A brand-new production of Andy Weir’s modern sci-fi classic, narrated by the incomparable Wil Wheaton, and featuring bonus content from the writings of Mark Watney.

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?

Wil Wheaton, who has lent his voice to sci-fi blockbusters like Ready Player One and Redshirts, breathes new life (and plenty of sarcasm) into the iconic character of Mark Watney, making this edition a must-listen for both longtime fans of The Martian and new listeners alike.

BONUS MATERIAL: This edition includes the following extras:

“Diary of an AssCan” - Mark Watney, new astronaut
“I Made It!” - A happy letter to Mom
“Car Trouble” - A somewhat sad letter to Mom
“The Earthling” - A postscript. *Available for the first time in this recording

The Martian

Andy Weir (Author), Wil Wheaton (Narrator), Audible Studios (Publisher)

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Product details

Listening Length	10 hours and 59 minutes
Author	Andy Weir
Narrator	Wil Wheaton
Audible.com.au Release Date	01 January 2020
Publisher	Audible Studios
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B082BGG4J3
Best Sellers Rank	104 in Audible (See Top 100 in Audible) 1 in Hard Science Fiction 1 in High Tech Science Fiction (Audible) 3 in Science Fiction Adventure (Audible)

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Much better than the movie

Reviewed in Australia on 30 August 2019

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I could not stand the movie of this and it had almost made me not want to try the book. I am glad I did take the leap in trying to audiobook version of this.

The audiobook skirts along the very razors edge between geeky/cool and completely cringey without falling over into the full on cringe at any point. The characters dialogue was pretty well believable of what someone like that would say in the situation.

The voice acting was spot on and compelled me to continue. The voice actors range of voices and accents perfectly suited each character and helped me to imagine each.

The story itself is a great story of triumph in the face of many set backs and challenges. Our hero is dismayed and frustrated, at times ready to give in completely to then rise again and continue on. The descriptions of the Mars environment are good but this is no Red Mars in regard to the description of the features, but this book did do a great job sticking to reality and the known science at this time.

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Craig Hurdle

Great read

Reviewed in Australia on 19 March 2018

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I gave this a five star rating as it is a great book and great read. It is about an astronaut who was left for dead on Mars little did they know he survived for a year and a half on the planet surviving and eventually earth found out he had survived by using what he could use on very smart astronaut who was eventually got rescued and eventually back to earth the movie like the book was hard to put down seen the movie twice and enjoyed it both times you will definitely enjoy the book and a good author.

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malbrown2

In this case I saw The Martian in the first week of release and enjoyed it vey much

Reviewed in Australia on 3 December 2015

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One of life’s mysteries is: do you read the book first or see the movie first. In this case I saw The Martian in the first week of release and enjoyed it vey much . . . . but what of the book?
I can easily say I enjoyed the book more. Naturally there was much more detail in the book and should you read something you don’t quite understand, you can go back and read it again. There was a bit of that going on and looking things up on google also happened from time to time.
But what was interesting was this feeling I had that “The Martian was a true story ! I know that’s stupid but I couldn’t help think it was some kind of real life adventure. It makes you wonder if humans will ever get to Mars.
The author Andy Weir did a great job on researching the details of space travel, current and in the future. I know many authors have staff to do the research on matter of history but did Andy so the same. I imagine it would have tacked an extra year on the project if Andy did all the research himself. A good question for Raf to ask should he get the chance.
I would definitely recommend The Martian to a friend.

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Rabid Reader

Wonderful well thought out story.

Reviewed in Australia on 13 February 2016

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I've got to say that despite all the "tech talk" at times, I really enjoyed this book. Mark Watney is funny, inventive and definitely the type of guy you want around in an emergency. The scenario - being trapped alone on a planet - is terrifying to even contemplate, but through a series of ingenious well thought out idea's our hero manages. The only downside for me personally was I felt that I was sometimes "overpowered" by the sometimes incessant "tech talk". It tended to distract me from the real story -what was happening to Mark- with jargon I didn't really need to know every small mathematical detail. It was fine in the beginning but I found it a little wearing towards the end. Hence 4 stars instead of 5.
Overall a great story that is beautifully crafted.

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Kindle Customer

Amazing read! If you are sort of a tech head it is very enjoyable.

Reviewed in Australia on 15 March 2017

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Great book, easy reading...highly recommended!
Tech heads will get a kick out of all the research, facts, figures and ingenuity contained within. For the most part I can't fault any of the figures/research (as I wouldn't have clue whether they are correct or not), but having an electrical background, I found some of the electrical content lacking in accuracy of both terminology and real world application. This makes me wonder how accurate some of the rest of the books facts and figures are, that aside, who wants to be the guy sitting back going "As If!!!". All or none of the the story may be plausible, but that is beside the point I guess. It's a bloody good book and thats all that really matters. Very keen to actually watch the movie now.

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Gina

A life of one, a life for all.

Reviewed in Australia on 31 October 2015

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I never thought that I'd love this book as much as I did. From the beginning and to the end I was transported to Mars and back to Earth as I felt myself observing every move and every sequence with such clarity, it was ridiculous! This book is so well written that the it is in the detail of the story that makes the story so enjoyable to read.

I've struck luck lately in my selection of books that I've read. I highly recommend this book, even if you're not into sci-fi.

I also went and watched the movie, after I read the book and the movie did the book justice, IMO.

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Vetski

awesome read... even for a non sci-fi person!

Reviewed in Australia on 4 October 2015

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If i had of tried to understand the science, I would have been lost. But I was able to LOVE this tale without understanding the scientific explanations that were bundled around a really cool story. Will be making my 12 year old read this ... and nowI am off to the movies to see it on the big screen.

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Cherylek

To Mars and beyond

Reviewed in Australia on 16 June 2015

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Loved this book from start to finish. Humorous, snarky and insightful. I felt I had learnt so much about space travel by the end of this book. It definitely makes you think about the screening process and training astronauts must go through when they go on missions. I loved the mental strength of the character and will definitely have to go back and re-read the book again.

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Valerie J.

Entertaining and enlightening

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 April 2019

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When six astronauts from the Ares 3 mission land on Acidalia Planitia, a flat area on the planet Mars, they expect to leave after about 30 days. Then a serious storm blows in, creating chaos and causing the mission to be abandoned within the first week. During the storm, astronaut Mark Watney, a botanist and mechanical engineer, is injured while the team struggles to get to the Mars Ascent Vehicle, and all signs indicate that he is dead as he lies there in the red dust. Soon afterwards, he regains consciousness only up to find himself alone and the sole inhabitant of an entire planet. This should have been petrifying but Mark Watney is an amazingly resourceful survivor and, despite everything, manages to maintain a rather quirky sense of humour throughout his ordeal. Meanwhile, the other Ares 3 crew members are on their way to Earth and mourning his loss, while Mindy Park from SatCon on Earth notices that a satellite is picking up some rather unusual occurrences happening on Mars.

I knew that The Martian by Andy Weir was achieving high ratings and that it was to be a movie starring Matt Damon (excellent choice) but I had no idea it was going to be so engaging and so frequently hilarious. Author, Andy Weir, certainly has a witty way of expressing himself and as Weir's words appear in Watney's mind and tumble out of Watney's mouth, all I could do was laugh. There is some tension in the book (will Watney survive or not) but not much. Mostly it's an awful lot of scientific explanation as to how Watney strives to survive and NASA strive to help him. I found that fascinating but if you aren't the least bit interested in even basic science, I cannot imagine you'll get much out of this book. I appreciated the way Andy Weir used science fact to get his character both in and out of the tightest corners and to make the story more plausible. What was sadly lacking was a glossary of terms at the back of the book. Weir uses a lot of scientific terminology, not to mention acronyms, and mostly without any explanation. While reading, I did wonder though why Mark Watney had a problem with his space suit only giving him oxygen?
I also wondered how a botanist and mechanical engineer, would know so much about chemistry and physics—but it's a good thing he did! I expect that the author did resort to at least some artistic license here.

Before buying the paperback, I had bought the Kindle version. There is a map at the front of the book (printed and ebook). On the ebook, if you click on the map you can zoom in, in order to be able to see detail better. The Kindle dictionary came in useful, as did the facility for highlighting and making notes, as well as doing searches of the book. But I still wanted a printed version on one of my bookshelves, so I bought that recently. I once had a movie blog and actually wrote myself a guide to the terms in the book because, well, I'm no scientist and I wanted to understand the science behind everything that Weir threw at me! I've pasted in a text version here. All errors are undoubtedly mine, so please forgive!

Acidalia Planitia - A large flat region on Mars where the Ares 3 team landed, and Mark and the Hab is located.
Aeroshell - Protective shell during launch and landing (in this case, the Iris probe).
Ammonia (azane) - A chemical compound of Nitrogen and Hydrogen - NH₃ (one atom nitrogen, three atoms hydrogen). A colourless, corrosive, and irritant gas with pungent odour.
Arabia Terra - One of the dustiest areas on Mars.
Ares programmes - NASA missions to Mars. Mark Watney arrives on Ares 3 mission, Sol (day) 1. 124 days journey from Earth to Mars. Three years to execute mission. Ares 4 expected to arrive at Sciaparelli crater on Sol 1425.
ASCII - American Standard Code for information interchange, a set of digital codes representing letters, numerals and other characters.
Atmosphere - Gases surrounding Earth and other planets.
Atmospheric Pressure - The pressure exerted by the weight of the gases surrounding a planet (atmosphere).
Atmospheric Pressure on Mars - Less than 1% of Earth’s pressure
Atmospheric Regulator - The Hab atmospheric regulator ensures that the balance of gases (air) within the Hab are safe to breathe.
CAPCOM - Capsule communicator
Carbon DioxideCO₂ (one atom carbon, two oxygen) - A colourless, odourless gas produced by plants (at night), and animal respiration; decay of organic matter; burning of fossil fuels; volcanic and geyser activity. According to Mark Watney, 8% of CO₂ will ‘eventually kill you’.
Carbon Dioxide filters - Absorb carbon dioxide until saturated. They are not cleanable or reusable. Used on Rovers and Spacesuits. Mark Watney has enough for 1500 hours of CO₂ filtration.
Carbon Dioxide liquid - Formed by compressing and cooling carbon dioxide.
Centripetal gravity - Artificial gravity caused by centripetal force.
Deep Space Network - A scientific telecommunications system -
Deimos - Smaller of Mars’ two moons
Deneb - A very bright star
Dinitrogen (or molecular nitrogen) - Diatomic molecule ‘N₂’ (two nitrogen atoms). A colourless, odorless, gas.
Dioxygen (or molecular oxygen) - Oxygen gas - O₂ (diatomic molecule of two oxygen atoms). A colourless, odourless, gas. An oxidizer (a chemical that fuel requires in order to burn).
Dreideling - Action like a ‘Dreidel’, a Jewish spinning top. I think this refers to the wobble that a spinning top has just before it falls over.
EagleEye 3 Saturn probe - Fictitious but the ‘Cassini-Huygens’ Saturn probe certainly exists and was launched on 15 October 1997.
Earth atmosphere - 21% Oxygen, 78% nitrogen, other 1%
Earth distance to Mars - 34 to 250 million miles Average 140 million miles.
Earth distance to Moon - 238,000 miles
Earth distance to Sun - 93 million miles
Earth temperature - Average: 57 degrees Fahrenheit (13.899 celsius)
EO - Earth orbit
EVA - Extravehicular Activity
GC - Ground Control
Hab - Habitation, canvas dwelling – 92 square metres
Hermes - Ares missions spacecraft, powered by ion engines – transport between Mars’ and Earth’s orbits.
Hohmann Transfer Window - Window of opportunity to utilise the Hohmann Transfer Orbit
Hydrazine - N₂H₄ (two atoms Nitrogen, four hydrogen). A colourless, volatile, toxic, flammable liquid; a derivative of ammonia. 292 litres found in MDV tanks. Each litre of hydrazine has enough hydrogen to make 2 litres of water when combined with oxygen.
Hydrogen - Chemical element ‘H’ (one hydrogen atom). A colourless, odorless, highly flammable gas. Hydrogen is a chemical element in Hydrazine.
IR camera - Infrared camera used for thermal imaging.
Iridium - A silver-white metal with catalyctic (increase rate of chemical reaction) properties
JPL - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Lander - A protective shell which, during landing, protects a Rover, for e.g. Pathfinder’s Sojourner Rover.
Launch Status Check - Terms used at beginning of American space mission.
Liquid Oxygen - LOx - Liquid O₂ (liquid dioxygen). Stored either end of Hab in high pressure tanks to feed space suits and Rovers.
Mars - 4th planet from the Sun. Mars atmosphere - Mostly Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) about 95%.
Mars distance from sun - 142 million miles
Mars temperature - Average: minus 81 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 62.78 Celsius)
Mars water - Found as ice at polar ice cap.
MAV - Mars Ascent Vehicle
MAV fuel tank - Collects CO₂ (from Mars atmosphere) and converts hydrogen and CO₂ (by [Sabatier] chemical reaction) to fuel for MAV ascent to the spaceship, Hermes. MAV takes 20 hours to fill 10 litre fuel tank with CO₂ - ½ litre per hour. For every 1kg of hydrogen it makes 13 kgs of fuel. (Mark uses Hab oxygenator to remove oxygen from the CO₂, so he can use the oxygen and hydrogen to make H₂O (water).
Mawrth Vallis - A valley area of Mars carved out by major floods in the distant past.
MDV - Mars Descent Vehicle
MDV fuel tank - Holds hydrazine - N₂H₄. MDV makes its own fuel by way of an iridium catalyst in the engine (reaction chamber) which turns hydrazine into nitrogen and hydrogen. Mark finds 292 litres of unused hydrazine. One litre of hydrazine has enough hydrogen to make 2 litres of water when combined with oxygen.
MDV reactor - Separates hydrazine into hydrogen and nitrogen.
MGS - Mars Global Surveyor satellite
MMU - Manned Manoeuvering Unit
Molecule - Electrically neutral group of two or more atoms
Nitrogen - Chemical element ‘N’ (one nitrogen atom)
NSA - National Security Agency.
Oxygen - Chemical element, symbol ‘O’ (one oxygen atom)
Oxygenator - Removes oxygen from Hab’s CO₂.
Pathfinder - A space shuttle. It was launched December 4, 1996 and delivered the Sojourner Rover to Mars.
Phobos - Larger of Mars’ two moons.
Plutonium 238 - A radioactive isotope of plutonium, used in the RTG.
Polaris - A seemingly motionless bright star around which the northern sky revolves.
Pop Tent - Emergency rescue tent (inflate like air-bag) on Rovers
Precession - Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body
Probe - Unmanned aircraft.
Rover - Transport vehicles on Ares 3 base, Acidalia Planitia, Mars. Same as the spacesuits, the Rovers use CO₂ filters rather than an oxygenator.
RTG - Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
SAFER Unit - Simplified Aid for EVA rescue, worn like a backpack.
SatCon - SatCon Technology Corp.
Schiaparelli crater - 3200 miles from Acidalia Planitia, and where the Ares 4 mission will land.
SETI - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
Sojourner Rover - Mars MicroRover delivered by Pathfinder space shuttle.
Sol - Solar Day (on Earth it's 23 hours 56 mins, on Mars it's 24 hours 37 mins as it takes longer to rotate 360 degrees on its axis.
Solar Cells - Used to convert sunlight into energy and store by way of hydrogen fuel cells.
Spectroscopy - “Spectroscopy is a scientific measurement technique. It measures light that is emitted, absorbed, or scattered by materials and can be used to study, identify and quantify those materials.”
Telemetry - is the highly automated communications process by which measurements are made and other data collected at remote or inaccessible points and transmitted to receiving equipment for monitoring.
Tetris - A tile-matching Russian puzzle game.
ULA - United Launch Alliance.
VASIMIR (4) - Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket.
Water - H₂0 (two hydrogen atoms, one oxygen). Mark wants 600 litres of water. He uses the CO2 from the MAV and the Oxygenator to create oxygen, and the MDV reactor to create hydrogen.
Water reclaimer - System in the Hab for pulling humidity (water) out of the Habs atmosphere.
Zirconia Electrolysis Cell - Used by the Oxygenator to remove carbon atoms from CO₂ and thus create oxygen.

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John

Live (vicariously) on Mars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 August 2017

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Outstanding. I read this having already seen the film, and that sometimes means the book loses some of its impact - however even then it did not disappoint. In theory, you could summarise as Robinson Crusoe on Mars, but that does the book a injustice. Mark Watney is stranded on Mars, and has to find a way to survive. Watney's gallows humour and unwillingness to look "facts" in the face (i.e. that he is going to die) and give up make you care about him.
I think one of the reasons this book is so popular, and certainly why I liked is it that Mars feels so tantalizingly close. I hesitate to classify this as sci-fi, simply because technically speaking most of the stuff in the book is feasible now - it's more an engineering problem to be solved, and political will that stops us solving that problem. There are no warp drives, lasers, aliens (hope that's not a plot spoiler) or other staples of sci-fi - just a guy trying to get home after getting stranded far from home. Reading this made Mars feel even closer - I hope some day soon we get there.

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Iset

Is it funny? Yes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 November 2016

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Having just come off the back of watching the film, I’ve done what everyone else has no doubt been doing, and read the book. Is it entertaining? Yes. Is it funny? Yes. Is it amazing writing? Well… no.

The book and is carried on the witticisms and banter of main character Mark Watney, the titular Martian, and are jam-packed with pop culture references, science-y bits, and one-line zingers. And whilst I appreciated them, even found them amusing, this is also the story’s downfall. It sounds like the kind of dialogue I’d exchange with my equally nerdy friends on a Saturday night meet up – not Apollo 13 on Mars as it was billed to me by the hype. As a result it feels like it’s missing a sense of epic scale, and the stakes just don’t feel that high. At no point did I ever feel awed, or gripped, or really worried for Watney. Whenever something went wrong I simply wondered how he was going to fix it this time and what amusing commentary he’d provide. I never worried for a minute about his ultimate survival. Fun and entertaining? Yes. Compelling and thrilling? No.

The writing is competent, not outstanding. Apart from the complicated science-y bits, the language is kept simple, which is good for accessibility of the average reader, but for me I felt it lacked a little bit of creative flair – the language is very functional and to the point, there’s very little evocative imagery or creative description. The characters are largely functional too. Outside of Watney, everyone else basically boils down to their job at NASA or their role (e.g. Mark’s parents, Vogel’s wife, etc.). Watney himself is interchangeable – his vital stats could be swapped out for someone older/younger male/female American/non-American and there be no difference whatsoever to what happens in the plot.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would. It’s amusing, it’s entertaining, it’s interesting – it’s just not the most amazing, earth-shattering book ever written, so don’t go into it expecting that. It reminds me a lot of an old classic actually – The Moon Is Hell by John Campbell – in its diary format and its functional problem-solving (minus the crime solving that also goes on in Campbell’s novel).

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Onyx

Audiobook is best but book is good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 October 2018

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I watched the film first but then went for the book. I recommend doing it the other way around. Due to an eye problem I had to switch to the audio book part way through. I started from the beginning and found it’s much more engaging and I cared more about Mark when his diary entry is being performed and his humour comes accross. The story is good however you read it but I’d go for the audible book over the paper version. I don’t want to tell you the story beyond a guy is stuck on Mars and assumed dead and he’s making diary entries and trying to figure out how to survive. The audiobook works best because the entries are performed so well. It’s not an amazing piece of writing that’s going to be studied in a hundred years but you’re going to have fun reading it and like the guy, you really want him to survive and care about his journey, he never loses his sense of humour and it makes him much more likeable. I really recommend it, thanks for reading my review.

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C. Barr

New favourite book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 November 2018

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Spoiler free review:

I saw a recommendation that if I liked the writing of the book Ready Player One, I'd probably like Artemis, so I thought since I loved RPO and it's world building, I'd try read to Andy Weir's the Martian first, having not seen the film yet either, and it being his better known work. I was absolutely not disappointed! The Martian has shot right up there to be one of my favourite books. Mark Watney is such a believable, funny and smart character, and the book made me feel actually afraid for him when things kept going wrong, made me laugh at all of his wisecracks, and make me root for him to keep going in the face of continuous almost certain of death. The book felt so real constantly with the level of description, including the day to day tasks, descriptions of fixing things, and how all the characters reacted to the situation (the crew and NASA namely).

Weir does an excellent job at explaining the science (however accurate I have no idea, but it was reader friendly enough that it didn't make me feel alienated, pardon the pun) and building the tension. He fleshed out the characters very well, and I have to say that Watney grew on me so much that by the time I finished the book, I was incredibly sad to put it down and be finished with reading all of Watney's logs. If you want a really great space fiction book, this is definitely one for you. I didn't want to put it down (nor finish it!) and it made me look forward to my commute every day.

I'll definitely be checking out Artemis too.

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Raj H.

Great Sci-Fi & survival story!

Reviewed in India on 31 October 2017

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I can't imagine and the amount of research and homework that has gone into this. This is one of the best Science Fictions I have ever read.
Once Mark is abandoned in the godforsaken planet, it is a relentless series of life threatening problems thrown at him one after another, right till the end. But with his resourcefulness, intelligence and willpower to survive he finds some or the other solution to each of those situations.
One thing I would have liked is a better character development of Mark. Given his strong personality type, some background of Mark's earlier life, some personal stories would have been better for the readers to connect to his character. It would have also been a nice break from all the technicalities in the narration, which at times, I felt, was getting to a saturation.
Other than that, it is a phenomenal work of sci-fi, even better than the movie, I would say. Must read if you like science fictions or survival stories.

As far as Amazon's service is concerned, the book was delivered on time and in great condition. So full marks for that!

PS: Please hit "Yes" if you like my review.

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Craig

A story about survival on the red planet with plenty of humour mixed in

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 May 2019

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I bought this because I really liked the film starring Matt Damon. It's mainly a series of dear diary moments from the stranded astronaut, Mark Watney, with a "normal" book style when it goes back to the perspective of people on planet Earth. The pacing is perfect, we get days with Mark and it cuts back to Houston back on Earth when the dear diary moments are getting repetitive, who are trying to help their stranded botanist. By the end of the book I cared about his survival and the feelings of the people who left him behind. Plenty of jokes made by Mark which I myself would have made in that position, which reinforced my empathy for him as he was all by himself on the red planet. All in all, one of my favourite books, it was engrossing and because of that, I finished it in 2 days.

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JRF

Intelligently written and very enjoyable

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 December 2017

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This is a science fiction story that features absolutely no marauding aliens (or any aliens at all), but is still a gripping page-turner that will keep you reading to find out what happens. And for full enjoyment, you will need to pay close attention to the many technicalities that provide the bedrock of the story, as the protagonist goes through the detailed calculations needed to maximise his chances of surviving alone in the hostile enviroment of Mars. The story is a most intriguing and original one, with a resolution that feels exactly right.

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S. Munnion

Exciting read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 January 2017

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It's not surprising that this book has been a best seller. In this day and age, when we are bogged down with recessions and have almost forgotten projects like ITER and a manned mission to Mars, its good to remember that man can achieve a great deal. Landing on Mars is now inevitable and will soon be reality, so this is not science fiction. It's a thriller.
Hats off to Weir for an incredible amount of research and faithfulness to the detail of space exploration. I don't even like to think of how hard he had to work to make this happen. I felt gripped from page one and found it very easy to read.
Having said that, by the middle of the book, I was beginning to have doubts. Where was Mark Watney's family in all this? And why does his mood of optimism and good humour never change? Surely somebody spending years on Mars, alone, with little hope of rescue, would have days of terrible doubt and loneliness. But no, Watney is always 'up.'
I became dubious about even the technical stuff when the Chinese probe came into the story. It appears China does have metric equivalents for measuring length and these may well be used in the space industry (I have no idea), but even if they are, simply the tolerance amounts would create very probable disasters, if they were to hook up a Chinese probe to a NASA one. We saw these issues with the A380 by Airbus and the problems would be far worse with a space probe.
At the end of the book, I badly needed to know more about the people around Watney. The tech stuff was relentless and I wanted to know whether he had a girlfriend and what she might be thinking.
The last part is technically a bit of a stretch too.
A few too many one-liners for my liking, but hey, that is the fashion at the moment, courtesy of James Bond, I guess.
But its a great book. Only lacking the last star from me, because the writers didn't dig into the human emotion side of the experience enough.

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Adrian Dooley

although I enjoyed the movie for what it was

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 April 2016

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Having seen the movie first and then read the book, although I enjoyed the movie for what it was, the book was a much more satisfying and enjoyable experience.

That's not to say it's without its flaws. I found the beginning where it is more or less exclusively filled with Watneys logs, a bit of a slog. I also thought the amount of technical detail gone into when problem solving was needed(quite often as you can imagine from the subject matter) was over the top and unnecessary, perhaps to the point where my interest would wane and I'd find myself hoping the in depth description of the technicalities of solving the particular problem would be over as soon as possible.

The story does really open up when NASA and its employees are brought in and indeed its other employees in outer space(Watneys crew mates)on the Hermes. The dynamic becomes much better and the story becomes much better fleshed out and enjoyable.

Despite my criticisms, I still found this a cracking read overall and was fully engaged 90% of the time. You really do find yourself rooting for Watney, which is always a good sign. I read this in about a week, which is very good going for me, so that says to me that I did really enjoy this book and so I've given it a just about deserved four stars.

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Kirsty McGhie

I did a bad thing and watched the movie before reading the book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 December 2016

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I did a bad thing and watched the movie before reading the book. I honestly wasn't even interested in reading the book until I watched the film though. The film was pretty true to the book I felt.

I'm sure you know what the Martian is about but if you don't it's about a guy called Mark Watney who gets stranded on Mars after his crew thinks that he died. The next mission to Mars isn't for 5 years and he only has enough rations for 1-2 years.

I was worried after watching the film how they would explain all the science stuff in the books, I'm pretty good at understanding science related wording because I studied science a lot in school. It honestly was fairly straight forward, there was a lot of jargon but it was explained for the most part. However after a while I found my mind numbing with all the jargon, there was just so much. I get that it's science fiction, I get that it's all about getting a man back from being stranded on Mars, but honestly some of it was hard work. I didn't have trouble understanding it, it was just tiring.

Despite the tiring jargon though it really felt like something that was actually happening. It felt like it was all in the realm of possibility, and I really felt myself getting to the edge of my seat sometimes, even though I knew what was going to happen.

Something I really adored about this book was how funny Mark was. Honestly his humour was right up my street, he's a smart ass and I love reading people like that in books.

The rest of the characters were pretty diverse but also they kind of felt non existent sometimes. I couldn't remember who all he people working at NASA were and who was what part of the team.

I think the film and the book are pretty on par in my opinion, which doesn't happen often. So if you can't be bothered to read all the info but could sit through a movie, you should watch the movie, if you aren't a movie person the book is good too.

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jon

The Martian

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 August 2016

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The Martian, saw the film first and was engaged throughout and enjoyed it. The book however was something else. I did the sample thing for some reason, read that within 5 mins then bought the book. Its been a while since a good read has had me laughing out loud, (funny looks from "Joe Public" time.)
The gallows humour is dark, well it would be stuck on Mars. The lengths our lonely hero (space pirate), goes to to survive is brilliant, clever, unorthodox but above all gripping, including setting fire to stuff and nearly killing himself. NASA, for two months forgot about him then did everything possible to get him home. They were not entirely happy with his butchery of expensive equipment and made it known, then send him up to meet a rescue ship in an open tin can of fuel.....yup thats right. His crew mates had no option but to abandon him to survive themselves. The feeling of loss and guilt takeover until they find out he's alive and mutiny to rescue him.
Some of the science stuff went over my head (I'm not a rocket scientist, biologist, astronaut or a member of NASA), but it was written easy enough to understand. The film does follow the book for the most part. This is for me a book I will not tire of reading over and over again. Try it, you may surprise yourself.

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Millionwordman

Readable Hard Science Fiction, a rare element indeed...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 July 2015

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I tend to stay away from hard Science Fiction, which is defined as fiction that’s limited by the technology that we have or can prove at this point in time, and as such can be worked into the realm of science fact. It’s not that I’m in love with ray guns and warp drives, it’s that I tend to read for the thrill of the unknown, and when something isn’t an unknown, it’s not quite so thrilling.

But, in the interest of coming out of the comfort zone, I picked up a copy of the Martian, mainly for the opening line on the preview, which reads…

“I’m pretty much f*****”

Sometimes all you need is a good tagline…

It’s the story of the first manned expedition to Mars, and an accident that befalls the mission when the weather conditions prove to be more severe than expected. One of the crew, Mark Watney, is left behind on the planet, presumed dead following being separated from the others in a massive storm.

Except he’s not dead.

What follows is the explanation of how he finds himself alone on Mars with supplies for six people for 31 days, needing to make them last for at least four years so that mission control might be able to send a team back to rescue him. Note that word, explanation, because there’s a lot of that going on in this book, not to be confused with exposition, and that for me is the cornerstone of Hard science fiction, the proof that the things going on in the book can be done.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no ability in the scientific disciplines that are used in the book, so I can’t speak for the veracity of the equations or the botanical conundrums that are described, but a whole bunch of people who do have that knowledge have spoken praise of the accuracy, so that’s good enough for me.

It would have been easy to imagine a scenario where nothing goes wrong and science wins the day, but Andy Weir hasn’t taken the easy way out on this, throwing problem after problem against Watney. Each time coming up with an accurate scientific solution for how Watney could make a success out of it, from explosions within the base to miscalculations of minute degrees that make a massive difference, everything is about the science, how it can save us if done right, destroy us if done wrong.

Given that the book is pretty much one man and his thoughts on the surface, there’s very little in the way of dialogue in the book, and as a result, a lot of what’s going on is only communicated through the logs of Mark Watney, and therein lies the problem for me. The problem with communicating in Logs is that everything is past tense, you know he got through it because there’s the log to show how he did it, and while there’s nothing wrong with writing in past tense, it loses some of the tension that present tense would bring with it. It’s not till the end of the book when the action is happening in real time that we get some idea of the man that we’ve been reading about and not just the notes that he kept on what had happened. Like any journal, it’ll tell you what happened, but it won’t put the emotion of the moment on the page. There are a few moments of live action, and those moments were well done, giving some much needed life to Watney, but not as many as I felt there should have been. A lot of the action would have been much better in real time rather than reading about it later.

Then there’s the character of Mark Watney, who is intelligent, resourceful, and has the exact mindset and skillset to survive on the planet. I understand that leaving the medical technician or comms specialist on the planet would have had them dead after the food ran out and that doesn’t make for a good story, but Watney is exceptional in all the things he needs to be, and he does have luck on his side in a number of places. I found myself not fearing for Watney, because his assured view is that science can and will overcome everything, a viewpoint that he proves on a number of occasions, but given that science is his ally, there was a lack of tension in the book (for me) as a result.

It’s heavy going in places where the science is going on, particularly when you don’t really understand if what he’s saying is accurate or applied phlebotinum, but it’s an enjoyable read, worth getting through the grinding bits for the ending, and certainly the first Hard science fiction novel that I’ve read that I enjoyed.

One thing I would say is that it’s getting made into a film, and I’ve seen the trailer, from which the line, “I’m going to have to science the s*** out of this…” leads me to believe that Hollywood have their claws into it to make it less like the novel and more like a cheerful version of Interstellar.

In truth, as much as I like things happening in real time, I believe the novel was how this story was meant to be told, and I would urge everyone to read the book before seeing the film.

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Little Miss Bookworm

Way over my head but very, very good!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 March 2016

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I can't even comprehend the amount of research that must've gone into this book. Andy Weir writes in such detail it's easy to forget that no one has ever been to Mars, let alone lived there!

The first I heard of The Martian was when the film was released - I haven't seen it - I have a little personal rule of always reading a book before seeing the film version! I found though that when I downloaded it, I was in no rush to read it. When I finally got round to reading it, I was surprised how quickly and how much I started to enjoy it.

Mark Watney's character is brilliant. A wonderfully courageous, admirable, incredibly intelligent, determined, loyal, hilarious man who finds himself trying to survive against the odds after an emergency evacuation goes wrong and he is left alone on Mars with no way to communicate with NASA back on Earth.

Whenever Mars throws up a problem or something that could kill him, Mark's attitude and personality are what sees him through. He has a few little momentary panics and then just gets on with it and saves his own life time and time again. He is relentless in finding solutions to the problems Mars throws at him ... and there are a lot!

All the characters in this book are brilliant - they're all so wonderfully determined, loyal and ridiculously intelligent that it makes The Martian a joy to read. A whole planet rooting for one man and trying everything possible to get him home. Just brilliant!

I especially liked the parts of this book written from the perspective of inanimate objects like the Hab material, the emergency food packs and the MAV. These were so cleverly written helping you understand what is happening and why and it was actually really refreshing to read from this perspective.

There is A LOT of scientific information in this book but if like me, you're totally clueless about science and space, it is easy enough just to skim read through those parts and be able to pick up the gist of what is happening.

Even at 90%, I wasn't sure how The Martian would end. With everything thrown at him it seems impossible that Mark will get home...

The Martian is a brilliant story of space travel, human spirit, loyalty, determination and courage. Wonderfully enjoyable even if you don't understand the science bits!

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eire

Gripping and enjoyable. The audiobook is particularly well presented.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 November 2015

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I saw a comment on reddit that summarised this book as being for "people who saw Apollo 13 and wished the whole movie had been more of the scene where the NASA team struggled to connect two pieces with a boxful of parts", and that is actually what caught my attention and made me consider reading this book.

I bought the book on kindle for android via Amazon, and then noticed the 'whispersync' offer whereby you can buy the audible audio version as a promotional rate too, which ended up being cheaper to purchase the ebook and the audiobook than the audiobook alone, so either the original audiobook was overpriced or this is a total steal. Whispersync is supposed to allow you to swap between reading and listening, with the software automatically starting you again at the correct location. I actually foundmyself captivated by the audiobook and listened to this almost exclusively.

The story was fantastic, delving into a level of detail that felt like a realistic and immersive work through of the mechanical, physical and chemical problems that could actually be encountered.

It was a very immersive story that strikes a good balance of scientific detail that 'sounds' accurate without requiring a Phd to understand.

Gripping and enjoyable.

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