The Martian question

Personally, I thought that the "hard science" aspect of Mr. Weir's book was some of the best in the genre to date. This was a "hard science" fiction tour de' force! I didn't appreciate that the language was a bit rough especially for young readers who might be interested, but parents don't approve of the PG-13 aspects of this particular book. Remembering that we are dealing with someone who paid his dues and served his time at either Pax River or Edwards AFB / Dryden Flight Research Center in flight test as either a Naval aviator, an Air Force test pilot, or as a civilian. Bottom line though was this was a complete story of surviving an unsurvivable situation with the skills of a Jim Lovell or a MacGyver. That story of tenacity should be the take away here as well as the intrepidity of all those astronauts involved in pulling the rescue mission together while Mark survived all the ways Mars could kill him, and in many ways, it nearly succeeded in its numerous attempts. Truly great "hard science: fiction at its best. I gave it 5 stars in my review, and I stick by my assessment

I liked the concept of the story and didn't mind the science. What I felt was implausible was the language used by Mark and the scientists and NASA directors. It was like reading a bunch of young adults figure out complex problems and afterward they were all going to head to a frat party. Although I understand in a book like this, deep character development is not always necessary, I would like have liked to see a little more about key characters in the book. It was as if the screenplay was written first and then a novel was written from that.
Overall I did like it and am glad to watch the movie.

I think the book was a bit boring and lengthy! Way to many details on technology and science! And I am an engineer and physics scientist, so it's not about not being able to understand! I did understand, but did not bother to be interested. It didn't add any value to the book and it just wasn´t interesting enough with all details. Sometimes the book resembled a technical manual, and that´s not really literature for me!

I would have liked more of his thought and feelings instead. What does it FEEL like to be alone on Mars?

The science definitely came first. It kind of reminds me of the Odyssey is the aspect that everything has to happen just right for the hero to return home. The pace was just quick enough to keep my interest but in any book like this you know the ending before you pick it up is the 'how' that makes it interesting.

I felt nostalgia, similar to that of the 90s movie Apollo 13. It was funny, scientific and suspenseful with many technical disasters popping up and trying to find ways to survive. loved it.

What really drew me into The Martian was the "competence porn" aspect of it: seeing how Watney reacted to one problem after another as they came up, the solutions he came up with, and (a lot of the time) how he had to revise his plans.

Another book that does this very well, although it's an older book, is Calumet "K". The stakes are different, in that it's about a man trying to get a grain elevator built on-schedule rather than trying to survive on another planet, but the same pattern of an endless stream of problems and one man using his ingenuity to overcome them are still present.

I definitely recommend it, if this was one of the things you liked about The Martian too.

And why didn't he use his very own source of protein. A young man, all alone, with way too much free time...and not once does he self pleasure himself? Yea, right.

I like "hard" syfy, so I liked this book. But I thought the movie was better, and would go so far that a movie sell was Weir's intention all along.

MacGuyver on Mars.
Preposterous, but still a thrilling read, best book I've read in ages.
Yes Mark Watney could come across as an arrogant know it all science geek with an optimystic (sic) outlook that would possibly survive the sky falling on him and it may even have detracted from the main plot, one man's survival on a dead planet.
Let's not forget that this is fiction, fiction with a science prefix and human survival against the odds.
Take a chill pill, be a rainbow not a painbow.
Enjoy

Book was definitely better than the movie. Found it fascinating how he kept coming up with solutions which is just what they had to do on the Apollo missions and will have to do on future space missions.

I feel like it sucked. The science and humor were fine, but it had absolutely ZERO character development (everyone was exactly the same at the start and finish).

This was one of my favorite books I have read in a long time, it was fresh, exciting, and actually had a happy ending (which seems to be less popular lately). I found myself wishing I could read faster as I progressed and damn near was losing my mind during the rescue attempt.

I enjoyed the book very much, which was not a big surprise for me as I am a huge fan of hard SF. I would have rated the book 5 stars if not for the "spaceship-toppling, hardware-rending, astronaut-snatching" dust storm, which in reality would have been hardly felt by the astronauts through their spacesuits. I was a little annoyed by that because, frankly, with the amount of research Mr Weir obviously invested in the book I cannot fathom how he could have made such an elementary mistake.

The story is satisfyingly complex- though the science sections may be long and unrelateable, seeing as we're only reading a log of his actions instead of Mark's senses and feelings, they give a sense of realism and weight to the projects he undertakes.

Also, the changing POVs and perspectives- saving him because it's the right thing, the politics, the money, the time- makes the plot seem even more realistic.

On top of that, the character development is good because though the characters don't really change, the different way they interact with one another imply a realistic depth.

INTERESTING NOTE: anyone else notice the lack of modifiers? It makes for direct writing- maybe a lack of depth- but very intriguing. The story is absorbing.

I don't think it was emotionally deep or intense or even had that awe-inspiring universal sense- I think it was very funny, absorbing, and realistic to be a good, long read.

The book was remarkably realistic, which is not an easy thing to achieve in a sci fi book. There was a parallel between Mark doing the math and the author Weir doing the math to make sure his plot held together. He ran computer models to make sure the orbit trajectories of mars were factually accurate - like that is dedication to realism. The author had a freedom in the telling of the story: if the story needed a third person view, he gave that for the sake of telling the full story. The best adventures are when almost everything goes wrong, and the tiny bit that goes right saves the day: that's what works about this story. I couldn't fault this book.

I felt very dumb eh, so much of the science was way over my head, but loved the humour, like when they were communicating with
the ship that was cool. But yeah I should have paid more attention in Science/Chemistry

I liked Mark. He reminded me of a friend of mine. I liked that, no matter what, he didn't give up. Most of all, I liked that it kept me on the edge of my seat. It seemed that every time things started to go smoothly, BAM, the other shoe would drop and my heart would set to racing again. I couldn't put it down. I'll definitely be getting future books by Weir.

In a sentence, I'd trust Andy Weir to keep me alive on Mars using very limited and basic supplies, but I'm pretty sure he's never spoken to another human being in his life. In two words, Space MacGuyver.

The main character was a Mary Sue/Wesley Crusher (The perfect version of the author as they see themselves. Look up Mary Sue Character if you've never head of this). The rest of the characters were so one-dimensional and the dialogue so stilted the sections where the book veers away from the journal entry style are painful.

Even the very believable, science-based sections quickly turn into the "Catastrophe of the Minute Show." In one of the final "Oh god, what do I do? I'll science it!" sections involving the rover, I ended up skipping how he saved himself. There was absolutely no suspense after the tenth time he rescues himself without showing even a hint of worry.

In all, take away the MacGuyvering and the book is below average.

Lousy - i could not wait for it to be finished - though I am dying to see the movie - as I think it would work better there