'The Martian' by Andy Weir

The Martian, Andy Weir (4)

A few chapters into this book, I was afraid it might be one long MacGyver-like story with too many paragraphs devoted to detailed explanations of the main character’s prowess in keeping himself alive. Luckily (or maybe I should say ‘skillfully’?), Mr. Weir adds a lot of drama, humor and interesting twists and turns so that this story is less a how-to textbook and more of a riveting adventure tale that has been compared to Robinson Crusoe or ‘Castaway’ without a Wilson. The book starts with an astronaut, Mark Watney, who has just been accidentally stranded on Mars by his colleagues. They believe he is dead and they evacuate in a hurry, luckily leaving much of their provisions and equipment. In this near future, there are several planned trips to Mars (similar to the Apollo missions of the 60’s), so Mark now has to figure out how to stay alive until the next group arrives – in over a year’s time. I don’t want to give away too much, but I will say I found the drama more interesting and compelling than that of ‘Castaway’. The unique locale, Mark’s brilliance and humor, and very realistic situations combined to make this a great story. I was not surprised to hear that it is being made into a movie, but I recommend reading the book first!