip K. Dick book, with all its elements: people who dream but cannot distinguish between dreams and reality, people with mental illness, some characters with severe depression, etc… even a “pre-cog” (a person who, due to a mental disorder, is able to see the future or move through time [like in Minority Report, for example]).
The book tells us about the colonization of Mars and the coexistence between the inhabitants of the Earth and the aborigines of Mars, who are Homo Sapiens Sapiens of black race, but devolved.
The book was written in 1964 so it's fun to see how the author deals with certain topics.
- The society that Philip K. Dick proposes is totally sexist (women are either two-dimensional wives who spend their time shopping and cooking, or they are more or less efficient secretaries who are judged based on their physical attributes).
- Since almost nothing was known about Mars in the 1960s, the humans of "Time on Mars" settle there quietly, without prior terraforming or any kind of environmental protection. In fact, it is understood that they do not need it since they find other humans and therefore it is assumed that colonizing the planet is feasible.
- The canals of Mars are clearly the work of its ancient inhabitants.
- There are no computers.
- Communications are by radio frequency and to encrypt certain messages, they need an “encoding machine.”
In short… a book that is a short novel of the most typical Philip K. Dick Science Fiction. Totally recommended.
