“The Martian” By Andy Weir Review

“The Martian” by Andy Weir is a gripping story of Mark Watney, who has been left injured and stranded on Mars as part of the Ares 3 mission team that landed just days ago. He now has to survive on his own with the leftover tools and HAB that were left when his team aborted the mission. Fortunately for Watney he is a botanist and a mechanical engineer which lead him to make some very clever yet risky choices to stay alive. Throughout the story we read about Watney’s successes and failures as well as the impact his situation has on not just NASA but the entire world. “The Martian” also really makes you think along the way, what would you really do if you were in Watney’s moon boots?

Andy Weir does a superb job writing this book and telling Watney’s amazing journey for a few reasons. First of which is the level of detail put into the dialog. We are dealing with space and astronauts which means there should be some level of technical dialog such as oxygen and hydrogen level measurements, fuel consumption, and other mathematical and engineering phrases and equations that are needed to survive on Mars. Andy delivers this level of detail very well and I actually learned a lot about different space technologies like oxygenators and potatoes. Humor is another very prevalent aspect in Andy’s writing particularly with Watney but humor is present throughout all the characters to a degree which really took my mind off of the truly horrible situation that Watney was in which is what the humor was trying to accomplish in the story itself, a sense of relief. Lastly the combination of Watney’s logs, mission control’s dialog, and third person narration tied together perfectly and made the story flow nicely.

Overall if you are a space fan or just looking for a great story “The Martian” should be at the top of your list. It tells a great story of an astronaut stranded on Mars that will leave you in suspense over and over again.

I also found in this book what may be my new favorite quote and a really powerful message both in context and out of it: “Love of science is universal across all cultures” – Teddy (pg 247)

Written by: Spencer