The Martian by Andy Weir

My summary of plot: Mark Watney is on a mission to Mars, and in the wake of a storm, he was left for dead by the rest of the crew.  This would have been the end of his story, but Mark, was not dead.  How does he get off Mars??  Is it even possible??

Sounds pretty awesome right? I ordered the book and started reading it as soon as it arrived in the mail.  By Chapter three I was about to do a Silver Linings Playbook move....I was not happy with what I was reading so far.  It read like a technical how to manual from a NASA handbook.  MAV EVA..There was prose peppered here and there tying the whole thing together as a story.  I began to wonder if maybe this is just not the type of book that I usually read.  I am sure there are those science people out there who may get a kick out of this read.

I did make it through the book and it did get better.  I will admit that the humor in the book  is pretty funny, and sarcastic. There were quite a few times I was on my chair with baited breath waiting to see what would happen next.  The last 40 or so pages were the best of the book...lets just say this novel, for me, went in like a lamb, a very sickly lamb, and out like a lion..well, lion cub at least.   I kept thinking to myself over and over, this would probably make a kick ass movie though.....lo and behold....http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/    with Matt Damon as Mark Watney.  I will be seeing the movie..but I think for me this may be a case, a rare one, of the movie being better than the book. Not my cup of tea, but may be for others.. **