That’s why I went into such detail in the science and used swear words. When I wrote it, I was writing for what I thought was a niche audience of hard-core space dorks who are all adults and already scientists. I didn’t consider that while writing the book-the whole book is riddled with profanity. I’ve been contacted by a lot of teachers who are doing that. I think it could be used well for education. It’s basically a collection of word problems. Do you think your book has utility in classrooms?ĭefinitely. It’s just tons of research but it’s easy to do tons of research on something that’s interesting to you. I started with more than a layman’s knowledge but am not an expert. I’ve spent my whole life as a space dork. The Mars mission and Watney’s survival tactics-he creates water by burning hydrazine and he turns about a dozen Thanksgiving potatoes into a crop of potato plants using Martian soil and his own waste, to name two-are scientifically vetted and largely possible. What’s special about this book-nay, what makes it a seemingly incomprehensible feat-is its attention to scientific accuracy. The print publishing and movie deals came within four days of each other. He eventually put it on Amazon for the minimum 99 cents, and sales took off. A computer programmer who studies orbital dynamics for fun, he originally posted the book as a series on his blog for free. Weir, it’s clear, did not see any of this coming. The movie is based on Andy Weir’s debut novel by the same name, which has been a New York Times best-seller for nearly a year straight and currently tops the list. Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, the ever-quipping hero forced to “science the sh-t out of,” well, everything he’s left with on the Red Planet. Today marks the much-anticipated nationwide release of “The Martian,” a science-fiction film directed by Ridley Scott about a NASA astronaut who has to survive on Mars after being accidentally left behind by his crew.

The martian book author