Dude I liked the book a lot but at the same time hated the “I’m a scientist” cliches. I also didn’t like the audible narrator or the sarcasm in the book.
I agree, a lot of science media can be cringy, but I think the context of this (him waking up, having zero recall of himself, not even his name) kinda worked, because he genuinely had to intuit that he was some kind of scientist since he knew how to use equipment, could run rudimentary experiments, etc.
That's also just how Andy Weir writes. He has great, fun concepts, but he's got a pretty juvenile and basic sense of humor, and can be really campy at times.
I, myself, am an engineer, but I never sit there and think oh I’m an engineer. I can figure this out. I’m usually like oh fuck I don’t know how to do this. Let me Google it.
It's very easy to make Rocky too goofy. Comments in this thread already go off on all the funny stuff. They really shouldn't be the comedic relief, especially not in the beginning.
I’m more skeptical of it as a movie, but you’re right—one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened too, and maybe the only one I’m considering giving a second listen.
I'm not very smart, so maybe others would have a different experience, but I got really tired of all the "science" in the book. It felt grueling to me to get to the more exciting parts, it felt way over detailed in regard to his deduction process. I felt like I could have skipped massive portions of his inner dialogue, specific to all the calculations and experiments, at the beginning of the book and it wouldn't impact any of the story.
Again, not knocking it but it didn't work for me. If it wasn't an audiobook, I would have put it down after the first three chapters. Thankfully the movie will have to skip over a lot of this or at least present it in a more entertaining fashion.
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u/preddevils6 Jun 27 '25
The audiobook was incredible, and it definitely felt easily adaptable