Selected for common reading at North Lake College Nominated as one of America's best-loved
novels by PBS's The Great American Read Six days ago astronaut Mark Watney became one of the
first people to walk on Mars. Now he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a
dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead Mark finds
himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive-and even
if he could get word out his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are though he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery unforgiving
environment or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark
isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity his engineering skills-and a relentless
dogged refusal to quit-he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the
next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
