The Martian: Book & Movie Review

The Martian is a sci-fi novel by Andy Weir that has a super crazy story about how it came to be. Weir was working as a lowly computer programmer, writing as a side gig when he tried to get the book picked up. He repeatedly got the Jaimie Foxx hand to the face while looking for a publisher, so he said eff it and decided to release the book chapter by chapter each week on his site for free. Publishers soon began to call while he was up in his cubicle fixing bugs. This dude straight up snuck off to take phone calls about his book and movie deals. Oh yeah, Hollywood soon came a runnin’. The story revolves around a Mars space shuttle crew named ARES 3. We don’t get an official year that the story takes place, but most people agree that it’s in the 2035-2045 time frame, not very far from our current day. The major difference between Weir’s world and ours is the esteem garnered by astronauts who have put their life on the line and family on hold in order to help the advancement of our species by traveling a couple million miles to the Red Planet. Bit of a contrast considering the scrutiny our space programs have faced since the recession. The Martian’s plot engulfs you once the Ares 3 crew begins to pick up signs of an approaching sandstorm. They all make a run for it from the Hab (basically their home and lab) to the MAV ship that gets them off Mars and back to the big and expensive ion-powered space ship Hermes. They all make it back to the shuttle. All, except crew member Mark Wa…