The Martian
By: Andy Weir
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Thesis Statement
While written to be fantasy, this novel is seemingly becoming more and more realistic as time goes on because of the scientific and technological advancements made in space travel, specifically to Mars.
Activity #1
Have you ever wanted to go into space, even go to Mars!? Discus with a friend if you would go or not. What risks do you think there would be? Would there be any benefits?
About The Author
Andy Weir is highly interested in all things space! The Martian was his first novel he’s ever written. Andy has several other novels that are also about space. He worked as a software engineer, but was always interested in relative physics, orbital mechanics, and space flight.
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What is The Martian?
The Martian is about Mark Watney, a botanist, who get stranded on Mars after his crew thinks he died in an accident. Turns out he’s not dead and he has to find a way to survive on Mars until somebody figures out he’s alive. Mark figures out how to live stranded on Mars, even through many hardships, he persists through them! Eventually, Mark get saved and makes it back to Earth!!
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How is The Martian realistic?
How is it fantasy?
Could we really go to Mars?
The Martian has made it clear that we have the proper technology to travel to Mars. The book (and the movie) make it seem so realistic, so why can’t we make it happen. NASA has the technology to get to Mars. They have put in lots of time to create plans in order for humans to finally reach that goal. In the link below you can go check out the website from NASA and see that it’s possible.
Activity #2
The Martian Word Search
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Activity #3: Check out the Movie!
The movie and the novel are very similar. It represents the book so well! I would highly recommend giving The Martian a watch! If you have watched the movie and read the novel, do you think they are similar? What’s the same? What’s different?
Citations
“Mars Facts - Interesting Facts about Planet Mars: Mars Image.” Space Facts, Space Facts, 8 June 2021, https://space-facts.com/mars/.
“NASA Mars Exploration.” NASA, NASA, 3 June 2014, https://mars.nasa.gov/.
Scott, Ridley. The Martian. Twentieth Century Fox, 2015.
Weir, Andy. The Martian: A Novel. Ballantine Books, 2014.
“Word Search Puzzle.” Create Your Own Word Search Puzzle | Discovery Education Puzzlemaker, Discovery Education, https://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/word-search.
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