Book recommendation - "The Martian" by Andy Weir

[Eclipse]

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?

http://www.andyweirauthor.com/books/the-martian-hc

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Andy_Weir_The_Martian?id=MQeHAAAAQBAJ

http://www.amazon.com/The-Martian-Novel-Andy-Weir-ebook/dp/B00EMXBDMA

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-martian/id721429965

Soon to be a major motion picture with Matt Damon and Ridley Scott.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ridley-scott-direct-matt-damon-703887

The guys at Tested.com have been talking about this since it hit the mainstream earlier this
year. They are going to dedicate a podcast to it in the next few weeks, so I thought I'd check it out.

I finished it in one day, it's that good.  At 330 some pages it's not War & Peace, but it's engaging,
filled with technical detail about past, present, and speculated NASA ops and toys, not to mention sprinkled
with good humor.

With a fore-warning about adult language (the kinds of things you'd expect astronauts to say in these situations),
this would make an excellent read for any CAP squadron, cadet or seniors alike.  There is a lot of technical
information, not to mention just enough math and physics to keep things true, yet not enough to glaze over
your eyes, with a few good moral dilemmas sprinkled in for good measure.

Weir gets some knocks for not fleshing out the secondary characters much, I could see this making a
nice long-form TV show, maybe one which plays out over the same period as the book, but everything
you need is there.

In two or three places I got a little adrenaline shot just reading the book, and a little dusty at the end.

Even the publication is an interesting story, having been originally just posted to Weir's website for free,
then when it started getting buzz, publishers wound up jumping on the bandwagon.

[Майор Хаткевич]

I love Mars books!

Thanks!

[Eclipse]

http://www.tested.com/science/space/465694-spoilercast-martian-andy-weir-1072014/

SPOILERCAST: The Martian, by Andy Weir - Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project - 10/7/2014