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A review by asriram
The Martian by Andy Weir
5.0
The Martian is an amazing book. I would highly recommend it for its humor, its use of accurate scientific information, and the themes it presented throughout the book.
We start off with Mark Watney, an astronaut, who, after a scientific expedition to Mars go wrong, was abandoned by his crew, who believed him dead. As our main character, we learn about his predicament mainly through the use of his personal log, where he expresses his views and his situation. After we learn of his current predicament, he starts working though the calculations required to survive. After seeing him start working through his calculations, we switch over to NASA, where they are mourning over Mark's "death" until an intern assigned with monitoring the satellite notices changes in the position of certain objects, and is able to convince the leader of the project that Mark is still alive. Once they start to establish communication, the race against time to ensure that Mark Watney survives begins.
I enjoyed this book for many reasons. It displayed a unity among the different people of the world. Today, people are so divided and hurtful, and to see unity among many different people for a cause such as saving a life is really inspiring. It also was clever in its humor. Most books are either too serious to appreciate the humor of the situation, or are otherwise vulgar and idiotic in their humor. Mark had a type of humor called "Gallows Humor", where he made light-hearted remarks in particularly dark scenarios. This made him fun, and at the same time, relatable. Finally, he was a smart and clever person, using his skills in chemistry and botany to survive for 2-3 years. His skills were grounded in fact, and this made it feel as if I, with the proper training, could survive an ordeal such as this.
Overall, the Martian is a great book. It tells the simple story of one man, stranded, using his wits to survive until his friends and comrades can rescue him. It showed unity among people, humor, and was clever in its use of proper science. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to read it.
We start off with Mark Watney, an astronaut, who, after a scientific expedition to Mars go wrong, was abandoned by his crew, who believed him dead. As our main character, we learn about his predicament mainly through the use of his personal log, where he expresses his views and his situation. After we learn of his current predicament, he starts working though the calculations required to survive. After seeing him start working through his calculations, we switch over to NASA, where they are mourning over Mark's "death" until an intern assigned with monitoring the satellite notices changes in the position of certain objects, and is able to convince the leader of the project that Mark is still alive. Once they start to establish communication, the race against time to ensure that Mark Watney survives begins.
I enjoyed this book for many reasons. It displayed a unity among the different people of the world. Today, people are so divided and hurtful, and to see unity among many different people for a cause such as saving a life is really inspiring. It also was clever in its humor. Most books are either too serious to appreciate the humor of the situation, or are otherwise vulgar and idiotic in their humor. Mark had a type of humor called "Gallows Humor", where he made light-hearted remarks in particularly dark scenarios. This made him fun, and at the same time, relatable. Finally, he was a smart and clever person, using his skills in chemistry and botany to survive for 2-3 years. His skills were grounded in fact, and this made it feel as if I, with the proper training, could survive an ordeal such as this.
Overall, the Martian is a great book. It tells the simple story of one man, stranded, using his wits to survive until his friends and comrades can rescue him. It showed unity among people, humor, and was clever in its use of proper science. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to read it.