How- To Survive… On Mars

“Yes, of course duct tape works in a near-vacuum. Duct tape works anywhere. Duct tape is magic and should be worshiped.”
― Andy Weir, The Martian

 The Martian is a science fiction novel written by Andy Weir. It was self-published in 2011 and then re-released in 2014. In the novel, six person crew evacuates from Mars due to severe sandstorms. During evacuation, one of the crew members, Mark Watney, is impaled by an antenna. Mark is presumed dead so the crew sets their course back to earth.

Except that Mark Watney is not dead.
He is now stranded alone on Mars.

 I was hooked from the very first page of The Martian. “… and my Wikipedia page will say “Mark Watney is the only human being to have died on Mars”. And it’ll be right, probably”.  I loved the originality of this novel. There are plenty of ‘robinsonades’ and there are books set on Mars but so far I haven’t read one that would combine these two.

“I started the day with some nothin’ tea. Nothin’ tea is easy to make. First, get some hot water, then add nothin’ I experimented with potato skin tea a few weeks ago. The less said about that the better.” ― Andy Weir, The Martian

Way this novel was written was entertaining. Mostly the story was told by Mark through journal entries, however there were also parts that were set on earth once they realised Mark was not dead. Sense of humour in this book… is astonishing. Several lines made me laugh though then I remembered that poor guy is kind of stuck there, however Mark is just hilarious character. And MacGyver- moments. I love MacGyver- moments.

5/5 stars. Crazy good.

Tips
1. This is a must-read for all scifi fans.
2. If you’re interested about NASA, Mars, space, mathematical details, growing potatoes on Mars and if you like MacGyver solutions in books…definitely worth reading.
3. Book itself is quite short, however you should reserve time to read it. I couldn’t put it down without knowing how would it all end.
4.There’s huge hype around this book now. If possible, don’t build upexpectations. If you don’t expect anything, you don’t get disappointed. And I want everyone to like this book.
5. Unrelated… however I found this funny: 9GAG

“I guess you could call it a “failure”, but I prefer the term “learning experience”.”
― Andy Weir, The Martian

Have you read The Martian? What did you think of it?
If you haven’t, would you like to?

                                                   Buy The Martian on Amazon