The Martian – Bookcast #25

The Martian (2014) novel by Andy Weir

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?

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“The Martian” Show Notes

  • What this book is about
    • This book follows the protagonist Mark Watney as he is unintentionally left for dead on mars by his crewmates. Using only his wits and his superpower botany skills he survives 549 sols (martian days) before leaving.
  • What Weir sets out to do / Purpose of the book
    • Create a first person diary format of being stranded alone on a planet. Using what you have on hand to solve an impossible problem.
  • What challenges/problems does it attempt to solve?
    • Man vs nature in its most extreme form
  • The intended audience of the book
    • Who will benefit most
      • Those who enjoy a great humorous story
      • If you like nerdy sci fi stuff
      • If you enjoy a story about beating the odds
      • If you enjoy creative problem solving
      • If you’re interested in Elon Musk and missions to Mars
    • Who probably WON’T like “The Martian”
      • Little green men
      • People with no humor
      • People who are afraid of being alone
  • How does this book specifically benefit Men? 
    • Shows that if you have the right attitude you can solve just about any problem.
  • Is this book Easy, Average or Difficult to read? / How long is it?
    • Fun, easy for the most part, difficult to put down
    • Print: 387 pages 
    • Audio: 10 hours 59 minutes
      • Jay listened to the 1.3x Wil Wheaton version (8.5 hours)…still pretty good
  • Is the book well-known? Popular? Significant?
  • Book-To-Movie Adaptation
    • Overall a good movie adaptation – just removed technical elements and some of the humor to focus on suspense.
  • Short bio of Andy Weir
    • Weir was born and raised in California, the only child of an accelerator physicist father and an electrical-engineer mother who divorced when he was eight. Weir grew up reading classic science fiction such as the works of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. At the age of 15, he began working as a computer programmer for Sandia National Laboratories. He studied computer science at UC San Diego, although he did not graduate. He worked as a programmer for several software companies, including AOL, Palm, MobileIron and Blizzard, where he worked on the video game Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness.
    • Andy Weir released The Martian one chapter at a time on his website. When fans asked him to put it on Amazon, he did for 99 cents. It sold 35,000 copies in three months and got the attention of an audiobook publisher, which then got the attention of a print publisher. Weir released the book online for free in 2011, and on January 2013, it debuted on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list.
  • Table of Contents / Breakdown of Themes
    • Science, Human Ingenuity, and the Fight to Survive
    • Bureaucracy vs. Human Endeavour
    • Solitude and the Human Need for Connection


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The Martian – Bookcast #25 1

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