When I first started reading “The Martian,” I felt like a student taking in all this science knowledge that I wasn’t sure what to do with. Author Andy Weir could take a difficult subject, the everyday scientific projects in Mars, and write in layman’s terms how to resolve each technical problem, while also making it entertaining for the average reader.

Mark Watney is the astronaut who was stranded in Mars. In order to survive, he used his botany skills to figure out how to live as the lone “pirate” in the red planet until help arrived.

We as the reader are solving various problems with Watney as we see how his mind works when he is figuring out how to survive. Take a read at the following as he’s trying to resolve how he will make more food with what he has.  

“I could grow maybe 150 kilograms of potatoes in 400 days (the time I have before running out of food). That’s a grand total of 115,500 calories, a sustainable average of 288 calories per day. With my height and weight, if I’m willing to starve a little, I need 1500 calories per day.”

This is just one example of how he goes into detail with each problem. The gears turning in Watney’s head are fascinating to read, even if you don’t come from a STEM background.

I was excited when I found out there would be a movie adaptation. They perfectly cast Matt Damon as Mark Watney, as he captured the sarcastic personality that was needed to not go insane in Mars.

Even if you are not a fan of Damon, the movie has an all-star cast where everyone delivers solid performances.

I thoroughly enjoyed both the novel and the movie, but I will have to give a slight edge to Ridley Scott’s adaptation.

I was wondering how they would translate the first-person novel into a movie. It was a brilliant decision to use the video logs as a medium to explain Watney’s actions, rather than have him stay silent. This would have left the audience confused. There is also a plethora of scientific vocabulary in the script that stays true to the book.

In the novel, when the crew rescued Watney, there wasn’t a rejoiceful reunion. The other astronauts, realistically, treated him for potential injuries as if he was a trauma patient. Watney explained that the rescue wouldn’t be like the movies. I’m wondering if Ridley Scott wanted to showcase this irony, as everyone was all smiles, as if he just returned from a long vacation.

What I loved about the story were the moral dilemmas. Is Watney, one person, worth risking the lives of his crewmates? Why is taxpayer money being spent on trying to save Watney when people die every day on earth?

In this conflict, the human nature of helping someone in need, no matter how illogical, ultimately wins out. In a story that is heralded for its accurate portrayal of STEM, it didn’t have to “science the shit” out of a happy ending.