The Martian is about one man and his mission to survive in one of the most inhospitable environments that any person has been in. The main character, Mark Watney, along with the rest of his crew were supposed to go to Mars in order to research various aspects of science that NASA deemed worthy enough. Very early on in the book, an extreme dust storm required everyone in their mission to evacuate to their landing craft and leave Mars. But not everyone was able to make it. While trying to escape the dust storm Mark Watney was impaled by a broken antenna and was presumed to be dead by his crewmates. He wakes up covered in dust and realizes that he was abandoned by his crewmates. He bandaged himself up and started to strategize how long he was going to last with 30 days worth of food for 6 people. Watney now must use the years of training he received from NASA and his own expertise in botany and engineering to survive in the harsh environment that is Mars. Mark starts to create a log about his actions in order to leave something behind other than his dead corpse. The majority of this book is formatted as this log. The book transitions from a theme of science fiction into more of a survival story. NASA later learns of Watneys survival by their normal monitoring of Mars and spend time figuring out ways to save him. They decide on bringing his original crew back to Mars in order to rescue Mark from the terrible fate that may befall on him.
I was amazed at how Andy Weir was able to make a simple survival story into something that most audiences could enjoy. This book goes above and beyond with its subtle humor mixed in with the specific science incorporated into it (albeit somewhat flawed science). There is a slight problem with how realistic some of the scenes would be but the logic of the arguments do not impede the enjoyableness of reading this book. It was also interesting to see what the future of our society has the possibility to look like if we become an interplanetary species.
Overall I think that this book is a great read for anyone who has an interest in dire circumstances that characters have to go through. Readers should be aware that it has some inappropriate language which is not fitting for a younger audience. My advice is that The Martian is delightful to read if you love science and science fiction.
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