New York Times Bestseller, The Martian, by Andy Weir, is described as, “Brilliant...A celebration of Human ingenuity [and] and purest example of real-science Sci-fi for many years… Utterly compelling” by the Wall Street Journal. That description is entirely accurate.
The novel begins with a routine mission to mars; one of the many Ares missions produced by NASA. But, in the event of a freak accident, protagonist Mark Watney, is presumed dead by his crewmates during one of the worst sand storms ever recorded on Mars. Forced to evacuate the planet’s surface, his crew mates leave Mark Watney stranded on the surface, unaware that he had lived against all odds. Now, Watney is stranded on Mars for 1,412 until the next Ares mission, with nothing but his integrity, and supplies to last for only a fraction of that time.
Throughout the novel, And Weir uses various forms of arithmetic, reasoning, and sound scientific logic to create an astoundingly believable atmosphere. You will often find yourself believing that humanity truly has the capability to go to Mars. You will also find yourself rooting for Watney much like everyone on earth, as well as that fundamental and basic human instinct to help one another; a theme that runs constantly through this book; is one man's life worth all of those billions of dollars and so much time? Within the course of this novel, it was clear that humanity found Watney’s one life priceless due to basic human instinct.
The Martian was also promoted by NHS over the summer, as it was one of the choices for the summer reading assignment. And although The Martian was not the most popular pick, I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading, especially realistic sci-fi fiction. The Martian will also be promoted as a major motion picture and will debut Thursday, October 4.