But also book: The Martian

[KerbMav]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_%28Weir_novel%29

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/

Anyone read the novel?

[Dodgey]

Yea I've read it, some of the reviews of the book weren't so good but I liked it. I really liked how raw the logs were.

Edit:

HANG ON! THAT'S A MOVIE! Okay, I didn't see that there, that's amazing. I can't wait for it come out, looks like a good cast.

Edited January 20, 2015 by Dodgey

[Beowolf]

I'm in the middle of my fourth time reading it. Last time I followed his progress across the map in Google Mars.

[KerbMav]

I read in a review that the audiobook was also very good - I normally like to read for myself, but if the whole book is made up like a log?

[Dodgey]

Not the whole book, the log parts from the main character are written in first person, however there are other parts following other people, NASA for example, written in third person. I mean it is more like a diary then a log. Very nice to read.

[Mr. Speed]

Yup, I'm reading it, pretty good so far!

What?! a movie? And directed by Ridley Scott? WOW!

[KerbMav]

The sample on Audible contains a neat description of their regular Mars missions.

[Dodgey]

Yea I really liked how much detail he went into in the book, but I don't really like audio books, it ruins your image of the person, but that's just my personal opinion. But how did I not see that Ridley Scott is directing this, it just keeps getting better and better.

[KerbMav]

I got the audio book and it is actually quite good. Only "problem" for me - unaccostomed to audio books as I am - was the "weird" transition when the narration switched from the first person narration of the log entries to the third person narration back at NASA, as the whole book is read by one narrator and during the first chapters I got used to his voice being that of the main character. But he does a very good job and I got used to it really quick, especially because he tries to use different accents and modulations for the other characters.

[FanaticalFighter]

I've read the book, and I'll go as far as saying that the book is one of the best book that I've ever read. I read the audiobook version (I read loads of audiobooks) and the narration is really good as well. It is a book for nerds, though. I mean, this is a book where a hydrazine's decomposition reaction is a critical plot point.

The film looks like its going to be good. At least, Damon should be great for the role of Mark. However, the film casts a Nigerian actor as Indian. Godammit, why? I want my Venkat Kapoor to be Indian.

PS: PirateNinjas are the best unit of power consumption ever.

Edited January 26, 2015 by FanaticalFighter

[KerbMav]

They cast a Norwegian as the German Alex Vogel - to Hollywood all west-european accents seem to sound alike.

[WhiteKnuckle]

One of the best hard(ish) scifi books I've ever read. Dark, funny, and pretty ****ing terrifying at times.

Watney is also a Kerbal at heart, all his fixes involve duct tape and fire.

[astropapi1]

After trying to get a physical copy of the book for a while, I finally gave up and got the audiobook. I'm only 50 minutes in and it has been constant laughter all the way. I wish I could get the hard copy, though.

There's nothing like trying to design an imstrument while laughing your butt off at the description of composting poop to survive a failed Mars Mission.

The only problem I've found with audiobooks is that, unless you're doing something that doesn't require a language or your total concentration, it's hard to follow them. I have no problems reading a book, but I've had to go back a couple of minutes in the recording multiple times because I missed a major plot point.

[KSK]

One of the best hard(ish) scifi books I've ever read. Dark, funny, and pretty ****ing terrifying at times.

Watney is also a Kerbal at heart, all his fixes involve duct tape and fire.

Yeah, his method for acquiring extra water supplies - Jeb would have been proud. Really enjoyed the book, cautiously looking forward to the film. It's got a good chance with that cast and director, but I'm not quite convinced how well it'll translate to the big screen.

[KerbMav]

Really enjoyed the book, cautiously looking forward to the film. It's got a good chance with that cast and director, but I'm not quite convinced how well it'll translate to the big screen.

Mr Damon will have lots of monologues.

I hope they do not go for the silent Cast Away approach, the audiolog format of the narration delivers most of the humor; though some parts could be done as flashbacks, like the description of the original mission design.

It will be interesting to see how much of the science and improvisation will be cut to fit it into a movie.

[KSK]

Mr Damon will have lots of monologues.

I hope they do not go for the silent Cast Away approach, the audiolog format of the narration delivers most of the humor; though some parts could be done as flashbacks, like the description of the original mission design.

It will be interesting to see how much of the science and improvisation will be cut to fit it into a movie.

I'm halfway wondering if they'll change some of that, as in give Watney some different disasters to deal with. Retain the feel of the book but introduce some new twists for the film. It wouldn't be easy though.

[KerbMav]

Finished it, spoiler away!

I have difficulties wrapping my head around this - but if the MAV can match the speed of Hermes, would that not put it on route home to earth?

Granted, with no window or provisions ... but it seems like a bit overpowered for an accent vehicle - even if Hermes is on a higher point of its orbit around the sun when it is at Mars and even with the modifications to the MAV, no?

[goldenpeach]

Finished it, spoiler away!

I have difficulties wrapping my head around this - but if the MAV can match the speed of Hermes, would that not put it on route home to earth?

Granted, with no window or provisions ... but it seems like a bit overpowered for an accent vehicle - even if Hermes is on a higher point of its orbit around the sun when it is at Mars and even with the modifications to the MAV, no?

At that point, I don't call that modifications, he basically remove everything

Also: it's a great book. When I started reading it, I got hooked in the first two pages.

PS: Am I the only one to think that the first line wasn't expected?

[GoSlash27]

Enjoyed the book, though there were a couple plot points that irked me.

I hadn't thought about KerbMav's spoiler, but yeah... not very realistic.

His Kerbal-esque water generation trick also struck me as profoundly ill-advised. Not just for the reason shown in the book, but because of the chemicals involved and the fact that he was in a closed atmosphere.

I expect to hear some very bad disco in the movie

Best,

-Slashy

[maltesh]

Finished it, spoiler away!

I have difficulties wrapping my head around this - but if the MAV can match the speed of Hermes, would that not put it on route home to earth?

Granted, with no window or provisions ... but it seems like a bit overpowered for an accent vehicle - even if Hermes is on a higher point of its orbit around the sun when it is at Mars and even with the modifications to the MAV, no?

I suspect that the Rich Pournelle maneuver involved more ion-drive burning after Mars Departure to bring the Ares back to Earth time to keep everybody alive. In which case the MAV winds up in deep space, and probably doesn't intercept Earth.

They /might/ have been able to avoid the final resolution if they'd had him launch earlier, but I guess they wanted to minimize time lag on remote piloting, or something.

Edit: Also, another vote for the Audiobook. It's the most entertaining audiobook I've listened to in years.

Was a little dissatisfied with the "This is why what's about to happen isn't anybody's fault" expositions. Mutes the surprise on the "What's about to happen" a bit, I think.

Edited February 2, 2015 by maltesh

[Nertea]

Pretty interested to see how the end up envisioning the Hermes in the movie. Would be nice to see a realistic NEP craft get a high detail VFX treatment, assuming they stick to the approximate description in the book, which is pretty good. Only a couple flaws (why would you have the reactor room be pressurized? :S). There's a few visualizations on DA that don't actually match up with book descriptions and I... want one!

[KerbMav]

That was quick - at least for me ...

From the first ...

There's a few visualizations on DA

... huh? DA?

To ...

http://francisdrakex.deviantart.com/art/Hermes-from-The-Martian-485080855

in under 10 minutes ...

[Nertea]

Yeah that's the one I saw too. Bugs me because it conflicts with a good bunch of the description from the book.

• The whole thing is supposed to have a "sleek, aerobraking shape", which doesn't really work with that image
  
• The engine clusters are described as VASIMRs which don't have any reason to look like electrostatic thrusters
  
• It's pretty clear that the majority of the living spaces are rigid construction instead of inflatables from the descriptions
  
• The reactor room is pressurized and accessible (why I don't know), and in the centre of the ship (also boggles the mind)
  
• Apparently when the ship is spinning you can travel in a pressurized sense through the spin axis.
  

[KerbMav]

"Sleek, aerobraking" and "spinning" is difficult enough to imagine.

But Ridley has the right surname for this movie.