Ken Kalfus, Equilateral ****

In the late nineteenth century, the astronomer Sanford Thayer convinces the international community to support his plan to construct a huge equilateral triangle in the Egyptian desert and light it on fire, to telegraph our presence to the canal builders on Mars. He has lofty expectations about communicating with the strange beings on Mars, but is having a hard time communicating with his Arab workers.

This relatively short novel is full of ideas about the human condition and the interplay between ideals and reality. It's also written in a lovely style, modern but with nineteenth century flourishes.