Staff Recommendation #30: The Martian by Andy Weir

"Maybe there'll be a day of national mourning for me, and my Wikipedia page will say, 'Mark Watney is the only human being to have died on Mars.' And it will be right, probably. 'Cause I'll surely die here. Just not on Sol 6 when everyone else thinks I did."

As any of our regular readers know, I am a fan of science fiction. But that usually means television. I'm always searching for a great sci-fi read, but I'm very choosey. I like my science fiction to be a bit more science based and I like it be in relation to Earth. The Martian by Andy Weir meets my criteria on both counts.

Set in the near future, The Martian opens with us meeting astronaut Mark Watney six days after being left for dead on Mars. Watney is the engineer and botanist on NASA's second manned mission to Mars. During an escape attempt during a dust storm, Watney gets knocked down from flying debris and assumed dead by his crew mates who must continue on with out him or they will never make it back to the ship.

Watney figures he most likely will be the first man to die on Mars. Everyone thinks he's dead, he has no way to communicate with Earth and even if they did know he was alive, his provisions wouldn't last long enough for a rescue mission to reach him.

But Mark Watney is resourceful, optimistic and determined to live as long as he can.

Told mostly from Watney's point of view through his journal entries, we also get to witness NASA's reaction to this disaster. Through these personal observations we get a chance to see Watney's determination and humor while he tries to survive on Mars.

This is a hard sci-fi book that should appeal to readers who like Michael Crichton as well as Stuart Woods. This is the author's first published novel and he made a determined effort to make everything that happens to Mark Watney as plausible as possible. The suspense and tension of Watney's survival is very compelling. And with his wit and humor you can't help but like and admire Mark Watney.


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Click here to see the book trailer for The Martian by Andy Weir

--Post by Tracy