Grāmatas apraksts no Goodreads/Synopsis from Goodreads:

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 the planet while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded on Mars’ surface, completely alone, with no way to signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone years 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’s not ready to quit. Armed with nothing but his ingenuity and his engineering skills — and a gallows sense of humor that proves to be his greatest source of strength – he embarks on a dogged quest to stay alive, using his botany expertise to grow food and even hatching a mad plan to contact NASA back on Earth.

As he overcomes one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next, Mark begins to let himself believe he might make it off the planet alive – but Mars has plenty of surprises in store for him yet.

Grounded in real, present-day science from the first page to the last, yet propelled by a brilliantly ingenious plot that surprises the reader again and again, The Martian is a truly remarkable thriller: an impossible-to-put-down suspense novel that manages to read like a real-life survival tale.

Izdevniecība/Publisher: Crown Publishers

Kā tiku pie šīs grāmatas?/How I got this book?

Lejuplādēju no www.

Vērtējums/Rating: 5/5

Mana recenzija (pārdomas)/My (thoughts) review

Marks Votnijs attopas ar mietu ķermenī un viens pats uz plašās sarkanās planēteles. Apstākļi neļauj sēdēt un šausmināties par radušos situāciju, bet gan spiež botāniķi un inženieri gudrot, kā pēc iespējas ilgāk un vēlams līdz misijas Ares 4 laikam palikt dzīvam.

Pilnībā noticēju, ka Marsietī attēlotajiem notikumiem. Kad nesen redzēju dokumentālo filmu, kur tieši sprieda par grūtībām, lai nogādātu cilvēku uz Marsa un varētu arī tālāk darboties, prāta ienāca divi padomi 1)vienkārši lasiet Marsieti un/vai 2)pajautājiet Endijam. :D

Interesanti bija ne tikai daļas no Marka skatpunkta (par ko var teikt, ka viņa dzīves skatījums un humora izjūta ne reizi vien lika pasmaidīt un pasmiet, bet tādu kārtīgu ROFL momentu nebija), bet arī reakcija uz Zemes. Masu mediji un tauta izrāda milzu interesi par notiekošo, dažādas organizācijas, valdība un citi ar kosmosa izpēti saistītie ir gatavi palīdzēt NASAi (arī iekšēji) gan ar savu personīgo laiku, aizmirstot par normālu miegu, gan ar materiāliem līdzekļiem. Endija Vīra radītais scenārijs šajā ziņā ir pozitīvs, bet pieļauju, ka varētu notikt arī atšķirīgāk.

Brīdinu, ka tālāk tiek skarts jautājums, par to, vai Marks izdzīvo!

Labi vien ir, ka grāmata beidzas brīdi, kad Marks nokļūst uz Hermes, un netiek pat ieskicēta viņa atgriešanās. Pieļauju, ka atrastos ne mazums, kuri atklāti paustu Markam vai kā citādi paustu savu neapmierinātību par iztērētajiem līdzekļiem viena cilvēka glābšanai. Toties interesanti būtu tas, kā pats Marks spētu adaptēties atpakaļ no vairāk gada vienatnes uz dzīvi starp citiem, protams, labs laika posms treniņam uz Hermes, kamēr nokļūst atpakaļ uz Zemes, kur nenoliedzami (vismaz sākotnēji) būtu liela uzmanība no plašsaziņu līdzekļiem un popularitāte/atpazīstamība.

Vienkāršojot, stāsts, kā viens cilvēks par spīti visam un jebkādām sakarīgām izredzēm spēj pārvarēt neiedomājas grūtības un brīžiem savu neapdomību, un tomēr palikt dzīvam.

***************************************

Mark Watney wakes up with an antenna in his body and all alone on the red planet. But the circumstances don’t allow him to just sit around and be terrified but forces this botanist and engineer to think all the time how to stay alive as long as possible, preferably until Ares 4 arrives.

I completely believed to what happened in The Martian. When I recently saw a documentary about the difficulties to send humans to Mars I had just two advices 1) read The Martian and/or 2) ask Andy. :D

Not only Mark’s POV was interesting (his attitude and humor did crack some smiles and few laughs but no ROFL moments) but also how everyone else reacted on Earth. Mass media and people show a massive interest and concern about Mark’s future, different organizations, the government and other involved in the universe’s exploration are willing to help NASA (also internally)not only with finances but also with their own personal time (forgetting what a normal sleep means). Andy Weir’s scenario in this case is positive but I can imagine that that might not always be like that.

A warning that further it’s revealed if Mark survives or not!

It’s actually better that the book ends with Mark getting safely to Hermes and that there isn’t even a little about him back on Earth. Probably there would be more than one that wouldn’t be happy about the spent money just to save one person and would somehow express it. However it might be fun to find out how Mark adapts from being the last person on a planet being back to Earth, of course he would have practice time on Hermes. I can imagine that at least at the beginning Mark would receive huge attention from press and have some popularity.

Simplifying, the story is about how one man against all odds and reasonable chances survives unimaginable difficulties and sometimes his own thoughtlessness and stays alive.