"The Martian" by Andy Weir
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2014 7:28 pm
I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm enjoying this book. I'm only a third of the way through it and I have to force myself to put it down.
If you think like an engineer and like hard science, you'll love this book.
The premise is that fictional astronaut Mark Watney is left behind on Mars after a 50 day mission is aborted after 6 days due to a violent sand storm. His crew mates presume he was killed during the evacuation. Miraculously he survived, but now he's stranded on Mars with 50 days of supplies for 6 people. However that's nowhere near enough food to keep him alive the 4 years until the next scheduled Mars mission which (another complication), will land 3000 km from his present location. He also has no communication with Earth and is presumed dead. The comm system was destroyed by the sand storm.
This is placed in the near-future so there's no magical futurist tech involved - all the tech is pretty much what we have today. The author did a huge amount of research to make the science as accurate as possible. In the first few chapters you get a detailed idea of what tools and supplies he has to work with, and from that he has to jury rig, finagle, and kludge together what he needs to survive (grow food, manufacture water, etc).
There's no miracle tech surprises and half the fun of the book is trying to figure out how he's going to solve a problem before he tells you how he did it. And there's a never ending procession of seemingly insurmountable survival problems to solve.
The book is mostly told through his log recordings, and this works really great. He's quite a character and has a wonderfully sarcastic sense of humor, so you end up laughing a lot from some of the stupid situations and hilarious comments he makes.
I am listening TO the Audible version and the reader is excellent. He has the perfect voice for the book.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Martian-Novel ... he+martian
Some background here on wikipedia (although there are minor spoilers in the Plot section, so don't read that), but it explains how he researched the book and took great pains to be scientifically accurate. Amazing as this is his first work of science fiction and was originally a self-published novel. Looks like there is a movie in the works to be directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martia ... dy_Weir%29
If you think like an engineer and like hard science, you'll love this book.
The premise is that fictional astronaut Mark Watney is left behind on Mars after a 50 day mission is aborted after 6 days due to a violent sand storm. His crew mates presume he was killed during the evacuation. Miraculously he survived, but now he's stranded on Mars with 50 days of supplies for 6 people. However that's nowhere near enough food to keep him alive the 4 years until the next scheduled Mars mission which (another complication), will land 3000 km from his present location. He also has no communication with Earth and is presumed dead. The comm system was destroyed by the sand storm.
This is placed in the near-future so there's no magical futurist tech involved - all the tech is pretty much what we have today. The author did a huge amount of research to make the science as accurate as possible. In the first few chapters you get a detailed idea of what tools and supplies he has to work with, and from that he has to jury rig, finagle, and kludge together what he needs to survive (grow food, manufacture water, etc).
There's no miracle tech surprises and half the fun of the book is trying to figure out how he's going to solve a problem before he tells you how he did it. And there's a never ending procession of seemingly insurmountable survival problems to solve.
The book is mostly told through his log recordings, and this works really great. He's quite a character and has a wonderfully sarcastic sense of humor, so you end up laughing a lot from some of the stupid situations and hilarious comments he makes.
I am listening TO the Audible version and the reader is excellent. He has the perfect voice for the book.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Martian-Novel ... he+martian
Some background here on wikipedia (although there are minor spoilers in the Plot section, so don't read that), but it explains how he researched the book and took great pains to be scientifically accurate. Amazing as this is his first work of science fiction and was originally a self-published novel. Looks like there is a movie in the works to be directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martia ... dy_Weir%29