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Sunday, September 13, 2015

The Martian


 
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

No doubt, yes, it will be enough to  allow him to beat the impossible odds. I mean, really we can't have an unhappy ending can we. I like survival stories and I really like the premise here…..and a survival story with an unusual setting.  But to a non technologically oriented history teacher the never ending scientific jargon and complicated explanations were more difficult for me to understand than the manuals I can't decipher when trying to put together something large,  I bought at a Big Box Store,  written but someone  who was not very conversant in the English language.  On the other hand if you like this sort of thing you’ll love The Martian….:)

13 comments:

Far Side of Fifty said...

Sounds like you got a little lost? I probably wouldn't have finished it:)

Valerie said...

I was all for reading this book... until I saw your comment at the end. I would be put off by too many scientific words.

Out on the prairie said...

A tough read it sounds

Arkansas Patti said...

Think I will wait for the movie. Pretty sure the tech jargon will not be in a movie. I love the premise however.
Just finished the Dog Master. It bothered me a bit that the language was today's rather than primitive. Such as when the crone told Callie that she was "off topic". It did jump around a lot but in spite of that, I really did enjoy it and was sorry when it ended. Thanks for the recommendation.

Shammickite said...

Sounds interesting but I bet there's not much conversation in the book, if poor old Mark Watney is stuck on Mars all by himself. And I do like some conversation in the novels I read.

Anonymous said...

That entices me. From your review, I can't tell how it ends. I mean, you say how it ends, but you don't say how it ends. Good trick, that.

As far as reading things like this book and gizmo directions, I'm reading as much of this kind of thing as I can get my hands on in case we all end up reading the People's Daily every morning with our Cheerios made in China. China's been on an upward trajectory, although it's a bit wobbly at times, but we're not exactly running away from the pack. In fact, we're both acting like we've had a few too many and might end up having to help each other make it home.

Thanks for another great review.

人民日报.

Anvilcloud said...

I'm not tech savvy either, soo ...

But I like the premise.

Sarah Laurence said...

My husband wasn't a big fan of this book either but for different reasons: it was too methodical - every problem was fixed in sequence. I doubt I'll read it but maybe I'll see the movie. My biggest fear as a mom of son who loves astrophysics is that he'd be the first to volunteer for a one way ticket to Mars.

Carla from The River said...

Not my kind of read. I do like survival stories, but on Earth. ;-)

Vicki said...

Perhaps this is one of those books where a film is a better way to present the story. Saw the Ridley Scott film last Friday and all that technical stuff (although over my head frequently) was decidedly very interesting. The film is excellent and at the end no one got up to leave until all the credits ran and the house lights went up.

Barrie said...

Would you still see the movie?

Cynthia said...

We're planning on going to the movie next week ($5 on Tuesdays!) (popcorn will still break the budget tho!) as I've heard good reports. Probably they leave out the scientific jargon (I hope!). Interesting to read your review of the book.

CailinMarie said...

hah, I enjoyed this. My husband is reading "The Martian" and he loves it. He can't wait to see the movie. He is a science geek so it makes sense.