The Martian: A Novel

· Sold by Ballantine Books
4.7
15.6K reviews
Ebook
400
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

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?

Ratings and reviews

4.7
15.6K reviews
Megan Quinn
January 26, 2024
Such a great read! Science fiction at its finest, exploring both the mechanical and social aspects of a major scientific catastrophe. The main character is a sarcastic delight, both an optimist and a realist, and listening to him solve problems as they arise was a great choice for perspective. I laughed so much in this book. I've read the other 2 novels from Andy Weir (I know, right? Out of order.) and this was really great. Hard to say whether this or Project Hail Mary is my favorite.
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Matt Logan
July 7, 2015
I absolutely loved this book. It has an intelligent, wise-cracking, and incredibly resourceful protagonist; it's set in a realistic near-future where we are making manned trips to Mars; and its plot conflicts and resolutions all derive from actual physics and scientific concepts and calculations. If you're into math at all, you'll probably get the most enjoyment from the book, but truthfully you don't need to be. Everything is explained concisely and with humour. Credit to Andy Weir for pulling off that feat. I found the story to be paced well. Without giving anything away, Mark Watney's ordeal is certainly never a walk in the park, but never gets into soul-crushingly desperate territory, either. I laughed, I cringed, and I wanted to cheer multiple times at various points. I also enjoyed the novel approach with different perspectives presented, where chapters could be a combination of Mark's first-person mission log or from various third-person perspectives such as his crewmates or personnel in NASA. For comparison, Apollo 13 is one of my favourite movies, and it's an amazing true story. The Martian has many similarities, but ups the ante several notches. The fact that it seems like it could be happening in our lifetimes makes it all the more exciting. Bottom line: I'll definitely be checking out the movie when it's released.
30 people found this review helpful
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Martin
February 21, 2024
Such a great story and so well written! Mr. Weir is really creative and thorough. I literally didn't put this book down, I read the whole thing in one really long sitting.
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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.

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