Book of the Week - "The Martian"

The Martian Book Cover

I read a lot of non-fiction. I try to sprinkle a few fiction books throughout the year. My favorite book of 2015 is a fiction book by independent author Andy Weir. His book The Martian is self-published and is a #1 best seller on Amazon. The Martian has over 100,000 5-star reviews on Goodreads!?!

Here's the book's description:

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?

What I love most about the book is the attention to scientific details. "He wrote the book to be as scientifically accurate as possible and his writing included extensive research into orbital mechanics, conditions on Mars, the history of manned spaceflight, and botany."

The book has been so successful that it has been turned into a movie staring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain

Watch the trailer for the upcoming movie:

Pick up a copy at Amazon and read it before the movie comes out!

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