The Martian by Andy Weir
A freak accident leaves Mark Watney, an astronaut/engineer/botanist,
stranded on Mars. And it’s four years until the next group of astronauts come
to Mars. Mark doesn’t have enough food or water to make it. The Martian is the story of his
survival.
Though I don’t usually read sci-fi, I really enjoyed this
book! Maybe it’s because I have sons who are chemists and engineers (Weir
nailed what engineers thinks of chemistry!), or maybe it’s because Weir took an
amazing survival saga, added a good dose of dry humor and excellent pacing, and
turned it into a story that reaches beyond genre—it’s a novel I can recommend
to anyone who wants a good story told well.
The one caveat I have is that this book has a lot of
profanity. I understand it at the beginning—when you discover you’re most
likely going to die alone on the red planet, swearing is a natural reaction. But
eventually, the liberal use of f-bombs began to grate on me.
That aside, this was an excellent book. I hope this author
writes more novels—I can’t wait to read them.
