I started reading the book just before it showed up On Demand within my satellite provider. I started reading hurriedly so I could rent and watch the movie. At the same time I had just participated in a potato recipe challenge. Too bad the sequence of events hadn’t been a little different but I have a recipe in honor of this fun fiction story about an Earthling that inadvertently became a Martian. 
The Martian written by Andy Weir takes place on Mars. Given the advances in technology and space travel it’s almost a believable story. The descriptions of the planet and climate were not quite what my narrow space educated mind had expected. For one, I didn’t know there is gravity on Mars.
Any way, a storm and unfortunate sequence of events on a space mission lead to Mark Watney being left behind on Mars. He is an incredibly resilient man who not only has Macgyver skills and creativity but is also a botanist. Thank goodness because he needs those skills to survive.
There are a lot of technical explanations that I tended to skim over as I progressed through the book but not too much so as to know how he gets through the various disasters thrown at him. It’s a great science fiction story line that ends a little differently from the movie (but in a good way).
Fun fact: He refers to 50 kph, which I believe refers to knots and compares roughly to 30 miles per hour winds out in the plains of Texas where I live. I totally get the howling winds and difficulty walking through it!
I enjoyed reading the book and loved watching the movie knowing the details they left out. The snarky humor thrown about here and there is right up my alley. I give the book a PG rating and recommend it for teen through adult because of the amount of technical talk and a smattering of curse words.
Because potatoes extend his life, here's a recipe I wish he'd been able to make on Mars. Click the photo for the full recipe.
- potatoes
- green beans
- ham
- onion
- bell pepper
