The Martian

I really enjoyed this movie, and my cousin's rocket-scientist kid recommended the book. He wasn't wrong, this is a great read.

If you are unfamiliar with the story, astronaut Mark Watney gets left behind on a manned mission to Mars when the rest of his crew thinks he has died. When he realizes he is alive and alone, he has to figure out how to survive. The problems - and there are many - include the fact that there is only enough food for 6 people for 100 days (or sols as they call them on Mars), and there is no way to get a rescue crew to Mars that quickly. Eventually he figures out how to establish communication with the folks at NASA, and a plan is established to get him home - provided he can keep himself alive long enough.

Mark is a great character with a wry sense of humor and amazing intelligence. I admit to skimming some of the more involved mechanical and scientific passages, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. If you saw the movie you'll notice that they left a bunch of stuff out, but they had to - it would have been a four hour movie if they hadn't.

The Martian