I just finished reading The Martian by Andy Weir. I love this book!!!

Weir tells the story of Mark Watney, a space botanist and mechanical engineer, who gets stranded and injured on the surface of Mars during a dust storm in which his team has to immediately escape to safety or die.  I promise that I’m not giving away any spoilers here. It all happens in the first 25 or 30 pages of the book.

Mark’s story occurs in what appears to be the not-to-distant future, which actually makes it even better for any of us nerds that dreamed about going into space until they realized that Thermodynamics and Physics just SUCK unless you are brilliant.

The character development in this book was phenomenal.  You get a true sense of  a multi-dimensional Mark Watney. He’s funny and smart. Creative and obnoxious. Hopeful and hopeless. But most of all, he’s terrified but refuses to give up…ever. There is so much strength in that type of courage that you can’t help but be sucked into his story.  Beyond that, though, Weir works hard to really introduce you to the key characters that work to find a way to try to rescue Mark after they discover that his is still alive and stuck on Mars.

I won’t give everything away, but if you are looking for a fun, easy, quick read, then put this on your list.  And, as a bonus, you get to see Matt Damon as Mark Watney in the upcoming movie version of the book.  I cannot wait!