I happened to read Zubrin's A Case for Mars before I read Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy. The background of the initial chapters of Red Mars seem to have been borrowed pretty much whole from Zubrin's mission scenario* (without, naturally, any 'history' of how the mission was funded, or how long it took to convince the funders to shell out the money).

I hold K.S. (not to be confused with Spider) Robinson's novels in high esteem - not because they champion manned exploration, colonization and terraforming of Mars, but because they are excellent stories about people, and how they are affected by isolation, politics, religion, economics, ecological philosophy, and personal relationships.

Robinson's novels are also highly regarded by the majority of SF readers. However... are they known at all outside of that circle? Have they inspired a grass-roots movement to make their scenario possible, or were they preaching to the choir? For that matter, did two or three decades of stories set in various styles of colonies on the Moon inspire us (not to mention our legislators) to keep going there?

In other words: what does Spider expect? SF to change the world?

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[* - For the record, in case anyone cares: I found Zubrin's basic mission design plausible - assuming the funding was authorized. However, the follow-on missions relied far too heavily upon an assumption about the availability of water (specifically, areothermal springs), which had even less basis at Zubrin's writing than it does now.

I begin to understand the seeming desperation in some quarters for liquid water to be found, in some form, on the real Mars.]