The Martian

[Spooky]

Finished the audio book. I never thought a book could make me sit on the edge of my seat, but this one did. The last chapter was very intense. It's going to make a great movie.

Looking at the cast list, I feel the casting is really good. I don't know if knowing Matt Damon plays Mark Watney had an influence, but Watney's dialogue in the book fits Damon's acting style. If the script does the book justice, I could see Damon getting an Oscar nod. He's going to get to show every facet of a persons personality and the whole range of emotions.

Anyway.. 

[Spooky]

Been reading through the one star reviews on Amazon. It seems lot of people want to pick on the science in the book... It's fiction folks. The science is more believable than Star War, Star Trek, Firefly... Anyway, I guess I am just one of those people who has no problem suspending disbelief.

[Eric]

  Glad you liked it!

I'm certainly no expert, but I think Weir probably got it "close enough" and nitpicking the science does a disservice to the sheer amount of research this layman put into the story. Of course, when one claims something is based in reality I suppose one should expect some pushback.

On the reality part, this interview excerpt is interesting:

Did you have to make up your own technology?

All of the technology talked about in the book exists. It's just that the book versions are the more effective or the more efficient versions of that technology. They are the next-gen version of the things that we have now. They're just better. They're the difference between a Model T and a Ferrari. But the technology exists.

There's just one that thing was completely made up. I vaguely mentioned that the Hab [Watney's home on Mars] is radiation shielded. But radiation is a huge problem in space. Mars has practically no magnetic field, and no practically no atmosphere. So if you're on Mars, you're going to get pelted with radiation. It's dangerous — if people lived on Mars, they would all die of cancer. So I hand-waved around it by saying there's a radiation shield.

But actually, you'd need ten centimeters of water or a full meter of rock to block the radiation. Radiation is a pretty significant problem that hasn't been solved yet. So the radiation shield was the made-up technology.

[Spooky]

The fact about radiation on mars gets brought up all the time when I read stuff about manned missions or colonization. If we ever colonized Mars we would have to build underground. No one would ever be able to be on the surface without a suit. We could never terraform Mars because it it has no magnetic field to protect a new atmosphere from the solar winds. I guess we would have to figure out a way to kick-start Mar's core and get the rest of the planet rotating around it again to generate a magnetic field.

If we ever colonized another world, so many things would have to be just so for it to work and support a viable earth population. I believe, out there somewhere, there are beings contemplating the same things we are. it's sad that we will probably never know for sure.

[Eric]

Two clips from the movie (not trailers).  I like that Watney foreshadowing:

I don't remember this book scene as it plays out, but I certainly could have forgotten:
https://youtu.be/lcyfDRYKDJM

Also, I finally found that Neil Tyson video Spooky posted earlier (but was taken down): https://youtu.be/-fdKyszL1Zo

[Spooky]

I don't remember this book scene as it plays out, but I certainly could have forgotten:
https://youtu.be/lcyfDRYKDJM

There is a scene in the book where Rich Purnell (Donald Glover) explains his idea to Venkat Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), but it's not as funny as this. I like this way better.

[Eric]

I don't remember this book scene as it plays out, but I certainly could have forgotten:
https://youtu.be/lcyfDRYKDJM

There is a scene in the book where Rich Purnell (Donald Glover) explains his idea to Venkat Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), but it's not as funny as this. I like this way better.

I think it was pretty dry; which is probably why I blocked most of it out.

[Eric]

D'oh.  I just realized I posted those clips in the book thread, instead of the movie one.   

Oh, the humanity.