The Martian in Around the World in 80 Books

Aug 03, 2015 Sera rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, own, science-fiction, other-fiction

Super cool book! Who would have thought that things like water reclaimers and orbital trajectories could be such fun?

Weir has interesting backstory in regard to this book. He started it as a serialized novel on his blog (ala Dickens sans the blog) where his followers could read it for free. Some of these followers asked Weir to put the book in Kindle format, which he did. Amazon said that Weir had to sell it for a $.99 minimum, since again, Weir wanted to provide it for free. The book continued ...more

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Jul 30, 2014 Laura (booksnob) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-into-film, 2014, science-fiction

On a mission to Mars, six astronauts were assigned to Ares 3 for 30 days. On the 6th day or sol, a storm interrupted their mission and they had to abort. Running for the transport Mark Watney is hit by debris and left behind because his crew believed he was dead. He should be dead but he is not. He is very much alive and all alone on the planet Mars.

The Martian is Mark Watney's survival log and NASA's attempt to get Mark home to earth.

Mark Watney is pretty much screwed. There is not enough food On a mission to Mars, six astronauts were assigned to Ares 3 for 30 days. On the 6th day or sol, a storm interrupted their mission and they had to abort. Running for the transport Mark Watney is hit by debris and left behind because his crew believed he was dead. He should be dead but he is not. He is very much alive and all alone on the planet Mars.

The Martian is Mark Watney's survival log and NASA's attempt to get Mark home to earth.

Mark Watney is pretty much screwed. There is not enough food to last so it is a very real possibility that Mark will starve. Rescue opportunities are limited since his crew and the entire world think he is dead. Water is scarce, oxygen is well, non-existent on Mars so he is hoping his equipment doesn't fail. Luckily Mark is a botanist and an engineer so he has some skills to fall back on for survival.

Mark Watney is a cool character. He taught me survival skills, ingenuity, botany, chemistry, engineering, technology, space speak and so much more. This is a character to admire and he is like the Energizer Bunny, so full of energy and ingenuity that the reader is constantly kept on the edge waiting to see if Mark will survive the latest turn of events. Quite simply, The Martian is a page turning thrill ride in outer space. I have never read anything like it. It was like Gravity meets Apollo 13.

Have you ever read a book you couldn't wait to share with your friends? The Martian is this type of book. I could not put The Martian down. It was all I thought about for a week straight and I verbally praised it up and down. My 16 year old son, (who hates to read by the way) read the first page and was hooked, so he plans to read it for FUN! He never reads for fun. Many of the teachers I work with want to read it and I know my retired mother will also love it because it has something for everyone in it.

Did I mention they are making a movie?

This book is seriously super awesome! It easily made my top ten favorite reads of 2014.
I give it 5 stars with all ten of my fingers pointed straight to Mars. I can't wait to see what Andy Weir is writing next.

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Aug 24, 2015 Tanya rated it really liked it

I am not a huge Science a Fiction fan but the book was well written and interesting.

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Jul 15, 2014 Tok rated it liked it

Shelves: book-i-own, read-in-english

ศัพท์วิทย์ฯคงไม่เหมาะกับข้าพเจ้า สนุกช่วงแรกกับช่วงท้าย กลางเล่มมีความยืด แต่เอาเข้าจริงๆก็ความผิดที่เราด้วยที่ตอนมันอธิบายศัพท์(น่าจะ)ง่ายๆหลายๆอย่างเราไม่รู้ เดี๋ยวไว้ดูหนังกับอ่านฉบับแปลไทยอาจจะเปลี่ยนคะแนนอีกที

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Nov 17, 2018 Jen Pratt rated it it was amazing

The physics and ingenuity of this book is fascinating! It is very interesting and exciting even when not much is happening. The main character is a genius! He briefly explains what he is doing to solve these complex problems. Some of it is a little over my head and certainly I couldn't reproduce any of it, but it's so interesting. He's like a astrophysics and chemistry McGyver! It does have quite a bit of language, but Otherwise I would recommend it to anyone! I actually have recommended it to f ...more

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Dec 05, 2015 Melissa rated it it was amazing

Whoa. Space is not for the stupid. Methodical, plodding story but in a good way. Great study in foreshadowing and story pacing. Like those first moments on the roller coaster as it climbs up and you're not quite sure when the ride down begins or when you'll hit that big cork screw section. Hard to elaborate without spoilers. Haven't seen the movie but Matt Damon is great casting for this. ...more

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