A City on Mars is an entertaining overview of the many ways in which we humans are not ready to settle space. Its subtitle is, "Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?"
With its focus on space settlement rather than space exploration, the book addresses questions about living somewhere other than Earth more than about getting there. For example, our knowledge about the physical effects of living in lower-gravity environments comes from short-term excursions into space by carefully screened astronauts at the peak of health. Would a human child born on Mars develop properly? We have never built a self-contained sustainable ecosystem on Earth much less in the hostile environments of the Moon or Mars. Do you know much much stuff and how many specialists we'd have to deliver there just to get started? Think about all of the infrastructure required to keep an Earth city running!
The Weinersmith's writing is snarky but enthusiastic, similar to the narrative voice of Mark Watney in The Martian. (Appropriately, they have an endorsement from Andy Weir on the cover: "Scientific, educational, and fun as hell.") The style changes a bit in the second half of the book, when they begin to cover the social, legal, and geopolitical ramifications of space cities. These topics are less cool and more controversial, and the tone of the writing is less overtly comic. I found these sections to be the most thought-provoking.
The key takeaway from A City on Mars is that we are a long way from being able to settle space, but need to start thinking through the issues realistically. Evangelists for space settlement are typically aspirational; in particular, they usually imagine a united harmonious human race that has transcended its truculent nature. The Weinersmiths politely suggest that we shouldn't count on it.
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