The Martian

Ciència ficció amb gran dosi de comèdia, ben trenada i -ni que sigui per un cop- bastant curosa a nivell científic. Evidentment hi ha ficció, però la part de ciència que «controlem actualment» no s'exagera, ni es porta a l'extrem i es fonamenta de forma prou digna. Un molt bon entreteniment, que et fa riure molt i et captura des del moment inicial.

And probably at least semi realistic? Didn't like it as much as Project Hail Mary by the same author. This sorta read as a sequence of "oh crap, another thing went wrong" problems, followed by solutions. I'm certain this is realistic - or even still overly optimistic, given what they were surviving through - but kinda made for an overly long, repetitive narrative. I suspect this is part of why they cut some of these out of the movie (and to save time, but also it got repetitive). Nevertheless, a fun read if you enjoy sci-fi that sticks close to contemporary science.

Finishing this book was a struggle. I had watched the movie first, as I had heard from multiple people that they would recommend that. Unfortunately this made the book a difficult read because there were no surprises anymore. Although the book made me appreciate the movie even more, so that's a plus. I think my recommendation is to only watch the movie and don't bother with the book. Unless, of course, you're really into the detailed science-wankery, then the book is for you. Me, I enjoyed it for a while but it got old and started to smell. Watching Whatney "science the shit out of this", by the way, a great line the movie added, fitting his character, was a gimmick and not something that could carry an entire book. Another problem I had with the book was that Whatney didn't feel like a human being. He was more like a plot device so the author could throw around a lot of science. I guess that's another reason why I liked the movie better. Seeing him helped to convince me that he's human.