The Martian Paperback – October 28, 2014

This is a truly marvelous and wonderfully entertaining book. It is also “gripping” in a good way. As some other readers noted, I stayed up way too late some nights because I simply had to find out what was happening as Mark Watney, the Mars-stranded astronaut, struggles not only for survival but hopefully for ultimate rescue. It is not Science Fiction. It is Science. Fiction. Subtle difference. The author, in addition to possessing tremendous knowledge about interstellar details, also put a lot of time into research and his own computer simulations to ensure the details of the story are as accurate as possible.What makes the story work is the situation, an astronaut stranded on an essentially uninhabitable planet far from Earth, and the lead character Mark Watney. He's a veritable “MacGyver” in terms of his ingenuity in figuring out not only how to survive, but also to overcome the inevitable series of mishaps and anomalies that occur throughout his time on Mars. The book starts out with a 'grab you' opening: "I'm stranded on Mars. I have no way to communicate with Hermes or Earth. Everyone thinks I'm dead. I'm in a Hab designed to last 31 days. If the Oxygenator breaks down, I'll suffocate. If the Water Reclaimer breaks down, I'll die of thirst. If the Hab breaches, I'll just kind of explode. If none of those things happen, I'll eventually run out of food and starve to death. So yeah. I'm f----d." The next several opening pages dwell a lot on the scientific aspects of space travel and the Martian environment to the point that I was thinking “geek book.” But the story soon transitions into the rhythm that makes it such a wonderful read. Much of Mark's narrative in the book consists of his Daily Log entries – a writing perspective well-suited to the book, since he has literally no one with which to communicate. What comes through is his strong positive attitude spiked with a wicked sense of humor. You will really come to not only admire Mark, but genuinely like him as well – which means you will be “pulling for him” throughout the book - “C'mon Mark!”Every “up” in the book (e.g. he is finally able to establish communication with Earth) is soon accompanied with a corresponding “down” (e.g. his Martian dwelling – the “Hab” - explodes), etc. Most of us would just give up; I mean it's another four years before there's another Mars mission planned, and he has neither the food, water, or other means to last that long or travel to the planned landing site. But not Mark – he takes each problem in stride, puts his logical (and ingenious) mind into action, and, well, somehow survives another day – and longer, and even does it with a sense of humor. The dialogue beyond Mark's Daily Log is excellent, the plot sublime, and the story would make a wonderful movie. But wait, it IS going to be a movie, starring Matt Damon (great choice!) coming out in November 2015. Can't wait to see it. Read this book!!!

Less than a week after the third manned mission to Mars lands on the planet's surface, a sudden dust storm forces the crew to make an emergency evacuation. When botanist/mechanical engineer Mark Watney is struck violently by flying debris and his suit torn open as he falls back into the storm, his team knows he can't have survived the instant decompression. As their ascent vehicle rises to join the ship in orbit to start the voyage home to Earth, the members of the crew, racked with guilt, mourn a friend and colleague - the first human being to die on Mars. But back down in the dust, Watney opens his eyes. The position of his body and the rapidly drying blood from his wound sealed the breach in the suit just enough for the life-support systems to be able to function. He's still alive, and able to carry himself to the relative safety of the domed habitat that had been the astronauts' home on what was to have been a mission of about a month - but for how much longer? He has no way to communicate with Earth or the ship, and the next mission to Mars won't be for several years. Dare he even hope he can find a way to survive so long, so alone, in such a hostile environment? Fortunately, Watney's years of training and background in sciences and engineering are matched by his ingenuity and sheer determination to survive. And although he doesn't know it, NASA has stumbled across evidence of his survival. Between their efforts and his own, he just *might* have a chance.Andy Weir's "The Martian" is diamond-hard science fiction that reads like tomorrow's headlines. The novel takes place in the very near future (Weir never specifies a date, but it's obviously within the next couple of decades, since scientists who worked on Pathfinder in the mid-1990s are still around), and the author's research is so extensive, his attention to detail so painstaking, that it's almost impossible to imagine that, if and when we do go to Mars, it won't be almost exactly the way Weir describes it. It's not hard to tell that science itself is Weir's first love - in the "log entries" that comprise most of the book, Watney narrates his struggle for survival with an impressive degree of technical detail. Although the narrative voice is, with very few lapses, that of an astronaut pondering things over for his own benefit rather than that of a lecturer educating the less well-informed, Weir's lucid style serves up this hard science with a surprisingly easy touch. Readers who share the author's nerdy proclivities will be hanging on his every word, but any reader who ever took a basic high school science class should be able to get the gist of what's going on even in the most jargon-heavy passages.Nor does Weir ever forget that this is a novel, not a scientific treatise. Watney's wickedly irreverent sense of humor not only helps him maintain morale, it adds a touch of levity to the technical descriptions and keeps the reader emotionally engaged. The occasional paragraph or two that might make for dry reading in isolation can prove breathlessly suspenseful in the context of the life-or-death struggle of a character we care about. Watney's use of humor to cope with stress stems largely from Weir's desire to keep the novel focused on his struggle for survival rather than his depression and loneliness, but what seems a sometimes relentless optimism just makes Watney's occasional melancholy or meditative lapses all the more poignant. Scenes that take place among NASA scientists working back on Earth to find a way to bring Watney home, or among the members of Watney's mission team on their homebound voyage, allow for an occasional change of pace and tone as Weir ventures into the intra-agency conflicts and geopolitical compromises of the space program. This is ultimately a plot-driven novel, with little in the way of dynamic character development, but Weir hasn't cut corners creating a cast of characters worth reading about: though not particularly complex, they are fetchingly sketched individuals, flawed and often funny and very, very likable.I'm a voracious reader of both fiction and nonfiction across a variety of genres. I love to learn, and I love a good story. The best narrative nonfiction (Hillenbrand, Krakauer, Philbrick) satisfies on both counts, as does the rare historical novel (Margaret George, Irving Stone), but I don't believe I've ever read a work of speculative fiction that managed to hit that sweet spot - until now. (Michael Crichton comes close. If you don't believe it's possible to get shivery suspenseful thrills from a lecture on aerodynamics, you obviously haven't read "Airframe.") "The Martian" is, quite simply, one of the rare popular novels to deserve all the praise it's been getting. We just may have Andy Weir to thank for inspiring the next generation of scientists, engineers, and astronauts - as well as a general populace more than happy to keep its feet safely on terra firma, but newly awakened to the thrilling possibilities of space exploration.