Book of the Month–August 2014
The Martian
By: Andy Weir
Mark Watney is an American astronaut exploring Mars when a violent dust storm cuts him off from the rest of the crew. The other members of the team presume that he has been killed and with conditions deteriorating, they abandon both the mission and Mark, leaving him stranded on the desolate planet.
Mark’s situation is grim. He has no way of communicating with the crew and arranging a rescue. The next scheduled mission to Mars is four years away and Mark is stuck with only a few potatoes and disposable equipment that will fail in mere months.
Two things Mark does have are a powerful desire to live and great problem solving skills. Will they be enough to help him survive this ordeal?
Also available as:
Audiobook
eBook
Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
Book Reviews
The AV Club
The National Post
The Wall Street Journal
About the Author
Andy Weir was hired as a programmer by a national laboratory when he was fifteen and has continued working in the field since that time. Weir is also the author of the online comics Casey and Andy and Cheshire Crossing.
He began writing The Martian in 2009 and did extensive research to make the novel as realistic as possible. He was unable to find a publisher for the book and so in 2012, offered the book for free on his website. He subsequently released an eBook version on Amazon charging the lowest price possible–.99. The eBook became one of Amazon’s top selling science fiction titles and attracted the attention of publishers. Weir sold the rights to the book in March 2013 to Crown Publishing.
Read Alikes
If you liked The Martian, you may also enjoy:
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
• Audiobook
• eAudiobook
• eBook
• Large Print
• Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
The Explorer by J.P. Smythe
• eBook (copy #1)
• eBook (copy #2)
Mars Crossing by Geoffrey Landis
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