The Martian
Our family book club finished ‘The Martian’ by Andy Weir this week. It was the perfect read for the boys about the fight for survival of astronaut Mark Watney on Mars. The book is set in 2035, where the Ares III mission is on Mars, settling into camp and exploring Mars. After a major storm rolls through their camp site, causing the crew to abandon the Ares III mission. But in the race to get to the MAV and leave Mars, botanist Mark Watney is stabbed by an antenna wire, and is presumed dead then left on Mars. However, the wire ends up saving Mark and he is able to make it back to the HAB and mend his injuries. This is when Mark realizes that he is on his own, on Mars, with limited supplies and no means of contacting anyone in space, or on Earth. The rest of the book then follows Mark on his experimentation on how to gain resources, and escape Mars, while simultaneously following NASA and how they are trying their best to reestablish contact with Mark and get him off of Mars. Each chapter was setup in short Sol’s, or days on Mars, with only a few pages per chapter, the short chapters as well as the humor spread throughout makes this book an engaging read.
The Martian is a great read. It is a gripping, edge of your seat, humorous novel that is a fantastic way to read about math and science in space, then we highly recommend Mark Watney and his ultimate fight to return to Earth and listen to something other than disco music.
Favorite quote:
“I think about the sheer number of people who pulled together just to save my sorry ***, and I can barely comprehend it… they did it because every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out. It might not seem that way sometimes, but it’s true”
We followed it up with a dinner and a movie.
Adventures in Mitchell 