Martian, The (FTI) Paperback – 9 September 2015

There are a few rare books that you come across in your life that make you go – oh my gosh, this book is f*****g amazing!! The Martian by Andy Weir is exactly that kinda book.The premise is pretty simple actually. In the not-so-distant future, NASA has a crew of six astronauts on a manned mission to MARS (called Ares 3, so this is not the first). They land and everything’s dandy for 6 sols (Martians days) but right upon which a sandstorm hits. Our protagonist, Mark Watney, gets hits over by the wind and the other crew mates, presuming him dead perform an emergency exit off the planet. Only, he’s not really dead. He wakes up covered in sand to a dead planet. No humans around, no contact with NASA, and no way to get off the planet. Will he survive? And if yes, how?? But more importantly, what does this realization do to the humanity back on Earth?The book reads like a hard science-fiction and that’s not entirely a bad thing. If anything, it only lends more credibility to the narrative and all the wild science-y solutions that Mark Watney pulls out of his hat. But picture this, you’re the only living thing on an entire planet that is thousands of kilometers from Earth. No one knows you’re alive, and even if they do they’re pretty much helpless. What would one do? I thought hard about this, picturing myself in Mark’s situation. Of course he’s a trained astronaut and a botanist and I’m a…well, the point here is that where most people would have succumbed to the hopelessness of the entire thing, he fights and fights and fights some more!! And how!One moment you’re screaming your hearts out ‘NOOOOO! HE’S A DEAD MAN!’ and then Mark comes right up and says he’s gonna be alright. And you heave a big sigh of relief muttering to yourself cheerfully, ‘The bloody bastard’s gonna be fine!‘ That’s pretty much how most of the read went for me.And I have mention here that the author Andy Weir is brilliant! The kind of picture he paints of Mars, down till the smallest detail and the explanation to the various experiments conducted our protagonist – the science is all mostly accurate! And it amazes me for the kind of research and effort he had put into in crafting the entire book. I heard him say that he had to actually write a computer program himself to figure out how many days it would take for a spacecraft to travel from Earth to Mars. Yes, everything’s that calculated. So when Mark throws numbers and formulas at your face, it’s crazy to think that it’s all real. And that’s one more thing about this book, how utterly possible everything feels. This is not fantasy. The events and catastrophes featured in this book can actually happen in real life. That’s one more tangent my mind goes off to often, how would we react if something like this were to happen in reality? Wouldn’t the social media go absolutely crazy!? Wouldn’t there be numerous religious groups praying for his safety!And to say nothing of our protagonist himself. The large reason the book works despite the hard science is Mark’s sense of humor. I would put it somewhere close to Chandler Bing in that aspect. But he is not a brooder, he is a doer! And he cracks some amazing jokes throughout his journey. By the end of the book, you’ll really come to love this fellow.The other supporting cast are all well-etched out too. As an Indian, it was nice to see the character Venkat Kapoor as a high ranking NASA official (The name’s odd though. Kapoor is a North Indian surname while Venkat is definitely a Southie thing). I also loved the entire crew of Hermes. Especially Commander Lewis with her disco addiction.Andy Weir has struck gold with his first feature novel, and deservedly so. Books like this, they’re every bookworm’s kryptonite.

Andy Weir’s easy language and understanding have made the read very easy and clear which helps beginners. Reading feels very realistic and scientific. It is also very grippy. I completed reading it in 5 days. You won’t take a break while reading it. The story is also great. I prefer that you should read this novel before watching the film as the novel is quite more detailed than the film and some problems faced by Mark Watney are beautifully expressed in the novel by Andy than in the film. The only issue I felt while reading was that the novel sometimes feels way more scientific than it should be and feels like reading a science book rather than a novel. But you can ignore it as the theme & story are very well explained. Students will also enjoy this novel too.

👨‍🚀♂️🍠 The Martian 🍠♂️👨‍🚀"I guess you could call it a 'failure', but I prefer the term 'learning experience'."Mark Watney is thought to be dead by all his crewmates after a sudden sandstorm hits them but luck stands with Watney and he survives. The book is all about how he survived on a planet which is considered inhabitable or too difficult to survive upon.First of all I watched the movie adaptation of this book a long while back and totally loved it, I didn't have any knowledge that The Martian was actually based on a book with the same name. So I bought this book as soon as my eyes landed on it which is basically while browsing Amazon which I am doing quite often.So coming on to this book, this book's amazing, from the start to the end it kept me hooked up on it. The protagonist Mark Watney is a very interesting character with a spine so strong that he doesn't lose his will even when he is stranded on an unknown new planet. He kept on finding ways to survive, even when everyone on earth thought he was dead, he was busy growing potatoes, f'ing brilliant. I loved his character development, the fact that at several places throughout the book people on Earth thought this was his end but he still was not losing hope is the best part of this book. His crew is the other best part about this book, his humour caught me by surprise and left me always with a smile.So for anyone out there who wants to learn more about space exploration and loves sci-fi, this book is for you.QOTD - Do you like books with their movie adaptation's cover or not?