Best Book of 2k16 - The Martian

It's December! I'm sure you can guess what that means! Yes, everyone should have gotten it, it's Favorite Book of 2016 time! Yeah I know you thought it was going to be something to do with Christmas but I don't have time for that. 

My favorite book of 2k16 is ** drum roll please** -

Normally I don't like science fiction but man, oh, man I love the Martian. There's something about a really good sense of humor and everything possible going wrong for one person that is so thrilling and beautiful. 

**There will be a few spoilers so please do not go any further if you are going to read the book or watch the movie**

So at the start of the book Mark Watney, our main man, explains how he screwed things up. He tells us about the one month plan and starving to death and dehydration. Ultimately he knows that he is going to die on God forsaken Mars if he does not haul ass and make a very complicated plan to survive on a desolate planet for God knows how long. The first sentences are and I quote "I'm pretty much fucked. That's my considered opinion. Fucked"  I absolutely love that. It makes my day, but I didn't get to read it that way. I had to read the scholastic edition which had no profanities or sexual laughs except for a meager joke about boobs. Nonetheless it was enjoyable. Moving onto the plot which is a but more important than foul language. Andy Weir, the author, had to come up with a story that was logical and totally plausible which would be incredibly hard. I mean this is a scenario that just about no one has thought of and the man wrote a whole book about it. It's a story about Man vs. Nature and Mark conquering "Mars's little game". There is lots of science and it's interesting because of the way Andy writes it. He makes it understandable and you come away with a better general understanding of science. I think I've been taught more by the Martian than 2 years of high school physics could ever teach me! My favourite thing about the book is Mark. Mark is hilarious and I am surprised that not one women had snapped him up while he was still on Earth. He's so amazing and if anyone follows me on Twitter you would have noticed that just after I had finished reading the book I started obsessively tweeting about my need for a man such as the wonderful Mr Watney(has a ring to it, right). The main component, I think, that has made the story so well liked is the sarcasm and smart-ass replies. My favourite scenes were Mark communicating to Venkat(Vincent if you've only watched the movie) Kapoor. I actually cried tears in some of them. There were moments when I felt sorrowful because he had messed up yet again and then there were moments where I felt elated, like when he finally hoisted Pathfinder onto the top of his rover so that he could make contact with people 225 million kilometers away. That's when I truly appreciated the fact that I could simply pick up the phone to speak to my dad if I'm missing him or need him to buy something.

My friend made this beautiful poster.

Next I want to go onto the potato saga. Man, I will never look at a potato the same again, or at least not for a while. When I cook potatoes I dedicate the meal to Mark. Last night I made a roast dinner which obviously included roast potoes. I felt that a bit about Martian Nutrition in our prayers was needed, though my dad was not impressed and pinched my hand when I started blabbering. Basically, taters(I love to say this word) were used to supply Mark with nutrition as he was only equipped with enough food for a month that could feed 6 people. It's obvious that Watney would have to find another way to feed himself. 

Also, I want to go into some deep ass shit. Mark wants to survive. He wants to get back to Earth and see his friends and family and carry on living his life. He has hope. I don't remember there ever being a time were Mark was just like, "Fuck this shit. I'll die on Mars and get on with it". Quitting is not in Mark's plan. He fixes what needs repairing and takes things day by day. If he had not wanted to be rescued than he would not be have traveled for about 50 sols(a Martian day) to get to the MAV.  

Human spirit. That's another big one. Mark, I think, explains it best. Every human being has a basic instinct: to help each other out. If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it’s found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don’t care, but they’re massively outnumbered by the people who do.

I've splayed all of my love and adoration onto my tiny corner of the internet. Andy, if you ever read this I just want to make it clear that no other science fiction can ever beat what you've created. It's timeless and you did an amazing job of creating something that someone who understands bugger all when it comes to Maths and Science could enjoy. You deserve every single praise you receive. Also, Matt Damon was a pretty big score for the movie, don't you think?

   

Sam xx

EDIT:: Okay, so I was just reading an article online and apparently Mark is just Andy but better. I feel very bothered by that now as I made various tweets about Mark and my love for him. What if Andy saw that and felt creeped out? I am crippled by the possibilities.