TM: The Mark Watney Mars Map

[Brian]

I listened to the audio book for this month's pick. I was having trouble visualizing all the locations on Mars that Mark kept referencing in his daily log. A quick google search later and I found a nice image file on Andy Weir's facebook page. The link to the map is below. Check out Andy's page for more cool info about Mars, etc.

The Mark Watney Mars Map

[Fiona]

Thanks for the link! I can hardly see the words on the map of my ebook version, so this is great!

[Dylan Northrup]

Awesomely cool map. Wish I'd had that when I was reading the book.

[Dara]

I also wish I had that while I was reading the book. I kept using the Mars Globe Map App on my phone, which worked fine.

[Kristina]

oh this is awesome!

[Shaina]

Nice! I might be weird, but I rarely use the maps in the front of books, I usually just kind of go with the flow and build a rough map in my mind.

[Tiffany]

Thanks for sharing! That is awesome!

[Joanna Chaplin]

Shaina wrote: "Nice! I might be weird, but I rarely use the maps in the front of books, I usually just kind of go with the flow and build a rough map in my mind."

I do that as well. But it's nice to see after the fact.

[J.J.]

You... you don't look at the maps?

o:=3 <-mind blown

[Shaina]

I occasionally look at them as I pass them at the beginning of the book, but I never refer back to them. They are sometimes fun to look at at the end. I looked back at them during some of ASOIF since there were some complicated relationships between who was where and the world is just so complex with so many places.

[Stephanie]

Jenz wrote: "You... you don't look at the maps?

o:=3 <-mind blown"

***head exploding***

[kvon]

Score one for having the hardcover book.

[AndrewP]

I was using this map, no wonder I couldn't find anything :)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xVUu7UDP6gk...

[J.J.]

Lol, at halfway through the book, I'm surprised I haven't hit a single Barsoom joke yet!

[Skip]

There is a Carter in the book, Randall. But he may be a reference to Randolph Carter from H.P. Lovecraft stories. Or it could just be a name the author thought of.

I rarely go back to the maps until I'm done reading. I've got a good sense of spatial awareness, so if the author gives some reference to location I usually know where the action is going on well enough to follow it.

Question though for those of you that fear the spoiler: do you consider a map like the one in the book spoilery? Or are you more put off by a map like the one in "The Name of the Wind", where the map asks more questions than it answers?

[John (Nevets)]

IIRC didn't the maps in the The Eye of the World changed as the books went on to reflect new places they were going, people had come from. I didn't consider it a spoiler, but something to look forward to.

[Buzz]

Awesome map!

[Jennifer]

It wasn't ideal having to flip back to it on my kindle, but I didn't have to refer to it enough that it really bugged me. I was just glad they included a map in the book at all. I reference maps obsessively when I read and not having a map of Watney's area of Mars would've driven me crazy!

[Paolo]

Skip wrote: "Question though for those of you that fear the spoiler: do you consider a map like the one in the book spoilery?"

Yeah, definitely spoilery. Showing things like Pathfinder and Ares 4 MAV site, and showing Mark´s initial location on the upper left corner of the map with everything else to his southeast, gives us pretty good clues about the general direction of the plot.

[Stephanie]

Paolo wrote: "Skip wrote: "Question though for those of you that fear the spoiler: do you consider a map like the one in the book spoilery?"

Yeah, definitely spoilery. Showing things like Pathfinder and Ares 4 ..."

I disagree. Looking at a map before reading a story doesn't tell you what's going to happen in the adventure. When I look at a map I get excited about getting into the reading so I'll understand the map!

[Skip]

John,

The maps in the WoT books only changed slightly to add locations that appeared in the story, but the particular layout of this map pretty much let's you know where the story will head.

I like maps personally, but I think a map of all of Mars at the beginning with detail maps before each chapter with a location change, like some of the WoT detail maps, would have been less of a plot line giveaway. I don't think that you see that much art in a new author's book usually though.

[Gregory]

I used the Mars edition of Google Earth while reading. It was especially handy for the last road trip to the MAV 4 to follow the terrain (Mars-ain?). Thanks for the link.