The Nature of Things

Reading this book reminded me of an old story (possibly apocryphal) about Aaron Copland. It was said that, when told that Copland had written a new piece of music, a critic said, "What's he calling it this time?" Well, this time Andy Weir is calling it Artemis but it is basically The Martian just reset on the Moon.  I read The Martian a couple of years ago and really, really enjoyed it. Especially the science stuff. Even when I didn't understand it, it was fascinating. And then there was the personality of Mark Watney, the astronaut trapped on Mars. His wisecracking smartass never-say-die schtick seemed just right for the situation. Now, imagine Mark Watney transferred to the Moon and changed to a Saudi woman who has lived in the one lunar city, Artemis, since she was six years old and was brought there by her father, a welder. She was trained by her father to be a welder and displayed a real talent for the craft, but she was a rebel and grew up to pursue a minimal...

The Martian by Andy Weir My rating: 5 of 5 stars Astronaut Mark Watney is in deep doo-doo. He is alone on Mars, left behind in a storm by his fellow crew-mates, who thought he was dead. It all happened six days into the Ares 3 mission to Mars. The six team members had landed and set up their base on the planet and were beginning operations when an unexpectedly strong wind and dust storm hit the base and threatened to disable the craft that was their one means of escaping Mars. Their commander ordered an emergency evacuation, but, as they stumbled toward the craft, Watley was hit by an antenna that had been dislodged by the wind. It punctured his life-saving spacesuit, wounding him and knocking his unconscious body a good distance away from the rest of the crew. They immediately began searching for him, but it was hopeless. Visibility was near zero and the wind and flying debris were fierce and unrelenting. The commander ordered her crew on board the escape vehicle while she continued ...