The Martian by Andy Weir

The Martian

by Andy Weir

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Brilliant . . . a celebration of human ingenuity [and] the purest example of real-science sci-fi for many years . . . utterly compelling.”—The Wall Street Journal

The inspiration for the major motion picture

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. 

Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. 

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first. 

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE

“A hugely entertaining novel [that] reads like a rocket ship afire . . . Weir has fashioned in Mark Watney one of the most appealing, funny, and resourceful characters in recent fiction.”—Chicago Tribune

“As gripping as they come . . . You’ll be rooting for Watney the whole way, groaning at every setback and laughing at his pitchblack humor. Utterly nail-biting and memorable.”—Financial Times

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

5 of 5 stars

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That was intense!

This book was amazing! It had me on the edge of my seat for the majority of the books. (The science and mathematics portions were sightly interesting, they mostly just went right over my head.)
What I did really love about this book, was Mark's sarcasm and his will to live and how he dealt with being lonely. For the majority of the book he had no contact whatsoever with NASA and because of this it does make you a little worried with how he is really dealing with certain things.
The amount of times I was pretty sure Mark was going to die were far more than I ever though there would be. The amount of risks he had to take just for there to be a chance of certain things working were far more than I ever thought possible.
"Just once I'd like something to go as planned, ya know? Mars keeps trying to kill me... Mars and my stupidity keep trying to kill me."
Another part of this book that I really liked was that it had the perspective of some of the workers at NASA, and his crew mates. Which I found made the story far more enjoyable especially as it got closer to the end and things really did depend on NASA/crew mates figuring out how to make it all work.
I don't want to say anything more and possibly ruin the story for you. I will leave you with a few of my favorite Mark Watney sarcastic log entries comments.

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


"With each sandstrom comes the inevitable cleaning of the Solar Cells, a time-honored tradition among hearty Martians such as myself."


"Now I'm in a rougher neighborhood. The kind of neighborhood where you keep your rover doors locked and never come to a complete stop at intersections. Well, not really, but it's bad to get off course here.",



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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 25 November, 2015: Finished reading
  • 25 November, 2015: Reviewed