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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?… (more)
sboyte: One is fiction and one is nonfiction, but the subject matter is similar and I think both will appeal to anyone who enjoys science with a dash of humor.
rakerman: In The Mysterious Island, a small group lands on an island with no technology other than a watch and proceed to rebuild Victorian industrial civilization. The scientific details of creating each new device and system are carefully described. In The Martian, similar care is taken to describe the modified systems and devices needed to sustain the astronaut on Mars.… (more)
g33kgrrl: Disaster hits and you have to engineer the impossible in a low-resource setting. In Kowal's book, it's getting a habitable off-world environment using 1950s tech before earth becomes unlivable. Highly recommended.
dClauzel: Deux histoires autour du voyage vers Mars : comment y aller, et aussi comment en repartir. Problématiques scientifiques, difficultés d’ingénierie, et troubles politiques.
CGlanovsky: Both are extensively researched, mathematically-grounded descriptions of kluged solutions to "real-world" problems by web comic authors with backgrounds in STEM careers.
Anonymous user: Lighthearted SF about someone who is uniquely capable of tackling a serious problem because of their STEM background and engineering mindset.
electronicmemory: Andy Weir and James S. A. Corey met at a book signing and agreed that The Expanse series and The Martian set in the same time-line. So, if you're a fan of The Martian and want to find out what happened after Mars was colonized, read Leviathan Wakes. If you're a fan of The Expanse series, and want to read about the very first Martian colonist, read The Martian.
For proof, check a 3 Oct 2015 tweet by @JamesSACorey for confirmation. One of The Expanse books also references a Martian ship named the 'Mark Watney'.… (more)
Sure, you hardly ever read SciFi and yes, it's full of tecno-babble, but The Martian s really about the human experience and ingenuity and overcoming all. It's a fascinating and believable tale of a stranded astronaut left behind on Mars. To survive he has to hack, jury-rig, and Macgyver his way through spoil after spoil. It kept me up at night reading. ( )
4/5 -- “He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.”
LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.” ( )
A fantastic novel. The premise is simple and there aren't a ton of characters, but the characters are excellent and the writing is great. There are laugh out loud parts of this book. ( )
The Martian is technically a “hard science fiction” book – a subgenre of science fiction so firmly rooted in science that the story wouldn’t work without it. And certainly, Weir’s first work is science-heavy; he even mentioned in an interview that the book was an exercise in whether he could make a fictional narrative out of the scientific premise of the novel. The answer, obviously, is “yes,” and The Martian is an intriguing exercise in the way that science itself can create plot.
For Mom who calls me "Pickle," and Dad, who calls me "Dude."
First words
I'm pretty much fucked.
Quotations
Also, I have duct tape. Ordinary duct tape, like you buy at a hardware store. Turns out even NASA can't improve on duct tape.
I need to ask myself, "What would an Apollo astronaut do?" He'd drink three whiskey sours, drive his Corvette to the launchpad, then fly to the moon in a command module smaller than my Rover. Man, those guys were cool.
Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshipped.
As with most of life's problems, this one can be solved by a box of pure radiation.
It's true, you know. In space, no one can hear you scream like a little girl.
Teddy swiveled his chair and looked out the windows to the sky beyond. Night was edging in. "What must it be like?" he pondered. "He's stuck out there. He thinks he's totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man's psychology?"
He turned back to Venkat. "I wonder what he's thinking right now."
LOG ENTRY: SOL 61
How come Aquaman can control whales? They're mammals! Makes no sense.
Venkat pinched the bridge of his nose. "How could we overlook this?"
Chuck shrugged. "Never occurred to us. We never thought someone would be on Mars without an MAV."
"I mean, come on!" Morris said. "What are the odds?"
Chuck turned to him. "One in three, based on empirical data. That's pretty bad if you think about it."
After setting up the solar panels today, I went for a little walk. I never left sight of the rover; the last thing I want to do is get lost on foot. But I couldn’t stomach crawling back into that cramped, smelly rat’s nest. Not right away. It’s a strange feeling. Everywhere I go. I’m the first. Step outside to rover? First guy ever to be there! Climb a hill? First guy to climb that hill! Kick a rock? That rock hadn’t moved in a million years! I’m the first guy to drive long-distance on Mars. The first guy to spend more than thirty-one sols on Mars. The first guy to grow crops on Mars. First, first, first! I wasn’t expecting to be first at anything. I was the fifth crewman out of the MDV when we landed, making me the seventeenth person to set foot on Mars. The egress order had been determined years earlier. A month before launch, we all got tattoos of our “ Mars numbers” Johanssen almost refused to get her “15” because she was afraid it would hurt. Here’s a woman who had survived the centrifuge, the vomit comet, hard-landing drills and 10k runs. A woman who fixed a simulated MDV computer failure while being spun around upside-down. But she was afraid of a tattoo needle. Man, I miss those guys. Jesus Christ, I’d give anything for a five-minute conversation with anyone. Anyone, anywhere. About anything. I’ m the first person to be alone on an entire planet. Okay, enough moping. I am having a conversation with someone: whoever reads this log. It’s a bit one-sided but it’ll have to do. I might die, but damn it, someone will know what I had to say. And the whole point of this trip is to get a radio. I could be reconnected with mankind before I even die. So here’s another first: Tomorrow I’ll be the first person to recover a Mars probe.
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?
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The movie is out!
Wikipedia in English (6)
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Sure, you hardly ever read SciFi and yes, it's full of tecno-babble, but The Martian s really about the human experience and ingenuity and overcoming all. It's a fascinating and believable tale of a stranded astronaut left behind on Mars. To survive he has to hack, jury-rig, and Macgyver his way through spoil after spoil. It kept me up at night reading. (