Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American ReadSix 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 … 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?
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When I read this book I was reminded of Thoreau’s “Walden”. So much time in each book was spent on what seemed like minutia, such as planting, but none of it was boring because it was so well written. In both, you felt like you were write there with the characters.
(If you have never read “Walden” aka “Life in the Woods” I highly recommend you …
I seriously would give this book 6 stars if I could.
Picture MacGyver, stranded alone on Mars… except he’s snarky in a self-deprecating kind of way. He also uses the F-word all over the place, which ordinarily would put me off… but the way he uses language is so hilarious that in this case it doesn’t bother me. (And the fact that he manages to be …
Wow can’t believe the problems he had to overcome. Almost too many.
The movie was better, for once, in not having too much to overcome.
but his resourcefulness and problem solving was fascinating. The NASA folks were well defined and very true to life.
Fantastic plot from several points of view! Couldn’t put it down!
Popular ‘hard” science fiction. Great idea hampered by poor writing
Fantastic. I loved the book which truly missed it as a movie. You have to be inside his head all the way to realize what a great adventure it is! I’ve read it three times. The science, the imagination and the real technology are impressive and easy enough for a non-NASA person to understand. I laughed out loud many many times during my reads. Just …
Best sci fi story have read in many years the science is real the story an characters are great.
Great story. The movie was very good but the book is better as there is more detail involving the struggle to survive.
OMG…loved this book. Great story, great characters. Very funny. Loved all the science in this book. Just loved the journey.
I saw the movie before I read the book.
I loved the movie but this time the book was better than the movie.
This book made me laugh out loud. It also caused me to ponder the situation the main character experiences. Very realistic; not science fiction, but “near-future” fiction. Great book.
Imagine trying to survive on Mars alone? Learned lots of science and actually understood most of it. Very clever story with a great main character.
Better than the movie!
Great read!
Andy Weir has a great voice and it really shines in his first person narrative from Mark Watney. I actually have to recommend the audiobook. I thought it did a great job of bringing the characters to life.
I bought this Before the movie. Recommended to several friends and then the the movie. They think I am ahead of the crowd! It is a great story
This was an excellent book which i really enjoyed.
I love anything to do with space and especially with Mars because I cannot wait for us to finally take the step. I usually read the book before seeing any movie made from it but this time I did the opposite and saw the movie. I really liked the movie and actually considered not reading the book because it worked for me. I decided to read and …
What I loved about this book was that when everything was done right, something went wrong because of something not considered. It’s also a story of perseverance when everything seems impossible.
Loved this book, definitely worth reading and entertaining.