The Martian

This is a truly marvelous and wonderfully entertaining book. It is also “gripping” in a good way. As some other readers noted, I stayed up way too late some nights because I simply had to find out what was happening as Mark Watney, the Mars-stranded astronaut, struggles not only for survival but hopefully for ultimate rescue. It is not Science Fiction. It is Science. Fiction. Subtle difference. The author, in addition to possessing tremendous knowledge about interstellar details, also put a lot of time into research and his own computer simulations to ensure the details of the story are as accurate as possible. What makes the story work is the situation, an astronaut stranded on an essentially uninhabitable planet far from Earth, and the lead character Mark Watney. He's a veritable “MacGyver” in terms of his ingenuity in figuring out not only how to survive, but also to overcome the inevitable series of mishaps and anomalies that occur throughout his time on Mars. The book starts out with a 'grab you' opening: "I'm stranded on Mars. I have no way to communicate with Hermes or Earth. Everyone thinks I'm dead. I'm in a Hab designed to last 31 days. If the Oxygenator breaks down, I'll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I'll die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, I'll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I'll eventually run out of food and starve to death. So yeah. I'm f----d." The next several opening pages dwell a lot on the scientific aspects of space travel and the Martian environment to the point that I was thinking “geek book.” But the story soon transitions into the rhythm that makes it such a wonderful read. Much of Mark's narrative in the book consists of his Daily Log entries – a writing perspective well-suited to the book, since he has literally no one with which to communicate. What comes through is his strong positive attitude spiked with a wicked sense of humor. You will really come to not only admire Mark, but genuinely like him as well – which means you will be “pulling for him” throughout the book - “C'mon Mark!” Every “up” in the book (e.g. he is finally able to establish communication with Earth) is soon accompanied with a corresponding “down” (e.g. his Martian dwelling – the “Hab” - explodes), etc. Most of us would just give up; I mean it's another four years before there's another Mars mission planned, and he has neither the food, water, or other means to last that long or travel to the planned landing site. But not Mark – he takes each problem in stride, puts his logical (and ingenious) mind into action, and, well, somehow survives another day – and longer, and even does it with a sense of humor. The dialogue beyond Mark's Daily Log is excellent, the plot sublime, and the story would make a wonderful movie. But wait, it IS going to be a movie, starring Matt Damon (great choice!) coming out in November 2015. Can't wait to see it. Read this book!!!

Mark Watney has it all together: he’s got the looks, the great sense of humor, and let’s not forget the dream job: an astronaut on the Ares 3 mission to Mars. There’s only one problem: he’s stranded there alone. Sorry ladies. This is the basic plot of Andy Weir’s New York Times bestseller The Martian, an incredibly detailed scientific novel filled with thrill, humor, and passion. Mark Watney becomes stranded following a terrible Martian storm that forced his crew to evacuate without him and landed him punctured with an antennae. Unless by some fat chance he can be rescued, Mark must use his skills as a botanist and engineer to survive alone on a planet known for its inability to sustain human life. Mark must use extensively challenging mathematical and scientific formulas to determine everything from how to ration the food left by his crewmates, how to grow potatoes in bacteria-less Martian soil (spoiler alert: he uses his own crap as a fertilizer), how to increase his water supply by passing hydrazine over a catalyst, to how to communicate with NASA using the computer system from the Pathfinder, an unmanned American spacecraft that landed on Mars in 1997. The Martian’s plotline seems entirely unfeasible and unrelatable. It’s pretty hard for me to believe someone could travel to Mars, let alone coincidentally have the skills of a botanist and an engineer necessary to survive on a desolate planet. However, in many ways, Mark’s experiences are very relatable! From the moment Mark discovers he is stranded, he refuses to go down without a fight. His determination when faced with the seemingly impossible is inspiring, and his wit kept me laughing for hours. Without Mark’s hilarious commentary amidst terrifying events, such as a fatal explosion, a deadly dust storm, and many other failed experiments, the suspenseful and intriguing plot would have been overshadowed by scientific explanations that could easily become boring after a few chapters. Weir’s detailed descriptions of Mark’s emotions, from loneliness to anger to fear, appropriately encompass the emotions that would transpire for anyone stranded far from home with no family, friends, or knowledge of what the future holds. Speaking of the novel’s scientific content, many times, Mark’s calculations were over my head. Despite that, as a future high school math teacher, I would love to incorporate The Martian into my classroom. Why, you ask? Well, Mark is a cool character. He curses, he rejects authority, and he’s super blunt. Basically, he’s your average high school student’s hero. But he also loves math and science, and uses it to save his life. Furthermore, if students can truly connect with Mark, they will want to fight alongside him, which could entail wanting to solve Mark’s scientific problems, that is, if their teacher is enthusiastic enough! I think that The Martian could be incorporated into lessons through word problems within the context of many levels of high school math, from basic algebra to level one calculus. For algebra students, helping Mark find a basic linear equation for how long it will be until he runs out of food would be an interesting problem! For calculus students, helping Mark figure out his water-generating system using related rates and integrals would be more compelling than your average textbook word problem. Weir’s writing style is encapsulating, which makes his novel enjoyable for all readers, even those who aren’t normally fans of science fiction. Weir writes through Mark’s daily logs, allowing the reader to take part in Mark’s mundane tasks and feel his pain when something goes awry. What’s more, the rest of Weir’s characters give every reader someone to relate to. For the feminist, there’s the Ares 3 mission captain, Commander Lewis, whose passion to save her crew member is moving. For the computer geek, there’s Johanssen, the intelligent yet beautiful crew member to whom everyone annoyingly looks for their techy needs. For the guy who wants to do the right thing no matter the cost, there’s Mitch Henderson, the hardheaded flight director. For the lover of rags-to-riches stories, there’s Mindy Park, the dissatisfied NASA employee who moves up on the totem pole to work with NASA big shots after discovering Mark is still alive. For the cautious thinker, there’s Teddy Sanders, who basically leads the mission to rescue Mark, but always considers everyone’s safety first. If you don’t relate to one of those characters, there are plenty more to be discovered if you read! And I would recommend you do!

Fantastic book. I have watched the movie first, then started reading Project Hail Mary and ordered this book. The quality of the paper and binding is also good. Also arrived in good condition. However it was supposed to be delivered home. For some reason I had to collect it from a service point. I think it was a mistake by the courier. So I would still go with a five star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐.

There are a few rare books that you come across in your life that make you go – oh my gosh, this book is f*****g amazing!! The Martian by Andy Weir is exactly that kinda book. The premise is pretty simple actually. In the not-so-distant future, NASA has a crew of six astronauts on a manned mission to MARS (called Ares 3, so this is not the first). They land and everything’s dandy for 6 sols (Martians days) but right upon which a sandstorm hits. Our protagonist, Mark Watney, gets hits over by the wind and the other crew mates, presuming him dead perform an emergency exit off the planet. Only, he’s not really dead. He wakes up covered in sand to a dead planet. No humans around, no contact with NASA, and no way to get off the planet. Will he survive? And if yes, how?? But more importantly, what does this realization do to the humanity back on Earth? The book reads like a hard science-fiction and that’s not entirely a bad thing. If anything, it only lends more credibility to the narrative and all the wild science-y solutions that Mark Watney pulls out of his hat. But picture this, you’re the only living thing on an entire planet that is thousands of kilometers from Earth. No one knows you’re alive, and even if they do they’re pretty much helpless. What would one do? I thought hard about this, picturing myself in Mark’s situation. Of course he’s a trained astronaut and a botanist and I’m a…well, the point here is that where most people would have succumbed to the hopelessness of the entire thing, he fights and fights and fights some more!! And how! One moment you’re screaming your hearts out ‘NOOOOO! HE’S A DEAD MAN!’ and then Mark comes right up and says he’s gonna be alright. And you heave a big sigh of relief muttering to yourself cheerfully, ‘The bloody bastard’s gonna be fine!‘ That’s pretty much how most of the read went for me. And I have mention here that the author Andy Weir is brilliant! The kind of picture he paints of Mars, down till the smallest detail and the explanation to the various experiments conducted our protagonist – the science is all mostly accurate! And it amazes me for the kind of research and effort he had put into in crafting the entire book. I heard him say that he had to actually write a computer program himself to figure out how many days it would take for a spacecraft to travel from Earth to Mars. Yes, everything’s that calculated. So when Mark throws numbers and formulas at your face, it’s crazy to think that it’s all real. And that’s one more thing about this book, how utterly possible everything feels. This is not fantasy. The events and catastrophes featured in this book can actually happen in real life. That’s one more tangent my mind goes off to often, how would we react if something like this were to happen in reality? Wouldn’t the social media go absolutely crazy!? Wouldn’t there be numerous religious groups praying for his safety! And to say nothing of our protagonist himself. The large reason the book works despite the hard science is Mark’s sense of humor. I would put it somewhere close to Chandler Bing in that aspect. But he is not a brooder, he is a doer! And he cracks some amazing jokes throughout his journey. By the end of the book, you’ll really come to love this fellow. The other supporting cast are all well-etched out too. As an Indian, it was nice to see the character Venkat Kapoor as a high ranking NASA official (The name’s odd though. Kapoor is a North Indian surname while Venkat is definitely a Southie thing). I also loved the entire crew of Hermes. Especially Commander Lewis with her disco addiction. Andy Weir has struck gold with his first feature novel, and deservedly so. Books like this, they’re every bookworm’s kryptonite.

FEEL FREE TO ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BOOK! I would like to start this review with a note that is both a positive and a negative. I do not read any book, this is because I am never captivated and cant really empathize with the character and I never feel like I am there. But on to the review. "About this version of the product* The book came to me in pristine condition it was truly breath-taking how beautiful the cover is. The book is well sized and honestly this is one of if not the most beautiful and durable books I've bought. There is also a map in the beginning which is awesome since I was cross referencing it so much which made me feel very immersed. *About the book SPOILER FREE PART* The Martian is the most well written, funny, serious, and emotional book I have ever read. This is in part because of the amazing writing. Mark Watney is a charismatic, smart, and resourceful man. In the face of adversity he always manages to crack a witty joke that always made me chuckle or just burst out laughing (No im not psychotic, i don't think). The writing makes you really feel like you know mark which is one reason why you empathize and really feel for him. The Atmosphere is great really selling the barren expanse and devastating loneliness of the Martian lands. *Note: I found that using some noise cancelling headphones and playing some white noise, like the wind, really helped to sell the effect of being on mars*. After only a few pages I had a very clear picture of how it looked at the HAB and I only wish I could take a picture of my thoughts. The story jumps between the perspectives of Mark Watney on mars, Nasa and JPL on earth, and the crew on Hermes the space station the went to and from mars on. *General Consensus* I should have added some photos, including my favourite quotes. This is the best book I've read. I'm so sad its over yet so happy I've experienced it. Andy Weir is my new favourite author and i will be purchasing more of his novels no doubt. Please do yourself a favour and read this book. I cannot recommend it enough. 1000000 / 10 *LIGHT SPOILERS, what happens at the beginning* The book is about the main character Mark Watney's journey surviving mars after being abandoned there by his crew. What happened Watney and his crew consisting of, Lewis the commander, Vogel, Beck, Martinez, and Johanssen were six days into a 52 day mission on mars where they would gather science and conduct experiments when suddenly a large storm hit. The storm was so bad they had to evacuate but on their way to the MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) mark is struck by debris and is lost. The crew cannot find him and assuming he is dead abort without him. Mark wakes up and makes it back to the HAB, where he will live for the next (wont spoil how long) number of sols. He has a lot of problems along the way but manages to fix them in amazingly creative ways, I mean I cannot stress enough how glued my eyes were to the pages intrigued and worried about what would happen next. I wont spoil any more of the end because it would ruin how heart-breaking and heart-making (if that's a saying) a lot of the moments were.

I have a strong preference for paper books. I value the physical contact, the smell of paper, the craftsmanship, and the sense of uniqueness that ebooks simply cannot offer. None of these qualities are present here. This criticism has nothing to do with the content. It is entirely about the object itself—how this book looks and feels. The production quality is so poor that it actively discourages engagement. I would not take this book even if it cost €1 from one of those large clearance bins of unwanted titles you find in a Carrefour.

Es muy larga y poco ancha esta edición de pasta blanda, además de que por lo mismo es pequeña así que tuve que regresarlo, pero el libro es buenísimo.