'THE MARTIAN' AND THE POWER OF RESEARCH

The Martian, by Andy Weir. Published 2014: 369 pp. I went and saw The Martian when it came out in theaters (2015, stars Matt Damon as Mark Watney). I was struck with exactly how ingenious the story was. Later, when I read the book, I was even more blown away. Surprisingly, the money is true-to-book, which is pretty rare these days. But, this isn't the point of this post.

I want to talk to you about research. If I had a single example to illustrate the power of thoughtful and in-depth research...