Hey guys,
Just recently finished reading Andy Weir's fantastic book The Martian. Very impressed. The book is set in the relatively near future (although if this is confirmed, I missed it lol), by which time NASA have made it to the red planet a time or two and managed to get their Astronauts back in one piece. That is until Astronaut Mark Watney is involved in an accident during a routine spacewalk, swept up by a freak storm and left for dead by the rest of the hastily departing crew. With the rest of the team safely back on their way to earth, Mark has to use all his ingenuity and optimism to keep himself alive a day at a time in the face of a planet 'trying to kill him'. Meanwhile back on Earth NASA have plenty of PR fall out to deal with when it becomes apparent that Mark isn't as dead as they thought (not yet at least). Weir does a fabulous job of conjuring up just what it must be like to be utterly alone in a bleak and barren wasteland, moments from death at every turn. Just Look at the shots from The Pathfinder probe to get an idea of the desolation to be had out there (hell, just look cause its cool to see pictures from a probe humanity put on Mars!). Just to think that once upon a time, for all we know there could have been anything there really blows my mind. In addition with Mark, Weir creates a truly irreverent and likable character, one that is entertaining and funny enough to make you really hope NASA's hastily assembled plan to rescue him works, and before Mark succumbs to the dangers all around him/ inadvertently gets himself killed. All in all The Martian is, in my opinion, a wonderful read and definitely worth checking out (I got it for kindle at a very reasonable £1.99). Incidentally the film version, directed by Ridley Scott no less, is scheduled for a late November release. Should be worth checking out as well... D.T.
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So.........no new updates for a while, thats not cool
Just a quick one - amended the sample chapter on the website - Hope you all enjoy! D.T. |
BlogThis is where I will put semi regular musing about things that interest me. I cannot guarantee they will do the same for you guys Archives
May 2022
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