Skip to main content

On The Kindle Now






"So that is the situation.  I'm stranded on Mars.  I have no way to communicate with Hermes or Earth.  Everyone thinks I'm dead.  I'm in a Hab that is designed to last thirty-one days.

If the oxygenator breaks down, I'll suffocate.  If the water reclaimer breaks down, I'll die of thirst.  If the Hab breaches, I'll kind of explode.  If none of those things happen, I'll eventually run out of food and starve to death.  

So, yea. I'm fucked."

I ran across this book somehow (maybe CSM weekly book review) and found it intriguing enough to give it a go.  And it's not bad.  After an accident the team of American astronauts leave poor Mark Watney by himself on Mars, thinking he has died.   It is a lot like Macguyver in that this guy has to fend for himself with whatever is at hand.  It is a clever story with perhaps too much technical jargon but when you get past those passages it revs up with plenty of suspense and ingenious plotting.  

I'll leave it for you guys to find out if Mark makes it, but you could do a lot worse than this Robinson Crusoe story that is believable and will have you rooting for manned space flights from NASA again.  By the way, what the Hell has happened to our space program?  We are now catching flights from the Russians up to the Space Station?  And the Chinese are landing a guy on the Moon this year?  OK, so they're almost 50 years late, but dammit, they are flying, aren't they.  More than I can say about us. 

Anyway, The Martian is a pretty decent summer beach read - I guess that means you won't have to do too much heavy thinking.  There are no aliens, no UFO's, no intergalactic space battles.  There is, however, one man's fight for survival in a hostile environment, by means of human ingenuity, and, yes, duct tape.

The good part is is it fairly riveting.  The downside is there are long passages where Mark is narrating his daily chores and myriad projects to stay alive.  I must admit I fast-forwarded a couple of times, and I imagine in writing parlance, that's not encouraged.  But for the most part it is a nice diverting little book that isn't trying to be Atlas Shrugged, or anything more than just a good old-fashioned stay-alive-until-we-rescue-you yarn.   If nothing else it is a cautionary tale for future missions to Mars, to not be careless and leave your engineer behind.  Think of it as a kind of planetary Home Alone.

If you enjoy a little science with your fiction, then try The Martian.   And don't forget the sunscreen and the duct tape.    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week.  Except for me.  I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers.  These pics need no words.  Why muddy the waters?   They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley.  The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter.  If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one.  But, please, no more.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida.  There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife.  In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride.  He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much.   He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A.   But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here.  If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying.  He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed.  Note the propeller
1 comment
Read more