He’s stuck out there. He thinks he’s totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man’s psychology?” He turned back to Venkat. “I wonder what he’s thinking right now.”
LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They’re mammals! Makes no sense.
With the recent release of the Project Hail Mary movie, I decided to reread the Project Hail Mary book. So of course I also had to re-read The Martian (I’ll watch it at some point too!). But the last time I read it, I wasn’t writing reviews yet… so here we are!
In a nutshell, the story starts with a mission to Mars, cut short by a dust storm1. Except in the chaos, they leave one man behind.2
If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it’s found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do.
The rest of the book follows the parallel stories of Mark Watney–first man stranded on another planet3–doing his absolute best to science the shit out of his situation4 while at the same time, the people of Earth and the crew that left him behind have to figure out how to help him from a hundred million kilometers away.
There are all sorts of problems to overcome. Like, how do you grow crops without soil (Martian soil has nothing living in it, which makes growing plants trick), to… how do you start a fire? (There’s a good reason for it. )
Martinez is a devout Catholic. I knew that. What I didn’t know was he brought along a small wooden cross. I’m sure NASA gave him shit about it, but I also know Martinez is one stubborn son of a bitch.
I chipped his sacred religious item into long splinters using a pair of pliers and a screwdriver. I figure if there’s a God, He won’t mind, considering the situation I’m in.
If ruining the only religious icon I have leaves me vulnerable to Martian vampires, I’ll have to risk it.
It’s just such a positive vibe on a terrible situation. You’re more alone than anyone in the history of humanity with problem after problem trying their very best to kill you. Okay, so how can you fix them?
I really enjoy this book. It’s a perfect pairing to Project Hail Mary. If you like either of them, I highly recommend both!
Apparently that’s one of the few sciency things that Weir acknowledges aren’t quite right. Mars doesn’t have enough atmosphere for that to have been an issue. But if it’s not an issue, well… you don’t have much of a book, do you? ↩︎
It’s not spoilers. 😄 It’s literally in the first chapter. ↩︎
First of a lot of thing, really. ↩︎
Which is actually a movie quote. Or even just the trailer? It’s such a great addition though. ↩︎