Meet Mark Watney. He is, in his own words, pretty much fucked. Mark is an astronaut on a mission to Mars. On the sixth day of the mission, a sand storm wreaks havoc and Mark is left for dead by the rest of his team, who escape back to earth. Mark, however, wakes up a little later, very hungover, very alive and very, very alone. It’s a nightmare scenario for a professional couch potato like me. There is a reason, however, that Mark is […]
In Space No One Can Hear You Scream Like a Little Girl
I broke the cardinal rule of being a book nerd. I saw the movie first. Let me plead my case first: I had every intention of reading The Martian prior to it’s theatrical release; I had my name on the wait list at the library but by late August I was still sitting in the low 30s. After my sister declared I had to read it sooner rather than later I went ahead and bought a copy. But then Careless People took forever to read […]
In Space No One Can Hear Your Snark
Taking this book to Cape Cod in mid May to read about the below freezing temperatures on Mars’ surface while on a freezing cold beach was probably not the best idea. Weir’s descriptive writing really does transport you to Mars and it is not human hospitable up there. Mark Watney, one of the first six people to step onto Mars, becomes the first resident of the planet. Watney, injured and presumed dead, gets left behind on the red planet and has to MacGyver his way […]
One of those books you press on your friends
It seems like once a year I find a book that I can’t put down because I want to know how it ends, and the minute I finish, I try to find a friend who needs to immediately read this too. This is harder to do with people who read e-books, but you know what I mean. My 2015 edition of that book is Andy Weir’s The Martian. That this book is excellent will come as no surprise to virtually anyone, given it was published […]