The Martian by Andy Weir is one of those books that you embarrass yourself talking about with everyone you meet because it’s just so good you can’t not talk about it.
That’s what happened to me, anyway. Maybe you have more self-control. I wasn’t even finished with the book before I called my mother, who is also an avid reader, and started gushing about this one.
The thing about The Martian is that it surprises you. It’s an unassuming book, with a fun but predictable “man versus wild” / “man against nature” theme that we’ve all read plenty of times before, and yet … it’s not.
I knew within the first five pages that this was a special book for me and it turned out I was right. I devoured this book in one morning because once I started reading it, I couldn’t quit.
The Martian is a simple story. Mark Watney is an astronaut who gets trapped on Mars, left behind, left for dead, and since he isn’t the kind of man to just give up, he has to figure out how to survive, alone, until the next Mars mission brings a rescue—assuming there’s going to be a next mission.
That’s where the story opens and the book is the story of how Mark deals with his deadly and outrageous predicament. Where it goes is somewhere wonderful, making The Martian one of my favorite books of all time.
I highly recommend you get your own copy of The Martian if you haven’t read it yet.