Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

Genre(s): Science fiction

Ok, yes, I will admit I’m really behind on reading this book. It’s been on my shelf for years and I am finally getting around to reading it. I have not watched the movie, so I can’t make any comparisons with it here. This is purely a review of the book.

Astronaut Mark Watney was part of a crewed mission to Mars, but on day 6, a massive sandstorm strikes the area and NASA orders the team to abort. While making their way to the ascent vehicle, Mark is struck by debris from the nearby communications array and knocked unconscious. Thinking him dead, the remainder of the team leaves to begin their return journey to Earth.

Mark awakens hours later to find himself alone on Mars, without a means to contact NASA or his team. He has enough resources around their base camp to sustain himself for a while, but not long enough for the next scheduled mission in 4 years. With a background in botany and mechanical engineering, he begins to formulate a plan for survival.

I really enjoyed this book! While it is science fiction, it isn’t very heavy on the science (or math) part, but there was enough to make it believable. There were a couple of times when bacteria were mentioned – and the main character’s surprise at one point that they were “still alive” made me laugh. I’ll spare you the microbiology, but the science there was correct – some species of soil bacteria definitely can survive those extreme conditions.

Portions of the book are written as journal/log entries from Mark’s perspective, and those were my favorite passages. In spite of his desperate circumstances, he never gives up hope and maintains a strong sense of humor. It was very well done. Other portions of the book are written in third person from various perspectives (either NASA personnel or the remainder of Mark’s crew). The NASA passages tended to be a bit dry, but it had the feel of mission control from the Apollo 13 movie and was a good balance to the journal entries.

This was a very entertaining read.

Author website: andyweirauthor.com

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