Posted on 09/29/2015 1:07:58 PM PDT by Textide
FReepers, I can't recommend this one enough. This book is phenomenal.
Here's an effort at a short summary: In the near future, an astronaut is presumed dead and left behind on Mars during a dust storm. Turns out he pulled through and has to figure out how to survive. NASA has several missions planned over the coming years so he meticulously plans and executes his survival with the hopes that the future missions take place.
What struck me was that he didn't feel sorry for himself. He conducted himself as a man and even had contempt for fate. He wasn't concerned for the environment or the emotions of loneliness. Instead the focus of the book is continuous engineering and problem solving.
I read an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day which stated that the author was glad that Hollywood didn't insert a love story into the movie. It's meant to be about man's triumph over Nature and the application of science to that end. The science is the drama, as the author says.
Matt Damon is a Left Wing Libtard, but I hope the movie coming out this Friday is a success. Ad Astra!
Or Buenos Aires...
In the book the next mission lands about 2300km from him.
That’s what I said :)
This depends on how well they can control reentry and descent as well as the type of craft they are using.
Perhaps he makes a Segway from clock parts...
Believe me I would not want any New York(er) criteria to dictate changes but an editor in the traditional sense may have pointed out to the author that the story included numerous dead ends even if the author chose to leave them in.
For better or worse, the science lauded by many as ‘realistic’ or ‘well-researched’ is faulty e.g. the thin atmosphere would not allow sufficient wind forces to cause the havoc described.
ok thanks. No water
Or a clock from Segway parts.
Then he gets invited to the White House.
Please tell me they come to him. I hope no one is expecting me to believe that, with no food, no water, no map, no oxygen, and whatever clothing he can scavenge, he walks all that way and finds them just in time to hitch a ride home.
That’s true. The gravity depends on its density.
You have gravity. I assume you don’t have an iron core.
I have read the novel. Fun read but a bit heavy on the IT/tech/science side which is perfectly consistent with the author’s background and the background of the lead character. Sort of MacGiver gets stranded on Mars.
Nice to read sci-fi that is pretty close to sci-fact for a change.
Several very positive advanced screening reviews have been posted on line about the movie.
I like most of the work Matt Damon has done as an actor, and from the previews I have seen, I think he will nail the quirky character of Astronaut Mark Watney and make the movie.
Looking forward to seeing it in the theater. Probably will buy the DVD as well.
But what all of those have at their core is a killer story with fleshed out characters. If the writing isn't as tight as a modern Hollywood movie, maybe that's because readers aren't as demanding about a book they can sink into as movie goers who demand to see 100% on screen for each of the 120 minutes they are in their seats.
I like to take my time with a book and consider some of the dead ends and unwrapped-up points at the end. To let the author take his deep steeping me in his world.
GTFO.
This is worthwhile.
IN!
Mars has no gravity?
That’s big news. I had not heard that.
SPOILER ALERT
What saves him is a super-abundance of phlogiston in the atmosphere which, in a moment of extreme crisis, activates his latent telekinetic powers enabling him to apparate directly to the rescue site. That and some cute, furry aliens.
I KNEW the phlogiston theory would be proven right some day. Take note, all you Round Earthers!
I also finished the book in 24 hours. As a professional space guy, I found very few details to quibble with (at least aside from the whole Martian dust storm powerful enough to break things bit). The only real turn-off was the language, as the F-bomb is dropped in the first sentence and multiple times on the first page. Although I confess that if I thought I was going to die on Mars I might let a few expletives fly.
In any case, I am looking forward to the movie, despite MATT DAMON. At least Jeff Daniels is in it.
The time frame of the book is rather large (over 500 days), and the first several chapters are dedicated entirely to the main character cultivating enough food, water, and oxygen (using the materials and equipment brought during the original mission) simply to survive until the return trip comes.
Maybe try reading the book and judging it then?
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