Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir

Genre: Adult Sci-fi
Publication: February 2014 by Crown
Acquisition: Bought

Synopsis:

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?

(from Goodreads)

5 / 5 Stars

One word -- REALISM

Pretend you are an alien visiting Earth and someone hands you a 'historical document' regarding humans and their exploits on Mars and it's The Martian and you read it and you TOTALLY BELIEVE THAT HUMANS HAVE VISITED MARS.

Or if pretending you are an alien is too hard...pretend you are a human...that was...um...stuck in a fall out shelter (like Brendan Fraser in that movie no one ever remembers the name of) and -- 'historical document' and The Martian and reading and YOU TOTALLY BELIEVE THAT HUMANS HAVE VISITED MARS.

OR pretend that you are me and you find The Martian in a bookstore and it says it's a movie and you're like, I don't remember this movie I wonder if it came out a while ago and you read it and you're 100% sure that is IS a movie that came out in the PAST because it's a book from the FUTURE and you KNOW that HUMANS HAVE TOTALLY VISITED THE HELL OUT OF MARS.

Realism. In Science Fiction form.

It's also hilarious.

Read this book.