Fourth Planet from the Sun

Odysseus. Robinson Crusoe. Lemuel Gulliver. John Carter. All intrepid voyagers. All castaways. All stranded a long way from familiar shores. Add to that illustrious list Mark Watney, hero of the 2014 novel, The Martian.

Of the castaways listed, Watney, an astronaut marooned on Mars, shares the most with Robinson Crusoe. The other three spend their lost years dallying with other cultures and races; Crusoe and Watney have to endure total solitude with only their wits to keep them alive. Well, their wits plus boatloads of equipment they can salvage as they await either rescue or death. One thing that makes stories about castaways so fascinating, is that very question of whether they'll live to return home. Author Andy Weir's saga adds a new dimension to the ancient fascination: his rigorous use of cutting-edge science. Yes, the book is science fiction, but not in the same vein as Edgar Rice Burroughs' story of the Earthling-turned-Martian, John Carter, which relies much more on fantasy than it does on science. And Weir's science is solid as bedrock. No swooning Martian princesses here; no four-armed giant swordsmen; no eight-legged pets. Just an airless, desiccated planet where even a simple mistake might mean dying.

Andy's site describes him as a software engineer and lifelong space nerd. With the publication of The Martian, Weir's first book, he also adds the job description of best-selling author to his resume. His crisp writing snags the reader's attention from the first sentence: "I'm pretty much fucked." How can you not want to read the next sentence?

According to The Wall Street Journal, Weir first put his book on his Website in 2011 free of charge. Later, he began selling it on Amazon for 99 cents. In three months, it sold 35,000 copies, and agents, publishers, and movie studios perked up their ears. Crown Publishers bought the book for six figures. Twentieth Century Fox optioned the film rights.

One of the best things about the novel is that it celebrates not just the adventure story of one man's ingenuity and resourcefulness in the face of overwhelming odds, but, as Watney says, "the sheer number of people who pulled together just to save my sorry ass." The epiphany of the last page comes from Watney's realization that "every human being has a basic instinct to help every other out. ... Yes, there are assholes who just don't care, but they're massively outnumbered by the people who do. And because of that, I had billions of people on my side. Pretty cool, eh?"

Yes. Way cool.