The Martian: Book Review

The Martian is a novel by American author Andy Weir.  The sci-fi novel follows an American astronaut, Mark Watney, as he becomes stranded on Mars and must use his knowledge and ingenuity in order to survive.

The Martian starts with a routine mission on Mars that is hindered by a quickly approaching dust storm. When the crew starts to head back to the ship for a mission abort, Watney is thrown away from the crew by a wind gust. The crew, thinking that Watney had been killed, stranded him there by himself. When Watney regained his composure he was able to make his way to a nearby shelter that had been left by a previous Mars mission. When he realized that all communications systems on Mars had been disabled by the massive dust storm he found out how bad of a situation he was actually in. From that point on Watney is faced by many challenges brought on by the conditions of Mars such as a lack of oxygen, food, and water.

While reading The Martian I found that Mark Watney was a funny and charismatic protagonist, and he makes the isolation of Mars more bearable with his positive attitude. For a comparison, The Martian has been called “Cast Away mixed with Apollo 13.” I give The Martian a score of 4.5/5 because of its refreshing take of the dangers of space exploration. It was interesting to see the challenges that Watney faced while on the red planet that would not exist here on Earth. The book also had an in depth description of how NASA operates behind the curtains, which gave the book a deeper political undertone. If you are more into sci-fi movies than sci-fi books, then you are in luck. The Martian (film) directed by Ridley Scott is going to be released November 25, 2015. The film will be starring Matt Damon as Mark Watney.