From Powells.com
Our favorite books of the year.
Synopses & Reviews
Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate
while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely
alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he
could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue
could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve
to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old
“human error” are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark
isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering
skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts
one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his
resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
Review
“Andy Weir delivers with The Martian…a story
for readers who enjoy thrillers, science fiction, non-fiction, or
flat-out adventure [and] an authentic portrayal of the future of space
travel.” Associated Press
Review
“Gripping…[features] a hero who can solve almost every problem while still being hilarious. It’s hard not to be swept up in [Weir’s] vision and root for every one of these characters. Grade: A.” AVClub.com
Review
“An impressively geeky debut…the technical details keep the story
relentlessly precise and the suspense ramped up. And really, how can
anyone not root for a regular dude to prove the U-S-A still has the
Right Stuff?” Entertainment Weekly
Review
“Terrific stuff, a crackling good read that devotees of space
travel will devour like candy…succeeds on several levels and for a
variety of reasons, not least of which is its surprising plausibility.” USA Today
Review
“Brilliant…a celebration of human ingenuity [and] the purest example of real-science sci-fi for many years…Utterly compelling.” Wall Street Journal
About the Author
ANDY WEIR was first hired as a programmer for a national laboratory at
age fifteen and has been working as a software engineer ever since. He
is also a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects like
relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned
spaceflight. The Martian is his first novel.