The Martian by Andy Weir

I finished reading The Martian by Andy Weir. I bought the book a couple of months ago after seeing promotions for the movie. With a couple of different books on the nightstand, I was looking for something lighter after reading Napoleon: A life.

The story follows an American astronaut, Mark Watney, as he becomes stranded alone on Mars and must improvise in order to survive. The book has been described as Castaway meets Apollo 13. The narrative is mostly told through the log entries.

Although it gets one basic fact wrong [the power of a dusk storm!], the book relies heavily on Watney working through the challenges with plausible solutions. The science behind his solutions is solid.

I enjoyed the book; I would give it a strong "B" grade. Sharon and I talked about going and seeing the movie last weekend, but I asked her to push it off a weekend so I could finish the book. We will probably see it this weekend.