From the Bookshelf of The Sword and Laser…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought

I’ll honour Andy Weir by replacing the ubiqutous review star with his very creative equivalent term for kilowatt-hours per sol: pirate-ninja. One star = one pirate-ninja.
1 pirate-ninja for a simple storyline: survival.
1 pirate-ninja for a very likeable main character who could have won any Mr. Congeniality contest in the Milky Way. Dude’s sunny personality is his fuel, more than his resourcefulness.
1 pirate-ninja for a very detailed technical description of growing potatoes and building makeshi ...more
1 pirate-ninja for a simple storyline: survival.
1 pirate-ninja for a very likeable main character who could have won any Mr. Congeniality contest in the Milky Way. Dude’s sunny personality is his fuel, more than his resourcefulness.
1 pirate-ninja for a very detailed technical description of growing potatoes and building makeshi ...more

Most definitely one of the best books I've read this year!!!!!
...more

Full of math, physics, chemistry, IT stuff, yet it's a very enjoyable book to read. Witty, hilarious in some parts, fast-paced (although Mark Watney didn't feel that way), smartly plotted, with a very likeable protagonist. You will end up liking the other characters, too. It looks like every one in this book has some sarcastic streak.
By the way, I really like the last log by Mark Watney at the end of the book.
I finished the last fourth of the book in one sitting in one early Saturday morning ( ...more
By the way, I really like the last log by Mark Watney at the end of the book.
I finished the last fourth of the book in one sitting in one early Saturday morning ( ...more

The Martian alternates between the mission logs of astronaut Mark Watney — left for dead after being separated from his fellow crew members during a severe dust storm that lead to their mission being aborted 25 days early — and the unfolding events back home on Earth. The book seems to follow a pattern of everything going to absolute hell and then turning right around to going better than expected, several times: a literal roller coaster of a plot. Due to the nature of the narrative, certain par
...more

So here's the thing. The protagonist sounds like an over-achieving, chipper Eagle scout dropped in an episode of Naked and Afraid who knows that after a period of a few days the ordeal will be over and he'll be flown back to the real world. But... that's not the right tone for the book. This guy's stuck on Mars, faced with years-long solitude -- and only if he's able to survive long enough to endure it.
Does. Not. Compute. I couldn't get past page 38, because I just couldn't get past the lack of ...more
Does. Not. Compute. I couldn't get past page 38, because I just couldn't get past the lack of ...more

Wow! Much suspense. So science. Many lost sleep. :)
I loved this story. Some of the best hard science fiction I've read in a long time. Andy, please write another book just like this one! ...more
I loved this story. Some of the best hard science fiction I've read in a long time. Andy, please write another book just like this one! ...more

Dec 29, 2015
Kate
marked it as to-read

Jun 01, 2016
David Gerritsen
marked it as to-read