The Martian

Besprechung
Brilliant a celebration of human ingenuity [and] the purest example of real-science sci-fi for many years Utterly compelling. --Wall Street Journal

Terrific stuff, a crackling good read that devotees of space travel will devour like candy succeeds on several levels and for a variety of reasons, not least of which is its surprising plausibility. USA Today  

An impressively geeky debut the technical details keep the story relentlessly precise and the suspense ramped up. And really, how can anyone not root for a regular dude to prove the U-S-A still has the Right Stuff? --Entertainment Weekly

Gripping [features] a hero who can solve almost every problem while still being hilarious. It s hard not to be swept up in [Weir s] vision and root for every one of these characters. Grade: A. AVClub.com 

Andy Weir delivers with The Martian...a story for readers who enjoy thrillers, science fiction, non-fiction, or flat-out adventure [and] an authentic portrayal of the future of space travel. --Associated Press

"A gripping tale of survival in space [that] harkens back to the early days of science fiction by masters such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke."--San Jose Mercury News

One of the best thrillers I ve read in a long time. It feels so real it could almost be nonfiction, and yet it has the narrative drive and power of a rocket launch. This is Apollo 13 times ten.
--Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Impact and Blasphemy
 
A book I just couldn t put down! It has the very rare combination of a good, original story, interestingly real characters and fascinating technical accuracy reads like MacGyver meets Mysterious Island.
--Astronaut Chris Hadfield, Commander of the International Space Station and author of An Astronaut s Guide to Life on Earth
 
"The best book I've read in ages. Clear your schedule before you crack the seal. This story will take your breath away faster than a hull breech. Smart, funny, and white-knuckle intense, The Martian is everything you want from a novel."
--Hugh Howey, New York Times bestselling author of Wool
 
The Martian kicked my ass! Weir has crafted a relentlessly entertaining and inventive survival thriller, a MacGyver-trapped-on-Mars tale that feels just as real and harrowing as the true story of Apollo 13.
Ernest Cline, New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One
 
Gripping shapes up like Defoe s Robinson Crusoe as written by someone brighter.
--Larry Niven, multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Ringworld series and Lucifer s Hammer

Humankind is only as strong as the challenges it faces, and The Martian pits human ingenuity (laced with more humor than you d expect) against the greatest endeavor of our time survival on Mars. A great read with an inspiring attention to technical detail and surprising emotional depth. Loved it!"
--Daniel H. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse

The tension simply never lets up, from the first page to the last, and at no point does the believability falter for even a second. You can't shake the feeling that this could all really happen.
Patrick Lee, New York Times bestselling author of The Breach and Ghost Country
 
"Strong, resilent, and gutsy. It's Robinson Crusoe on Mars, 21st century style.  Set aside a chunk of free time when you start this one.  You're going to need it because you won't want to put it down."
Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author of The King s Deception and The Columbus Affair   

An excellent first novel Weir laces the technical details with enough keen wit to satisfy hard science fiction fan and general reader alike [and] keeps the story escalating to a riveting conclusion. Publisher s Weekly (starred)

"Riveting...a tightly constructed and completely believable story of a man's ingenuity and strength in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds."--Booklist

Sharp, funny and thrilling, with just the right amount of geekery Weir displays a virtuosic ability to write about highly technical situations without leaving readers far behind. The result is a story that is as plausible as it is compelling. Kirkus

"Weir combines the heart-stopping with the humorous in this brilliant debut novel...by placing a nail-biting life-and-death situation on Mars and adding a snarky and wise-cracking nerdy hero, Weir has created the perfect mix of action and space adventure."--Library Journal (starred) 
 
A perfect novel in almost every way, The Martian may already have my vote for best book of 2014. Crimespree Magazine

A page-turning thriller this survival tale with a high-tech twist will pull you right in. Suspense Magazine
 
 

Kurztext / Annotation
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars' surface, completely alone, with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive. And even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, Mark won't have time to starve to death.

Textauszug
Chapter 1

LOG ENTRY: SOL 6

I m pretty much fucked.

That s my considered opinion.

Fucked.

Six days into what should be the greatest two months of my life, and it s turned into a nightmare.

I don t even know who ll read this. I guess someone will find it eventually. Maybe a hundred years from now.

For the record . . . I didn t die on Sol 6. Certainly the rest of the crew thought I did, and I can t blame them. Maybe there ll be a day of national mourning for me, and my Wikipedia page will say, Mark Watney is the only human being to have died on Mars.

And it ll be right, probably. Cause I ll surely die here. Just not on Sol 6 when everyone thinks I did.

Let s see . . . where do I begin?

The Ares Program. Mankind reaching out to Mars to send people to another planet for the very first time and expand the horizons of humanity blah, blah, blah. The Ares 1 crew did their thing and came back heroes. They got the parades and fame and love of the world.

Ares 2 did the same thing, in a different location on Mars. They got a firm handshake and a hot cup of coffee when they got home.

Ares 3. Well, that was my mission. Okay, not mine per se. Commander Lewis was in charge. I was just one of her crew. Actually, I was the very lowest ranked member of the crew. I would only be in command of the mission if I were the only remaining person.

What do you know? I m in command.

I wonder if this log will be recovered before the rest of the crew die of old age. I presume they got back to Earth all right. Guys, if you re reading this: It wasn t your fault. You did what you had to do. In your position I would have done the same thing. I don t blame you, and I m glad you survived.



I guess I should explain how Mars missions work, for any layman who may be reading this. We got to Earth orbit the normal way, through an ordinary ship to Hermes. All the Ares missions use Hermes to get to and from Mars. It s really big and cost a lot so NASA built only one.

Once we got to Hermes, four additional unmanned missions brought us fuel and supplies while we prepared for our trip. Once everything was a go, we set out for Mars. But not very fast. Gone are the days of heavy chemical fuel burns and trans-Mars injection orbits.

Hermes is powered by ion engines. They throw argon out the back of the ship really fast to get a tiny amount of acceleration. The thing is, it doesn t take much reactant mass, so a little argon (and a nuclear reactor to power things) let us accelerate constantly the whole way there. You d be amazed at how fast you can get going with a tiny acceleration over a long time.

I could regale you with tales of how we had great fun on the trip, but I won t. I don t feel like reliving it right now. Suffice it to say we got to Mars 124 days later without strangling each other.

From there, we took the MDV (Mars descent vehicle) to the surface. The MDV is basically a big can with some light thrusters and parachutes attached. Its sole purpose is to get six humans from Mars orbit to the surface without killing any of them.

And now we come to the real trick of Mars exploration: having all of our shit there in advance.

A total of fourteen unmanned missions deposited everything we would need for surface operations. They tried their best to land all the supply vessels in the same general area, and did a reasonably good job. Supplies aren t nearly so fragile as humans and can hit the ground really hard. But they tend to bounce around a lot.

Naturally, they didn t send us to Mars until they d confirmed that all the supplies had made it to the surface and their containers weren t breached. Start to finish, i

Beschreibung
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER   Brilliant . . . a celebration of human ingenuity [and] the purest example of real-science sci-fi for many years . . . utterly compelling. The Wall Street Journal

The inspiration for the major motion picture

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. 

Now, he s sure he ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he s alive and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. 

Chances are, though, he won t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old human error are much more likely to kill him first. 

But Mark isn t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

NAMED ONE OF PASTE S BEST NOVELS OF THE DECADE

A hugely entertaining novel [that] reads like a rocket ship afire . . . Weir has fashioned in Mark Watney one of the most appealing, funny, and resourceful characters in recent fiction. Chicago Tribune

As gripping as they come . . . You ll be rooting for Watney the whole way, groaning at every setback and laughing at his pitchblack humor. Utterly nail-biting and memorable. Financial Times

Beschreibung für Leser
Ausgezeichnet: Alex Award - YALSA, 2014.Ausgezeichnet: Hugo Award, 2016.Ausgezeichnet: Indies Choice Book Award, 2015.Nominiert: International Thriller Writers Award, 2015.Ausgezeichnet: John W. Campbell Award, 2016.Ausgezeichnet: RUSA Reading List Genre Award, 2014.Nominiert: Silver Falchion Award, 2015