The Martian in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Feb 15, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-and-sci-fi, engineering, stayed-up-way-too-late, lotsa-buzz

Ares 3. Well, that was my mission. Okay, not mine per se. Commander Lewis was in charge. I was just one of her crew. Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be "in command" of the mission if I were the only remaining person.

What do you know? I'm in command.

I absolutely loved this book! It was so much better than I expected. I mean, a book about a guy stranded all alone on Mars? boring beyond belief, right? WRONG. I do not know how Mr Weir did it, but he did it, a

Ares 3. Well, that was my mission. Okay, not mine per se. Commander Lewis was in charge. I was just one of her crew. Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be "in command" of the mission if I were the only remaining person.

What do you know? I'm in command.

I absolutely loved this book! It was so much better than I expected. I mean, a book about a guy stranded all alone on Mars? boring beyond belief, right? WRONG. I do not know how Mr Weir did it, but he did it, and he did it well.

The character of Mark Watney was so charismatic, I wouldn't have minded spending all 369 pages with just him - but as it turns out, there ARE other people in the book: his other crewmates (who accidentally left Mars without him), and various employees of NASA, JPL, etc who are back on Earth.

And part of it is like this is a book made just for ME. Mark Watney is a mechanical engineer - *I* am a mechanical engineer! Watney is a botanist, I'm a gardener! Okay, he's a little juvenile at times, and he uses some racist/sexist/ableist language at times, but hey, the guy is stranded, ALONE, on Mars. Death appears imminent. I'll let a few offensive terms slide. He is amazingly clever, occasionally witty, almost always a smart ass. There is, of course, a TON of exposition in this book, because the author understands that we aren't all NASA astronauts, but I really enjoyed that part too - it's fun to learn about some of this stuff!! (There was one off note, Watney is going to connect a drill to a 36 Volt power source, and thinks "I'll be playing with high voltage tomorrow!" and I think "uhhh ... 'high' voltage is 46,000 Volts, not 36 Volts." But maybe to NASA, 36 Volts IS high. I dunno. It doesn't matter. The book is still fucking fantastic.)

I knew this was being made into a movie starring Matt Damon, and there were passages where I could HEAR Matt Damon's voice saying the words, so much so that I started to wonder if Mr Weir had Damon in mind all along. I'm looking forward to the movie - this might be one of the very rare cases where the movie is even better than the book!!

There really isn't much else I can say about this. I did mark a lot of passages that I found especially witty or interesting. Here are a few:

I came up with a solution ... I'm going to use the RTG. The RTG (radioisotope thermoelectric generator) is a big box of plutonium. But not the kind used in nuclear bombs. No, no. This plutonium is way more dangerous!

*

Things didn't go exactly as planned, but I'm not dead, so it's a win.

*

I tested the brackets by hitting them with rocks. This kind of sophistication is what we interplanetary scientists are known for.

*

As it is, going only south, I'm not nearly as fast. I'm traveling 90 kilometers per day as usual, but I only get 37 kilometers closer to Schiaparelli because Pythagoras is a dick.

At one point, Johannsen, one of the other crew members, tells her commander, "Communications five by five." - "five by five" is what Faith always said on Buffy, instead of "I'm okay." I always thought Faith just made that up (or, rather, the writers just made that up for Faith.) Is it an astronaut term???

Ah! Apparently it's a military term and amateur radio term! From Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_by... "Five by five is the best of 25 possible subjective responses used to describe the quality of communications, specifically the signal-to-noise ratio." I never knew! And now I know!

ETA: a month and some days later, and I am STILL thinking about this book! I might think about it more now than when I was reading it! I'm reading Sagan's Cosmos right now, and when I'm reading passages about Mars, I find myself thinking "yes, that is how they ended up doing that!" and then I realize "no, silly, The Martian was just a fictional book!! we haven't actually been to Mars yet!")

ETA x2: I saw the movie! And it is great! But they change a lot, the first line is NOT "I'm fucked," none of my favorite lines are included, most of the middle is discarded, and the ending is amped up for maximum drama and closure. ...more

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Jan 09, 2015 Heather - hturningpages rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: awesome-audiobooks, sci-fi

As a scientist I really have to say, well done Andy Weir. I mean, not only does this book seem insanely well researched, but it also really encapsulates the spirit of what it means to be a scientist in any field and also just a human being. A huge part of doing science every day is problem solving, and although most of my problem solving don't involve life threatening situations, the logic and perseverance required are exactly the same. Some days your experiments will just fail and you don't kno ...more

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Dec 18, 2014 Lydia Presley rated it really liked it

Shelves: science, fiction, contemporary, 2014

I picked up a copy of Andy Weir's The Martian when it was released because, frankly, I absolutely adore survival stories. I blame my love of them totally on Swiss Family Robinson and The Myserious Island. I also have a major fascination with space (and the ocean) - basically anything that represents places that have been left completely unexplored and have the potential for so much.

Read the rest of this review at The Lost Entwife ...more

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Nov 12, 2014 Julianne Dunn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is easily my favorite book of 2015. Mixing technical terms and a sense of humor, I love this story about an astronaut accidentally left behind on Mars. I started this book thinking it would be kind of morose and depressing. After all, aren't all movies these days about astronauts stuck in space kind of sad? But this book was filled with so much hope and can-do spirit and a wicked sense of humor that it is impossible to stop believing in this Mark Watney. The majority of the book is told thr ...more

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Mar 17, 2015 Kate rated it liked it

Shelves: read-for-book-club

Too many Macgyver descriptions, not enough character development. Felt like an extended episode of This Old House. But no question that it's an enjoyable read- I won't lie, I shed a tear at the end. Also I pictured Mark Watney as SUPER HOT, which really helped the book along. ...more

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Sep 19, 2014 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

Shelves: scifi, thriller, bookclub, kindle, 2015readharder

This book is so good. This book is so great. It is compulsively readable. It has science and mystery and suspense and humor and I want to read it all over again just to experience it. Actually I don't ever want to read it again, because it made me so nervous so many times... But really. The math and science feel absurdly real. This is a hero we can all love... A mechanic who is the perfect castaway. A botonist... Of course! Who else could survive on Mars!

Favorite read of 2015 thus far (ok, yes, ...more

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Feb 13, 2016 Lauren rated it really liked it

Took me time to finally get into this book, but totally worth the read.

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Dec 24, 2015 taeli rated it it was amazing

read 12/23/15

An engaging, riveting read.

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Dec 02, 2014 Jennifer Medeiros rated it it was amazing

It's been a long time since I've read a book I enjoyed so much I told everyone who'd listen to read this book. Read. This. Book. Part Truman Show, part Castaway, The Martian is funny, compelling, creative, and captivating. You will love Mark Watney and will have trouble putting the book aside until you know how he fares. ...more

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