The Martian

“Hello, I'm Bear Grylls and for todays special episode...we're going to Mars” or “Well...shit”.

One of those two would be enough to describe The Martian. As someone who loves scifi and everything space this really tickled all my spots. It's a really thoroughly researched story FULL of science and survival. It's really interesting to see how Watney finds ways to overcome everything that Mars throws at him.

I don't nearly know enough about chemistry, physics or botany to understand everything that he comes up with, but that's the point. If Andy Weir would let some average person get stranded on Mars, the story would be over after 10 pages. I'm really impressed with what's possible in the face of death, if you have some scientific and mechanical expertise.

To not get the reader too overwhelmed or bored, the story is mixed up with the viewpoint from earth, where the whole world and especially NASA works hard to contact and rescue Watney. There could have been more emphasis on the human connections but that's okay. The story focuses on physical survival. But it helps that Watney doesn't loose his sense of humor and throws around some funny jokes here and there.

Especially the ending had some “Gravity” like action which was the icing on the cake for me.