{"id":3957,"date":"2015-09-15T20:04:22","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T01:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=3957"},"modified":"2015-09-15T20:04:22","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T01:04:22","slug":"review-the-martian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/09\/review-the-martian\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Martian"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>
\n The Martian<\/a> by Andy Weir<\/a>
\n My rating: 5 of 5 stars<\/a><\/p>\n

This was an amazing read! Not since The Da Vinci Code has a book commanded my attention as much as The Martian! It’s a very simple exposition, with minimal backstory. You are rooting for the Mark Watney in the here and now, the crew of Hermes in the here and now, and NASA ground support in Houston and JPL…in the here and now. It’s very easy to keep track of characters, and you aren’t racking your brain trying to remember who had which history with whom. <\/p>\n

I had a couple moments where I wondered, “Things are going too well, what kind of novel is this if there is no conflict whatsoever?” Frankly, the conflicts are on the minimal side…just enough to annoy the situation, but the characters remain hopeful throughout; they are written with such relatable emotion that you will empathize with Mark and Venkat as they encounter one challenge after another.<\/p>\n

The last journal entries are the most exciting of all, so if you’re thinking “This is too good to be true” most of the way through the book, just wait till the end.<\/p>\n

As a scientist, I must commend Andy Weir’s research regarding orbital mechanics, Mars weather, and NASA operations. <\/p>\n

My family and I are looking forward to the movie!<\/p>\n

View all my reviews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Martian by Andy Weir My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was an amazing read! Not since The Da Vinci Code has a book commanded my attention as much as The Martian! It’s a very simple exposition, with minimal backstory. You are rooting for the Mark Watney in the here and now, the crew … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t