The Martian

Nearly everyone had read the book, and most had seen the movie too. One liked the book best, one the movie, but most enjoyed both about the same. An interesting development path in Andy Weir's creation of the book: blog first, then Kindle story, then book, then movie. (Next, the Holodeck version) Growing up, he enjoyed Robert Heinlein, especially Tunnel in the Sky, a 1955 Heinlein juvenile with a survival on another planet plot. He is also a fan of Dr Who (who isn't?). Cindy brought her display boards and illustrations, but couldn't resist starting with a pop quiz on acronyms. We decided the most ingenious solutions in the book were growing potatoes (note the spelling, Quayle) and making water. There was some discussion of differences between the book and the movie. And apparently, in spite of the scientific basis of most things in the book, dust storms like that don't happen in the thin atmosphere of Mars. Most unbelievable part of the book? The cooperation between government agencies. We gave examples of some of the funny things Mark says in the course of his adventure. The consensus for the most surprising thing in the book is that [spoiler] Mark survived, though also mentioned were the sublimation of LCDs under low atmospheric pressure and the idea the people could survive for long in the radiation that strikes Mars. We concluded by wondering why there is not a political will to spend more on space development and exploration by the United States.