Paperback, 384 pages
French language
Published Aug. 24, 2015 by Bragelonne.
Mark Watney est l'un des premiers humains à poser le pied sur Mars. Il pourrait bien être le premier à y mourir. Lorsqu'une tempête de sable mortelle force ses coéquipiers à évacuer la planète, Mark se retrouve seul et sans ressources, irrémédiablement coupé de toute communication avec la Terre. Pourtant Mark n'est pas prêt à baisser les bras. Ingénieux, habile de ses mains et terriblement têtu, il affronte un par un des problèmes en apparence insurmontables. Isolé et aux abois, parviendra-t-il à défier le sort? Le compte à rebours a déjà commencé ...
Great read. Jumped right in and never really slowed down. Love the format, as well as how much info you actually don't get, such as about his life before he went to Mars. Ready for the movie.
Very enjoyable. Obvious why it appeals to a broad range of people. Lolled a lot. But the actual writing technique is not the best, there are plotholes large enough to send a spaceship through.
I love the diary-bits, but the writer best steers away from third person perspective. He sucks at it. Flat paperthin characters, very stilted conversation.
Was a very fun and enjoyable read. I think it makes me really want to see the upcoming movie. I hope they keep all the great humor in an otherwise scary situation.
Magnífico libro. Mantiene un ritmo durante todo el libro que te obliga a devorarlo. Ciencia ficción más "realista" y, en cualquier caso, ciencia ficción de la buena. Si finalmente hacen la película, me temo que únicamente podrá empeorar tan buena historia.
This is the most exciting potato novel I've ever read.
Mark Watney is an extreme potato farmer who grows potatoes under the most unimaginable circumstances. We get great insights into his yields, his daily practice and the terrible calamity that befalls his crop.
SPOILER ALERT
None of the potatoes make it to the end of the book.
Hard science Sci-Fi that didn't let the science get in the way of the story. I enjoyed the shit out of this book. I couldn't stop laughing at Mark Watney and even cried a little at the end. Not many books do that to me, but here the pace of disaster after disaster was just enough to be believed and the conclusion was satisfying.
I've heard several people say that Andy Weir has brought science back to science fiction, and they are not wrong. The author's thorough research creates credible approach on what modern scientists and engineers would do in Mark Watney's situation. And everything is translated in a very fun and entertaining way making it suitable to all the public. It is clear that in order to go into space one must have a multidisciplinary knowledge and abilities to solve problems that can occur at anytime.
As an engineer, I am totally delighted with the quality of this work and how I visualized precisely everything Watney and his partners did.
Pretty much every review of this book mentions MacGyver, Robinson Crusoe, Gravity or Apollo 13, preferably in some sort of combination. You can probably throw in Castaway for good measure. But it makes sense, for Watney has the smarts of MacGyver, in a situation like Crusoe, only in a setting like those space movies. There's something about stories where the character has to use what he has available, and manages to do so in a clever way. It really makes you root for the character, and look forward to what he'll think of next. I don't really know much about all the science and techonlogical stuff in the novel, but it's presented in a way that makes it all really believable, and one can make enough sense out of it to understand the peril of the situation Watney is in. Watney's personality is also a great part of the book, …
Pretty much every review of this book mentions MacGyver, Robinson Crusoe, Gravity or Apollo 13, preferably in some sort of combination. You can probably throw in Castaway for good measure. But it makes sense, for Watney has the smarts of MacGyver, in a situation like Crusoe, only in a setting like those space movies. There's something about stories where the character has to use what he has available, and manages to do so in a clever way. It really makes you root for the character, and look forward to what he'll think of next. I don't really know much about all the science and techonlogical stuff in the novel, but it's presented in a way that makes it all really believable, and one can make enough sense out of it to understand the peril of the situation Watney is in. Watney's personality is also a great part of the book, as it is at times quite unexpected, but very believable.
The Martian by Andy Weir is the best hard science fiction I've ever read (disclaimer: I haven't read a lot of hard science fiction). Simultaneously hilarious, nail-biting, and heroic while being scientifically accurate (the final print version, at least). And, since it's science fiction in the very-near-future, there's little-to-no hand-waving; the technology in the book is technology we have and understand today.
Most impressively, the plot is not driven by a need to move from one set-piece disaster to another--as is the case with most Man vs Nature stories. Instead, the plot is driven by the science, the probable outcomes that naturally arise from being stranded on Mars, and the direct consequences of previous actions. In other words, at no point during the novel did I have the thought, "And now for the obligatory X!" (A statement I utter with increasing frequency as I read more and more …
The Martian by Andy Weir is the best hard science fiction I've ever read (disclaimer: I haven't read a lot of hard science fiction). Simultaneously hilarious, nail-biting, and heroic while being scientifically accurate (the final print version, at least). And, since it's science fiction in the very-near-future, there's little-to-no hand-waving; the technology in the book is technology we have and understand today.
Most impressively, the plot is not driven by a need to move from one set-piece disaster to another--as is the case with most Man vs Nature stories. Instead, the plot is driven by the science, the probable outcomes that naturally arise from being stranded on Mars, and the direct consequences of previous actions. In other words, at no point during the novel did I have the thought, "And now for the obligatory X!" (A statement I utter with increasing frequency as I read more and more books.) Finally, though both the frame (recording logs to be found later) and through the engaging personality of our hero Matt Damon Mark Watney, Weir manages to keep the book engaging even though it is, at its core, about taking a table full of parts and connecting this thing to this thing.
The characters are a bit thin, and everything ultimately shakes out exactly as you think it will, but it's a Hell of ride.
4 Pathfinders out of 5; would get stranded on the Red Planet again.
Originally posted on Forest Azuaron.
Excellent book. One of my "new" favorites. Among the story and science, I really enjoyed the humor - I thought the protagonist was surprisingly funny!
On a more serious note, two of the lessons this book reminds us of is the indomitable human spirit and that sometimes we need to "science the shit out of it".
Posted on G+ with more links: goo.gl/CTGny7
From the description of this book, it might seem like a short story, but it isn't. Andy Weir puts together a great story that reminded me of Martin Caidin's Marooned which was also made into a movie. The interesting thing is how he uses the protagonist's log entries to narrate his time on Mars, and mixes it with more normal third person narration for others in the story.
There's lots of science and McGyver-ist survival action, and Mark Watney (likely the first man to die on Mars) approaches most of it with a humor that will win you over. When I finished this book I decided to use Watney's figures of speech, like "dumb-assery", in a sentence at least once a week.
Writing style was very informal and blog-like, but it helped make this book a fast read. The material was interesting -- it was a series of realistic challenges and realistic solutions. However, this is less a novel and more a diary from the future with an Earth-perspective novella interwoven among some entries to stave off readers' waning interest, rather than to serve as a plot device or provide symbolism.
Despite the artless writing, it's a good book. If it weren't for the language, I would recommend that every highschool student read this to catch the contagious confidence that being an engineer gives.
The only - ONLY - complaint I have about this story is the neatness with which Watney's problems occur at his absolute apogee - i.e., something catastrophic happens ONLY when things are going exactly according to plan. It makes it a little too predictable the third time around, but it's a small complaint. Everything else about this book, I love.
Excellent short sci-fi story. Lots of engineering and science, don't know how accurate but I enjoyed it!
At first I did not want to read this, I am not into survival stories. And I have liked the Mars trilogy and felt I didn't want to read another "Mars" book. But then more and more recommendations started piling up and I decided I would have to read it. The highest recommendation coming from someone who is usually a slow reader, he said he finished it more or less in one go. So ... I finished this book fast like few others I read lately. The story was compelling from the first and I enjoyed the irreverent style. At first I was afraid that everything he tried would succeed but then more and more obstacles appeared. The science and the obstacles seem very plausible and Weir succeeded in his goal to not have arbitrary random acts of plot drop on him. Everything has a causality to it.
The only …
At first I did not want to read this, I am not into survival stories. And I have liked the Mars trilogy and felt I didn't want to read another "Mars" book. But then more and more recommendations started piling up and I decided I would have to read it. The highest recommendation coming from someone who is usually a slow reader, he said he finished it more or less in one go. So ... I finished this book fast like few others I read lately. The story was compelling from the first and I enjoyed the irreverent style. At first I was afraid that everything he tried would succeed but then more and more obstacles appeared. The science and the obstacles seem very plausible and Weir succeeded in his goal to not have arbitrary random acts of plot drop on him. Everything has a causality to it.
The only negative point I might have is that Watney seems to be incredibly resourceful even outside his field. But then I have no idea what astronauts are trained for and ... so I can accept that.
If you only read a single book this year: the movie is coming out this November.
As a bonus this is one of the self-publishing success stories. Originally it was published chapter by chapter on the author's website.
