(3) They are not perfect, but I firmly believe that scifi is one of the best ways we can explore both the possibilities and pitfalls of our future.

(2) The books are relatively hard scifi, and they were written in the '90s, but much of the science holds up today. I think some of the arguments made on both sides of terraforming are important to consider and these books should be required reading/listening for anyone going into space exploration.