A trip to mars? This sounds like something Elon Musk must be thinking about, but there is another personality who wondered about it and created his own version of a trip to Mars. Let’s read this book review of The Martian to know more about this.
Book – The Martian
Author – Andy Weir
Pages – 384 pages
Genre – Science Fiction
My Ratings – 5 out of 5 stars
Click here to purchase a copy.
Blurb (from Goodreads):
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 the 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?
Summary of the book:
The Martian is a book that encompasses the story of a space traveler strangled on the red planet – Mars. In more official terms, he was left stranded and was able to survive on the barren planet until his friends came to rescue him. The struggle in the story begins with the lone man trying to survive through the extreme conditions and limited resources he was provided with. As the story progresses, we see how the author has explained to us the intricate and detailed description of our protagonist’s adventures and misadventures.
The story begins from departure. The team sent on Mars for collection of enough information related to life possibilities on our neighbor planet had to evacuate the planet and abort the mission due to sand storms. These sand storms are common in Mars’ atmosphere but extremely dangerous and strong. This leads to the destruction of the research equipment, leaving the team in darkness. The darkness has its own perils and one of the members of the research team gets left behind, injured, and assumed dead.
The supposedly dead man turns out to be not so dead and thus begins a new struggle for survival. The struggle is unique because he has to work with limited resources and a lack of all the basic amenities and survive a large number of days on an inhabitable planet.
Writing Style and Book Review:
The writing style of the book is enthralling and interesting. The author has included so many details that it is a wonder to think that it is fiction while reading it. I found myself transported to another planet while reading this book. It really is an enlightening read. The most interesting part of all is the way in which the author has explained the workings and science elements that somehow saved the life of our protagonist. He has also successfully explained to us the processes used by the space traveler to save his life and survive. Despite the lack of intricate details of the workings of the space travels, I felt indulged in the process.
This story indeed is a unique one that I have read related to the different planet survival. This is because in this story the author has tried to stick most of all to the facts and scientific methods which might seem feasible steps towards it. There is no Deux ex Machina to save our precious hero; he has only himself and his wild luck to survive. The story itself is exciting and demands enraptured attention from the readers. The detailed description of the surroundings and the actions of the protagonist adds to the charm of the story.
Even though the story was about a different planet, we get to see one of the most important human virtues, resilience. The struggle to survive, the efforts to keep going, the never-ending hope, and the resistance towards the toughest terrain, all show how humans have survived through the thicks and thins of our own world. Despite the challenges thrown our way, we with our unwavering hope and efforts overcome it all.
Conclusion and Recommendations:
Overall, I really enjoyed and loved this book. This is one of my 5-star reads which I won’t be able to get over so easily. This book has it all, the suspense, the emotions, the fear, the anticipation, the bonding between the characters, the drama, science, challenges, and most important of all, a happy ending. I will recommend this book to all those people who are willing to suspend their intense judgemental gaze and indulge themselves in some space-based science fiction. There are no aliens to delude you but just humanity itself against the nature and universe. Don’t wait, buy your copy tonight!
Further Reading:
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