Paperback
English language
Published July 10, 2014 by Del Rey.
The Martian is a 2011 science fiction novel written by Andy Weir. It was his debut novel under his own name. It was originally self-published in 2011; Crown Publishing purchased the rights and re-released it in 2014. The story follows an American astronaut, Mark Watney, as he becomes stranded alone on Mars in 2035 and must improvise in order to survive. The Martian, a film adaptation directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon, was released in October 2015.
Stunning read, couldn't wait to turn each page. The pacing was incredible, the characters fantastic, just enough science talk to keep it understandable and believable while not over-loading the reader with "techno babble".
“Quantum physics doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “Please don’t try to think about it too much. It can be very distressing.”
This booklet out of the Forward series was intriguing as well.
It explores a scenario where Quantum Computing becomes mainstream and is now used to crack the algorithms of Vegas casino's. And indeed, our world would become very interesting, as QC will break many things, like our encryption, non of our passwords will be safe anymore!
Quite a page-turner. The pacing here is just about perfect. This one is a rare hard science fiction title that is immediately accessible and easy to read. Highly recommended.
I saw the movie first.
This book ruined the movie for me. It is that much better.
I felt the stress, the isolation, the tension and the relief. One of those books when you get close to the end there is absolutely no chance of you putting it down.
Loved the level of science geekery, the characters all felt real and the story was engaging all the way through.
Listened to the audiobook, don't know if that impacted things but I doubt it.
Got to this one kinda late. Especially considering I worked at a space startup in 2015, where everyone raved about it. I saw the movie and enjoyed that so I figured I'd give the book a go on my recent flight. Turns out it's a really bad choice to read while flying. I started hoarding peanuts and listening for Hull breaches.
All told it was an interesting story that didn't manage to lose me with technical details. I will say that I agree with much of the criticism. The protagonists voice is as monotonously upbeat, as his earthbound counterparts are grumpy. It sucked the tension out of an impossibly tense situation. Still, I like the guy, and I think sometimes I read books to learn to think like another person. Mark Watney is as good a role model as I could want.
This is a solid sci-fi heist that relies on an old-fashioned what-if premise: What would happen if quantum computers existed, and how long would it take before someone figured out the criminal applications?
In this case, an enterprising engineer figures out how to defeat the random number generators at a casino and complications ensue. There isn’t a lot of plot to this story, since it’s mostly a thought experiment hung on a little bit of narrative, but the execution is well-done and I enjoyed reading it.
Randomize wasn’t amazing, but it was possibly my favorite from the Forward collection so far.
Really intriguing tech short story. Read it twice.
Great book. I've always loved "survival" stories like Hatchet and Into the Wild. This is an extreme survival story that takes place on Mars. What's not to love? Compared to the movie, I would say the book is about equal (that is to say, I love them both).
I don't think I've ever been more sad that I didn't pursue a career in science/engineering.
This is a wonderful adventure filled with risk and humor (sarcasm). The hero is inventive, creative and humble. Yes, the story is a bit geeky.... but it left me wanting more.
I had heard quite a lot about the movie and honestly, it didn't seem interesting to me. However, as soon as I had heard that it was based on a book, I started to look into it and thought that I would give it a shot.
I must say that when I usually read a book, I don't read more than 50–100 pages at a given time. This book however managed to get my attention which meant I was able to finish it within just a day. The main reason for this is, in my opinion, the main protagonist's personality which I thought really spoke to me. His style of writing is often-times very amusing which had me laugh a good couple of times whilst reading, yet he also manages to convey a tone of urgency and seriousness within all the humour. I also liked the detailed descriptions of the …
I had heard quite a lot about the movie and honestly, it didn't seem interesting to me. However, as soon as I had heard that it was based on a book, I started to look into it and thought that I would give it a shot.
I must say that when I usually read a book, I don't read more than 50–100 pages at a given time. This book however managed to get my attention which meant I was able to finish it within just a day. The main reason for this is, in my opinion, the main protagonist's personality which I thought really spoke to me. His style of writing is often-times very amusing which had me laugh a good couple of times whilst reading, yet he also manages to convey a tone of urgency and seriousness within all the humour. I also liked the detailed descriptions of the technology used on Mars and how he managed to fix it if it happened to break — which it turns out is more than just a handful of times!
However, despite all of this, I must say that the book also had its weak spots — mainly the parts that play on Earth. For those who haven't read the book, the book plays part on both Mars — focussing on the main protagonist — and on Earth — focussing on them trying to communicate with the main protagonist and rescuing him. While reading the parts that play on Earth I would frequently find myself getting rather bored and hoping that we would soon be talking about what is happening back on Mars again. My main problem with the Earth parts is the fact that I found all the characters, except for the main protagonist, rather dull and boring. This is probably the reason I didn't manage to finish this book in one session, as the parts that play on Earth increase in length and number near the middle of the book.
All in all however, I would say that this has been the best SciFi book I've read so far and I would definitely recommend fans of SciFi to read it!
What a book. Action packed, and full of characterization. Granted, I didn't understand all of the Science aspects, but I did want to know what happened. I knew Mark wasn't going to die, else other readers wouldn't have reviewed the book as highly as they did.
Your math book in the form of a page-turner...but in a good way.
When an intense storm hits the US astronauts recently arrived on Mars, the conditions compel them to leave shortly after. As they make their way to their departure vessel, Mark Watney is separated, his space suit ruptured, and all communication is lost. After a brief, desperate search in the face of the Martian storm, he is presumed dead and the remainder of the crew leaves, barely making it. Watney is not dead, and finds himself now alone on Mars, with no method of communication, that having left with his crewmates.
This story is the exciting and fascinating story of how the resourceful botanist finds himself stranded, and his desperate struggle to survive on Mars, not knowing if leaving will ever be an option. I enjoyed his personality, resourcefulness, and his optimism in conditions where many people would lie down and give up. There were also fascinating scientific references, detailing how …
When an intense storm hits the US astronauts recently arrived on Mars, the conditions compel them to leave shortly after. As they make their way to their departure vessel, Mark Watney is separated, his space suit ruptured, and all communication is lost. After a brief, desperate search in the face of the Martian storm, he is presumed dead and the remainder of the crew leaves, barely making it. Watney is not dead, and finds himself now alone on Mars, with no method of communication, that having left with his crewmates.
This story is the exciting and fascinating story of how the resourceful botanist finds himself stranded, and his desperate struggle to survive on Mars, not knowing if leaving will ever be an option. I enjoyed his personality, resourcefulness, and his optimism in conditions where many people would lie down and give up. There were also fascinating scientific references, detailing how different life would be on another planet. This was definitely a faster read, and by the end I couldn't put it down.
