Mankind is predicted to land on Mars sometime in the 2030’s. Many private companies, such as SpaceX and Boeing, have already begun making plans to do so. But what will life be like when we get there? How will we survive? What do we do when things go wrong? The Martian, by Anthony Weir, attempts to answer these questions and more.
The Martian takes place in 2035, when NASA’s Ares III crew is undergoing their mission on the red planet. Partway into this, a huge dust storm hits the Acidalia Planitia where the crew is set up. This storm forces the crew to evacuate the mission, but in the midst of the storm, a piece of scrap metal hits the unsuspecting astronaut Mark Watney on his way to the Mars Ascent Vehicle, or MAV.  The rest of the crew presumes that he is dead, so they take off in the ship without him, stranding Mark in the barren expanse of Mars.
This comedical astronaut is then forced to use his resourcefulness and skills in botany to survive until he finds a way to contact NASA and escape. He must figure out how to get food, water, maintain and repair equipment, and most importantly, find out how to tell Earth that he is still alive. Failure in any one of these will result in certain death. But as with most things, failure is inevitable, and throughout this book, you will be left on the seat of your pants, waiting to see if Watney makes it. Every time Mark solves a problem, Mars throws another one at him, leaving you wanting to know more.  Because of this, the book was very hard to put down. Throughout the journey, you will be cheering for the astronaut's survival, while not being able to stop laughing at his witty sense of gallows humor.
This adventure is conveyed through a series of logs Watney makes during his mission, providing insight on his day to day life surviving on Mars. And of those things, almost all of Mark’s solutions exist in the realm of modern-day science, and are completely plausible. This continues to make this novel all the more believable, and all the more telling of what a real life Mars mission would look like.
  This book is a great read for anyone who has an interest in space exploration, science fiction, or just science in general, and especially for those who care about humanity’s next step into the stars. Anyone who reads The Martian will be left not being able to stop turning the pages of this stellar book.