The Martian: A Novel Hardcover – February 11, 2014

Log Entry: _The Martian_ Day 1I've never been much of a novel reader; I've always been the "Why read the book when you can watch the movie" type. I totally understand and acknowledge that it's a smart-ass attitude, and also recognize that it reflects a certain amount laziness and ignorance. Nevertheless, I'd say before I opened an account on Audible.com it had been at least 5 years since I last read a novel. I opened the account just over 3 months ago as a trial, because I spend 30-45 minutes each way driving to work, and frankly I had grown weary of all the NFL draft discussion, speculation, and subsequent analysis on sports-talk radio here in Jacksonville. Don't get me wrong. I think Blake Bortles is awesome and I can't wait to see him play for the Jags, but there are only so many ways you can analyze his throwing motion and potential before he ever plays an NFL game. Since I opened the account I've read [listened to] 4 books: one sci-fi thriller, one self-help, one classic and one educational. I really enjoyed the sci-fi so I checked the recommendations based on that book and found _The Martian_ by Andy Weir. I read some reviews, then read the first couple pages with the Amazon "Look Inside" feature, and I was immediately hooked. I also found that it was substantially less expensive to purchase the Kindle version first on Amazon, then purchase the Audible version in order to enable a feature called Whispersync. So I made the purchases and added _The Martian_ to both the Kindle and Audible libraries. I have no intentions of actually physically reading the book, but hey, money is money.I wanted to jump into the book immediately, but there was one obstacle. There is a podcast I listen to called "This Week in Photo." I moonlight as a photographer and I love the show. It drops every Friday afternoon-ish and, based on the last handful of episodes, averages roughly 75 minutes, so I normally try to listen to it on the ride home from work on Friday and finish it on my Monday drive to and from work. Since I've been listening to books, I've completely ignored TWiP, so now I have a 12 episode backlog. That's roughly 900 minutes, or 15 hours of TWiP. I haven't missed an episode in at least 5 years, and I have no intentions of missing any of these. Frederick Van Johnson is the host of TWiP, and ironically it was his sponsor pieces for Audible that encouraged and convinced me to open the account. So Frederick, THANK you for helping me to discover Audible! And **** you for causing this massive backlog. :)I'm making myself a rule that I cannot listen to any more books until I get caught up on TWiP. If I estimate that each leg of my drive to work is 37 minutes, it would take roughly 24.3 legs to work through the backlog of TWiPs. I'll factor in an estimate of 5 legs of silence (call me crazy, but occasionally I enjoy driving to work in silence), 8 legs to get my sports-talk radio fix, and I'll generously add 8 "random" legs for phone calls, music etc, and I'm at just over 45 legs. Considering that that's 4.5 work weeks I'll need to allot time for 5 more TWiPs which will be an additional 10.1 legs. So all total I should be caught up in roughly 56 legs, or 28 workdays, or 5.6 weeks. It's a long time, but when I'm driving to and from work, time is something I have plenty of. Time to get busy listening to TWiP.Log Entry: _The Martian_ Day 33I finished all the TWiPs and I'm glad I did it. A few days ahead of schedule too. It helped that I had a few evening and weekend photography gigs that were a relatively long distance from my house, so I had plenty of extra time to listen. From now on Friday and Monday are designated TWiP days. Today I began _The Martian_. 10 hours and 53 minutes. I used the Audible app to download it to my iPhone and listened to it the entire way to and from work. 9 hours, 36 minutes remaining.Log Entry: _The Martian_ Day 34One quick note. You may notice that my name is Jennifer, but that is incorrect. I opened our Audible account under my wife's Amazon account, which she had before we were married. You aren't truly committed to your spouse until you share an Amazon account. My wife is not nearly the geek I am, so I wanted to clear up any confusion before I went further. My name is James. Nice to meet you.I came up with a solid plan today. I *really* enjoyed listening to _The Martian_ yesterday and I have no reason to believe I'm not going to absolutely love the rest of the book. On September 19 I'm leaving for Tuscaloosa to photograph the Florida/Alabama game. It's an 8 hour drive each way and I'll be driving alone. This book would be perfect to pass the time. After some serious consideration, I've decided I'm going to suspend all listening of _The Martian_ until Sept. 19. I listened to sports-talk radio today while I devised a plan for my next listen.Log entry: _The Martian_ Day 35I was real gung ho yesterday about The Tuscaloosa Plan. It's a stupid idea, and I'm not doing it. I listened to the book for the entire drive to and from work, then sat in the driveway for an additional 4 minutes waiting for a good stopping point. I'm finding myself looking forward to getting back into the truck to listen to the book. This is a really good read [listen]. If you have any recommendations for the Tuscaloosa trip, I'm all ears. 8 hours, 17 minutes remaining.Log entry: _The Martian_ Day 36I listened to sports-talk radio in the morning today, and _The Martian_ on the drive home. During the drive home I had to endure one of the mini-monsoon wind storms that have become a way of life on summer afternoons here in Florida. I drove past 3 crashes on I-95 and traffic was pretty slow. It took me 1 hour and 13 minutes to get home. Didn't even notice. Then I sat in the driveway for a few minutes to get to a stopping point. 7 hours, 1 minute remaining.Log Entry: _The Martian_ Day 37When I first opened our Audible account, I made a personal rule that I could only listen to books when I'm in the car or when I'm exercising. Even with the childish attitude toward books that I explained above, I still cannot bring myself to actually *LAY AROUND THE HOUSE* while somebody else reads me a book. Granted, I've done exactly zero exercise so far, but hey this is a book review, not a confessional of my exercise habits. This rule, combined with the lack of exercise, does however severely limit the amount of book consumption I do on the weekends. Today is Friday. I listened to _The Martian_ in the morning, and TWiP on the ride home. 6 hours, 25 minutes remaining.Log Entry: _The Martian_ Day 37 (2)Friday nights aren't what they used to be. Back in my younger days before marriage and kids, I would spend the evening at some loud disco tech, probably have way too much fun, and wake up Saturday morning feeling like I was hit by a Martian rover. These days we put the kids to bed by 8ish and I'm in bed by 11 or 12 and ready for an early Saturday morning. After the kids were tucked in I came back downstairs, clicked on the TV and plopped down onto my couch for some good old deceleration time.It's amazing how you can have over 200 channels and still not find a single thing to watch. Three's Company? Nope. Cubs game? Nope. Agatha Christie mystery? Nope. VH1 Behind The Music: Elton John? Maybe... Then I remembered, "Wait a second! Didn't I buy the Kindle version of _The Martian_ too??" My rule has always been that I can't listen to any books when I'm sitting around the house, but I never placed any restrictions on actually reading the books! If I'm willing to actually read a book, then that's a good thing, right?? When I first purchased the book, I never had any intention of physically reading it, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I went and found my wife's iPad (the kids' Kindles were on lockdown, and I don't know the password), opened the Kindle app, downloaded the book which was already sitting in the library, and what do you know? It placed me exactly where I finished listening to the book this afternoon. Isn't technology amazing??Log entry: _The Martian_ Day 40It was a super busy weekend and I didn't have much spare time, but whenever I did have a few spare moments, I tried to read a chapter or so. Jenn asked me twice this weekend if she should take my temperature. I declined both times. In total, I made it from page 152 to page 330 (out of 369). Today is Monday so it was a TWiP day. There's no reason I shouldn't be able to finish _The Martian_ tomorrow. Looking forward to it. 39 pages remaining.Log entry: _The Martian_ Day 41I woke up and went to work early this morning, just so I could get a jump on the book. I opened up the Audible app and started listening immediately. I remembered reading the words that I was listening to, and immediately realized I was out of sync. It seemed close enough though, so I decided it would be a good thing to just re-listen to some of the material as a refresher. Plus I was driving and didn't want to fumble with the phone. As it turns out, I listened to a total of 21 minutes before I got to any new material, and finished the morning drive with 56 minutes remaining. I'm sure the sync issue was something I did in my haste to start listening, but the fact remains; unless I have major traffic on the way home, it looks like I'll be altering my plans and finishing this book tomorrow on the way to work.Log entry: _The Martian_ Day 41 (2)I was left behind by my normal lunch group at work today. It wasn't their fault. I had implied that I was in for lunch but also said I needed to resolve a pressing issue and that it might take some extra time. They misunderstood and went on without me. Just to be clear, it was NOT their fault I was left behind. After a few minutes of scrambling around for another group, I finally came to the realization that I would be dining alone. Then I remembered the book. I had 56 minutes left in the book, and with a projected 37 minute drive home that evening, I would be left with 19 minutes of content, in what could potentially be the most exciting part of the book. So I decided to skip the cafeteria and go solo out to lunch, in order to close that gap and ensure that I will finish the book on the ride home. I chose an Applebee's that Google maps told me was a 9 minute drive from the office, plus I estimated 2 minutes each for exit and reentry into the parking garage. If I listened to the book from the office to Applebee's and back, I projected that I would have 34 minutes remaining in the book, a perfect amount to finish on the ride home. All went as planned and when I returned to the office I had 33 minutes remaining in the book. I finished out my work day, got back in the truck and immediately settled in for the finale of _The Martian_. There was some traffic but not much, and I completed the book with 7 minutes remaining on my drive home; just enough time to decompress and wrap my head around the whole of what I had just read and listened to._The Martian_ was without a doubt the most satisfying book I've ever read. I looked forward to every opportunity I had to listen to or read the book, and there wasn't a single point that I felt I had to trudge through or glaze over. I laughed and I cried.I hear a movie will be coming out in late 2015, starring Matt Damon and Directed by Ridley Scott. I can't wait see it, so I can be the guy that proudly boasts about how much better the book is.Highly Recommended, and not just for geeks like me.

"It's true, you know. In space, no one can hear you scream like a little girl."I have a bit of a lover's quarrel with this one. The plot (lone crew member gets stranded on Mars), setting (Mars) and scientific integrity (there's a lot of good science here) would seem to be the perfect blend for a target audience that is me. But then there's Mark Watney, or as I like to call him: the teenager in an EVA suit. Crafted of equal parts cocky and corny, The Martian`s main character makes the male cohort on The Big Bang Theory seem downright intoxicating. Each time you're about to settle into the sci-fi goodness unfolding on the blood-red planet, Watney's juvenility and hackeneyed attempts at humor rear up to depressurize the drama and poison the narrative atmosphere. I did not connect with this character, at all.Here's an exchange between Watney and NASA Mission Control in which Watney can't help but lay on the prepubescent charm:[11:49] JPL: What we can see of your planned cut looks good. We're assuming the other side is identical. You're cleared to start drilling.[12:07] Watney: That's what she said......[12:04] JPL: We'll get botanists in to ask detailed questions and double-check your work. Your life is at stake, so we want to be sure. Also, please watch your language. Everything you type is being broadcast live all over the world.[12:15] Watney: Look! A pair of boobs! -> (.Y.)...What am I reading? Is this sci-fi or middle school? I'm all for bucking stereotypes--like the urbane, straight-laced NASA astronaut Weir apparently had in mind--but Watney is a stride too far in the opposite direction. On occasion the dullish teen-speak gives way to genuine wit, but such instances are too few and far between that the bad taste in my mouth never left. That said, I do expect reader mileage to vary on this score.I could probably look the other way if the supporting cast were infused with greater dimensionality, but it's hardly the case. The crew deliver dialogue every bit as stilted and cliched, their interactions adding nothing of substance to the narrative. Here's one crew member chatting with his wife back home:Martinez: "So, you're pissed."Marissa: "I have to wait another 533 days to get laid!"Martinez: "So do I," he said defensively.A World AwayBut not even Watney's itchy tongue and forgettable dialogue are enough to dash an epic quest on a foreign world. This is Mars after all, our second closest neighbor and perennial sci-fi favorite. In this outing a crew of six travel to Mars for NASA's third manned mission, known as Ares 3. While out on expedition, a nasty storm sweeps up and amid the chaos one crew member is struck by a wayward antenna carried by the high-powered surface winds. With his comms no longer transmitting, the crew is unable to locate the downed engineer. Fearing the destruction of their return vehicle, the crew abandon the search and conclude that Mars has claimed its first human casualty.Except Ares 3 leaves behind more than an unforgivable environment. They leave one of their own, bruised and battered, but not exactly dead. It's now Watney vs. the Red Planet, a match less lopsided than one might think. Mars' razor thin atmosphere, brutal cold, active weather and craggy terrain all serve as redoubtable antagonists Watney must overcome to secure a return trip home. Imagine being all alone on a planet climatically hostile to your kind of life with dwindling resources, no return vessel and no contact with the only people who can bring you one. Even the best odds of survival would be Planck length-low.Fortunately, our deserted soul is no slouch. What Watney lacks in charisma he more than makes up for in sheer intelligence and technical brilliance. Mars' first "colonizer" wears the hats of botanist and mechanical engineer, and is a person for whom "asleep at the wheel" would be a most inapt descriptor. If MacGyver, Rube Goldberg and Robinson Crusoe were to have some kind of hybrid child, Watney would be it. The man's a dynamo, as pragmatically minded, resourceful and resilient as they come. It's probably why he was chosen for a NASA mission.He's also utterly determined to make it back to Earth. As Watney awakes groggy-eyed and the true extent of his plight comes into focus, his indomitable survivalism takes over and doesn't let up. He quickly realizes it will require every ounce of his scientific acumen to hold out until the next scheduled NASA mission, at which time an aghast Ares 4 crew would set eyes on one weary astronaut. His botany training is used to create a renewable source of food from little more than potato seeds and "homegrown" fertilizer. He employs some fancy chemistry in order to maintain a breathable atmosphere and reliable (though radiatively unstable) heat source. And every whit of Watney's engineering know-how is spent on preparing the rover for a transplanetary jaunt over Mars' surly, rough-and-tumble terrain.Watney's time on Mars is relayed through daily first-person logs that record his progress in addition to a few clunky transitions to third-person omniscient. Provided you don't mind being submerged in technical detail, these logs may just win you over as they did me. This is science at its most raw and ad hoc. The meticulous cataloging succeeds in connecting you to the action as Watney slaps together one near-suicidal scheme after another.Just as we might expect of someone marooned 140 million miles (annual average) from all of civilization, our hero is never allowed too much comfort. Part of the allure is seeing what hellish scenario presents itself next and how Watney's ingenuity and moxie will combine to solve it away. Better yet, all of the science here is kosher, otherwise known as "hard" sci-fi. Watney won't run into any boogeymen or Martian monsters in this one, but the trials he does chance upon are every bit as deadly. With each setback and triumph, no specifics are spared the reader, as complex concepts are unspooled with ease and clarity.Andy Weir, something of a prodigy himself, started out as a computer programmer at age 15. For him, science can be both a hobby and a narrative device. But Weir's goal was not just to use sciencey tropes to drive the story forward, but to make Watney's exploits as scientifically plausible as possible. He released some early chapters online as a free serial novel, which quickly garnered interest from fans and scientists alike. Weir incorporated their technical feedback for the final print edition, making The Martian a kind of collective effort by science enthusiasts.What results is a unique blend of survivalist sci-fi and problem-solving escapades told through excruciatingly detailed science. Could one human really survive on Mars with standard NASA equipage? The answer is surely yes, if Watney has anything to say about it. All of his interdisciplinary expertise is on display for the reader to either absorb, deconstruct and debunk, or skim over until the next existential disaster strikes.Technical readers will fall head over heels working through the minutia, while the less initiated may find their eyes glazing over, but both audiences will come away having learned something new. The thoroughness of it all is really what pulled me in and lent the story its strong scent of credibility. There's no deus ex machina here. If Watney didn't die in the previous chapter, it's because he used science to decatastrophize the latest curveball Mars threw his way. It's satisfying in a way that "softer" sci-fi tropes aren't.Don't Leave Home Without ThemBefore wrapping up the review, I thought I'd briefly walk through a few pieces of equipment that recur throughout the story. These are absolutely vital to Watney's survival, and given how often they're mentioned it might be helpful to have a quick reference here for those looking to embark on Weir's planetary safari. The "Big Three" are:- Oxygenator. A machine that strips apart the carbon atoms from the CO2 that Watney exhales and retains the oxygen atoms. Relies on the atmospheric regulator for the CO2; worthless without it.- Atmospheric regulator. A machine that monitors the molecular gas concentrations in the air, removing and resupplying CO2 and O2 as necessary. Too much oxygen (oxygen toxicity) is just as dangerous as too much carbon dioxide (hypercapnia).- Water reclaimer. A machine that salvages and purifies water from virtually anything that gives off moisture, including humidity from the air when Watney exhales or sweats in the pressurized environments, waste waters from the Hab's fuel cells, and even Watney's urine. If this sounds disgusting, it's worth noting that the reclaimers NASA employs on their manned missions use three-step purification.Closing ThoughtsIn The Martian, science is front and center, assuming the roles of protagonist and antagonist and is the driving mechanism that allows forward progress for the hero. If chemistry, biology and physics aren’t your speed, you won’t last long on this cerebral joyride. Much of the narrative hovers just on the edge of possible, and Weir’s technical accuracy and attention to detail were more than enough to keep me glued, even if Watney’s unsavory personality and the stilted character interactions frequently left me out in the cold.Were the grade-school script and throwaway dialogue intentional juxtapositions to compensate for the technical nature of much of the rest of the book—a lighthearted, expletive-suffused respite to allow your brain a cooldown period from the stress and heavy lifting? Perhaps, but I think they could have been handled much better, as I found the contrast jarring, often piercing the tension at several inopportune moments. I also simply found the attempts at humor largely nonfunctional, though I acknowledge the subjectivity on this account. Quibbles aside, The Martian is well researched space fiction that manages to capture mankind’s relentless will to survive, an orchestra of science in which limited resources and unlimited creativity battle to the last breath.

FEEL FREE TO ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BOOK!I would like to start this review with a note that is both a positive and a negative. I do not read any book, this is because I am never captivated and cant really empathize with the character and I never feel like I am there. But on to the review."About this version of the product*The book came to me in pristine condition it was truly breath-taking how beautiful the cover is. The book is well sized and honestly this is one of if not the most beautiful and durable books I've bought. There is also a map in the beginning which is awesome since I was cross referencing it so much which made me feel very immersed.*About the book SPOILER FREE PART*The Martian is the most well written, funny, serious, and emotional book I have ever read. This is in part because of the amazing writing. Mark Watney is a charismatic, smart, and resourceful man. In the face of adversity he always manages to crack a witty joke that always made me chuckle or just burst out laughing (No im not psychotic, i don't think). The writing makes you really feel like you know mark which is one reason why you empathize and really feel for him.The Atmosphere is great really selling the barren expanse and devastating loneliness of the Martian lands.*Note: I found that using some noise cancelling headphones and playing some white noise, like the wind, really helped to sell the effect of being on mars*. After only a few pages I had a very clear picture of how it looked at the HAB and I only wish I could take a picture of my thoughts.The story jumps between the perspectives of Mark Watney on mars, Nasa and JPL on earth, and the crew on Hermes the space station the went to and from mars on.*General Consensus*I should have added some photos, including my favourite quotes.This is the best book I've read. I'm so sad its over yet so happy I've experienced it. Andy Weir is my new favourite author and i will be purchasing more of his novels no doubt. Please do yourself a favour and read this book. I cannot recommend it enough. 1000000 / 10*LIGHT SPOILERS, what happens at the beginning*The book is about the main character Mark Watney's journey surviving mars after being abandoned there by his crew. What happened Watney and his crew consisting of, Lewis the commander, Vogel, Beck, Martinez, and Johanssen were six days into a 52 day mission on mars where they would gather science and conduct experiments when suddenly a large storm hit. The storm was so bad they had to evacuate but on their way to the MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) mark is struck by debris and is lost. The crew cannot find him and assuming he is dead abort without him. Mark wakes up and makes it back to the HAB, where he will live for the next (wont spoil how long) number of sols. He has a lot of problems along the way but manages to fix them in amazingly creative ways, I mean I cannot stress enough how glued my eyes were to the pages intrigued and worried about what would happen next.I wont spoil any more of the end because it would ruin how heart-breaking and heart-making (if that's a saying) a lot of the moments were.

Absorbing adventure about an astronaut stranded on Mars and facing certain death, full of fascinating detail about how he stays alive in the deadly, inhospitable Martian environment. Lots of plusses and can see how it's been a big hit, with of course the recent movie version (which follows the book fairly faithfully) also successful.However I had some niggles, and overall I thought the book could have been even better. Sometimes the obsessive details about how our hero cheated death yet again, including the exact number of holes he drills or lengths of materials he has to cut off, got a bit much and made me wish the story moved a bit quicker. Character-wise, I didn't think he developed enough (or at all?) while on Mars; and many of the Earth-based, NASA characters were fairly thinly sketched and I kept getting losing track as to who was who. More seriously, with the book written mainly in first-person blog style, I got little of the sense of awe and wonder of being on another planet.

Even though I've seen the film, I found the book gripping and hard to put down. It was a little difficult to read because of all the "hard science" and maths, but still kept my attention. Very enjoyable.

Saw the movie, read the book enjoyed both.

I just can say, I read it twice