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 the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars' surface, completely alone. with no way to signal Earth that he's alive. And even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, Mark 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's not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills—and a gallows sense of humor that proves to …
A mission to Mars.
A freak accident.
One man's struggle to survive.
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 the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars' surface, completely alone. with no way to signal Earth that he's alive. And even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, Mark 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's not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills—and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength—he embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive, using his botany expertise to grow food and even hatching a mad plan to contact NASA back on Earth.
As he overcomes one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next, Mark begins to let himself believe he might make it off the planet alive.
But Mars has plenty of surprises in store for him yet.
Grounded in real, present-day science from the first page to the last, yet propelled by a brilliantly ingenious plot that surprises the reader again and again, The Martian is a truly remarkable thriller: an impossible-to-put-down suspense novel that manages tc read like a real-life survival tale.
The writing style is great. Got hooked from the first page and was never bored til the last page. Sometimes it would've been nice to have had better descriptions of certain objects (l still have trouble picturing the rovers). There is a nice amount of humor too, I liked it.
The writing style is great. Got hooked from the first page and was never bored til the last page. Sometimes it would've been nice to have had better descriptions of certain objects (l still have trouble picturing the rovers). There is a nice amount of humor too, I liked it.
A fairly realistic near-future hard #scifi story about survival on #Mars
4 stars
Probably boring if you're not interested in the technical problems involved in being stranded on Mars as those make up most of the book but for someone like me who is interested in the exploration of Mars and everything to do with space in general this is a great hard Sci-Fi story set in the near future.
The writing could be much better, I wish there was more of backstory to how Watney became a person able to survive so well in a situation like this (nothing really explains it to me) and not everything is beliveable to me but the overall concept and most of the details are solid. Wil Wheaton's narration of the audiobook edition was good but not perfect.
Probably boring if you're not interested in the technical problems involved in being stranded on Mars as those make up most of the book but for someone like me who is interested in the exploration of Mars and everything to do with space in general this is a great hard Sci-Fi story set in the near future.
The writing could be much better, I wish there was more of backstory to how Watney became a person able to survive so well in a situation like this (nothing really explains it to me) and not everything is beliveable to me but the overall concept and most of the details are solid. Wil Wheaton's narration of the audiobook edition was good but not perfect.
I started this book on the subway home from work, continued reading over dinner, and finished it that night in bed. It's griping, the science is solid, and it's about as close to "hard sci-fi" as you can get. The movie is also quite enjoyable.
I started this book on the subway home from work, continued reading over dinner, and finished it that night in bed. It's griping, the science is solid, and it's about as close to "hard sci-fi" as you can get. The movie is also quite enjoyable.
This book is the log written by Mark Watney as he tries to survive on Mars with no way of going home or even contacting home.
If you like a lot of science in your fiction, you will most certainly finish this book in no time. It's thrilling, it's interesting, it's not very psychological, but you'll keep turning those pages to find out what happens next.
I haven't seen the movie, so I can't compare, however I wonder how this particular writing style transfers to the big screen.
This book is the log written by Mark Watney as he tries to survive on Mars with no way of going home or even contacting home.
If you like a lot of science in your fiction, you will most certainly finish this book in no time. It's thrilling, it's interesting, it's not very psychological, but you'll keep turning those pages to find out what happens next.
I haven't seen the movie, so I can't compare, however I wonder how this particular writing style transfers to the big screen.
Je ne sais pas ce que j'ai, en ce moment, j'ai l'impression de lire de plutôt bons livres. Et celui-ci en est un excellent exemple. Je ne vais pas vous faire l'affront d'un résumé, puisque le titre a l'avantage de raconter toute l'histoire en trois mots. En bonus, vous avez difficilement pu échapper au bulldozer publicitaire du film. Donc vous j'imagine que vous connaissez l'histoire de Mark Wattney, seul sur Mars. Et ce qui est assez exceptionnel à propos de ce roman, c'est que j'avais vu sur twitter un message qui disait "Alone on Mars is Mc Gyver meets Apollo 13". J'ai aimé Mc Gyver. J'ai aimé Apollo 13. Alors comment je pouvais ne pas aimer ce livre ? Parce que franchement, tout y est. Déja, vous avez un personnage incroyable : Mark Wattney a un humour qui l'aide à se sortir de sa situation incroyablement périlleuse, ainsi que des …
Je ne sais pas ce que j'ai, en ce moment, j'ai l'impression de lire de plutôt bons livres. Et celui-ci en est un excellent exemple. Je ne vais pas vous faire l'affront d'un résumé, puisque le titre a l'avantage de raconter toute l'histoire en trois mots. En bonus, vous avez difficilement pu échapper au bulldozer publicitaire du film. Donc vous j'imagine que vous connaissez l'histoire de Mark Wattney, seul sur Mars. Et ce qui est assez exceptionnel à propos de ce roman, c'est que j'avais vu sur twitter un message qui disait "Alone on Mars is Mc Gyver meets Apollo 13". J'ai aimé Mc Gyver. J'ai aimé Apollo 13. Alors comment je pouvais ne pas aimer ce livre ? Parce que franchement, tout y est. Déja, vous avez un personnage incroyable : Mark Wattney a un humour qui l'aide à se sortir de sa situation incroyablement périlleuse, ainsi que des capacités techniques indubitables. Honnêtement, même si il explique d'une façon très agréablement didactique toutes ses actions, il y a une ou deux choses que j'ai trouvé difficilement réalisables (la création de ses 600 litres d'eau était ... dangereuse). En revanche, au moment de la créaion de sa camionette, j'ai eu l'impression que j'aurais pu faire mieux (oui, dans mon canapé). En plus de ce personnage emblématique, l'action est intelligement distribuée entre la Terre, mars, et le vaisseau spatial qui fait autobus longue portée. Enfin, et peut-être surtout, l'écriture de ce roman porte tout ça avec un talent assez formidable, de mon point de vue. En effet, on alterne entre un journal écrit à la première personne et, à certains moments bien choisis (et dépendant de l'état de la radio du bord), les tentatives plus ou moins intelligentes de la Terre pour l'aider. De ce point de vue, l'envoi loupé d'un cargo, avec la liquéfaction des provisions, m'a paru un chef d'oeuvre d'écriture technique accessible. Typiquement, ce passage (ainsi que tous ceux des bricolages de Wattney), pourrait former une excellente base pour des cours multidisciplinaires (français, techno, physique, chimie) au collège (et je ne dis pas ça parce que je "fréquente" un tel établissement. Honnêtement, si vous aimez la littérature "nasaiste" bien écrite, ce roman est pour vous. Vraiment, un très bon roman.
How did this novel keep my attention the way it did? I don't know. In fact, I started this novel with some trepidation because I am not a math and science geek. This story is one tough problem solving task after another, and it's all over my head. And yet--Mark Watney, in his humor-spiked journal, kept me rapt. Perhaps it reminded me of Sherlock Holmes's deductions. Those are a bit easier to follow, but often contain a scientific element. I doubt Arthur Conan Doyle wrote as many deductions or solved as many problems in all his books combined as Andy Weir wrote for this one spare story!
I am so glad that I had not heard how this story ends before finishing it! Boy, was I on the edge of my seat....
Highly recommended!
How did this novel keep my attention the way it did? I don't know. In fact, I started this novel with some trepidation because I am not a math and science geek. This story is one tough problem solving task after another, and it's all over my head. And yet--Mark Watney, in his humor-spiked journal, kept me rapt. Perhaps it reminded me of Sherlock Holmes's deductions. Those are a bit easier to follow, but often contain a scientific element. I doubt Arthur Conan Doyle wrote as many deductions or solved as many problems in all his books combined as Andy Weir wrote for this one spare story!
I am so glad that I had not heard how this story ends before finishing it! Boy, was I on the edge of my seat....
First of all I have to say, I love Mark Watney. I love how funny, ironic, positive and just how so damn real he felt. And oh boy, how many things he had to go through! Unbelievable! I love how I was glued to the book, one dangerous and exciting thing after the other happening all the time... And how Mark made me smile in his attempts to make us readers smile. I loved it, loved it. He made me happy when he was trying to be happy being in the crappy situation of being fucked in another planet. In Mars for such a ridiculous amount of time! God, imagine if that happened to someone for real. I'd want to kiss that someone afterwards. Poor Mark who never got too many girls, now with this HUGE thing happening to him, that would surely change.
And I loved everyone in the …
First of all I have to say, I love Mark Watney. I love how funny, ironic, positive and just how so damn real he felt. And oh boy, how many things he had to go through! Unbelievable! I love how I was glued to the book, one dangerous and exciting thing after the other happening all the time... And how Mark made me smile in his attempts to make us readers smile. I loved it, loved it. He made me happy when he was trying to be happy being in the crappy situation of being fucked in another planet. In Mars for such a ridiculous amount of time! God, imagine if that happened to someone for real. I'd want to kiss that someone afterwards. Poor Mark who never got too many girls, now with this HUGE thing happening to him, that would surely change.
And I loved everyone in the crew, too. Beck with his cute crush on Johannssen, who was very cute herself, Vogel being the German guy, Martinez being the hot guy, and Lewis trying to keep everything together. Also, Venkat who was awesome at his job and Teddy who tried his best and Mitch who actually did things. Oh, I'm in love with them all for having pulled such a huge deed for Watney.
I can't believe how the ending made me smile so damn much, I was so damn happy!
