Word: martianize
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Posing as "an alien curiosity" from outer space, Romains reports on the earth as it might appear to a canny Martian...
Romains's Martian observes everything with an innocent eye. Earth's landscape is scarred by "agglomerations" and "filaments" called cities and roads; its inhabitants "walk about in flexible, artificial envelopes called clothing." But soon he is dealing with the more interesting question of earth's society. "Morality," he writes, "seems to be a product-and a precarious one-of civilized life, and corresponds to no profound needs within the individual"; as for religion, its "prayers, rites and ceremonies suffice in the eyes of many, particularly women, to excuse other aspects of behavior." Man's accomplishments...
Systematically, Romains's extraterrestrial observer examines each of man's achievements and judges each a sad reminder of its better past. But inescapably, a question arises: How can this Martian be so filled with nostalgia for a world he never knew? It is then that the mask falls away-it is not a book of discovery, but a book of reminiscence. Romains, an old man (now 76), has written an old man's book, and in the end, he offers a warning drawn from the only lesson Men of Good Will taught: there...
...worried geneticist is especially pleased to hear from the space blacksmiths that manned, two-way journeys even to the moon will be unlikely for at least a decade. By the time the first human starts home from Mars, the earth's biologists should know enough about Martian life to keep it from damaging life on the home planet...
...Twilight Zone (CBS, 10-10:30 p.m.) wins the week's cigar for clever titling with "Will the Real Martian Please Stand...