Randall Munroe captured the essence of "The Martian" perfectly with this XKCD comic. I recently finished Neil Stephenson's "Seveneves"; stimulating and a mental workout. Any Weir's book is a very different flavor of survival beyond earth's gravity. I picked it up last Saturday and finished it Sunday.
Here are my stats comparing "The Martian" / "Seveneves":
Don't get me wrong, I loved "Sevenves". BUT... it is a doctoral thesis. Not to say Mr. Weir glosses over technical details; if you love creative engineering, there's plenty of detail and believable situations.
But their approach is very different. Mr. Stephenson delves into social engineering and political shenanigans, his explanation of orbital mechanics shows a solid understanding of the concepts (my second job out of college involved programming orbits for communication satellites and calculating orbital decay). Each technology is explained in meticulous detail. And part of the detail is the epic story he's writing about (survival of the human race). Even his shorter books are similar in the sheer amount of research and dedication to accuracy.
Mr. Weir draws in broad strokes, focusing on the details immediately concerning the protagonist, Mark Watney, abandoned and presumed deceased. Orbital mechanics still come into play, but in a less complex universe, there's less detail required to convey the story. Facts are accurate but not center stage.
So here's where I drum up some pointless analogy or metaphor to summarize my point: "Seveneves" is like a Swiss watch, finely detailed and fascinating, requiring a magnifying glass to figure it all out. "The Martian" is like a grandfather clock; less complex but still an entertaining work of art. Both are memorable and worth the time, one simply takes less effort than the other.
Here are my stats comparing "The Martian" / "Seveneves":
- ~1/3 the pages
- ~1/1000 the years
- ~1/100 the characters
- ~1/15 the number of calendar days it took me to finish
- 10 times the fun
Don't get me wrong, I loved "Sevenves". BUT... it is a doctoral thesis. Not to say Mr. Weir glosses over technical details; if you love creative engineering, there's plenty of detail and believable situations.
But their approach is very different. Mr. Stephenson delves into social engineering and political shenanigans, his explanation of orbital mechanics shows a solid understanding of the concepts (my second job out of college involved programming orbits for communication satellites and calculating orbital decay). Each technology is explained in meticulous detail. And part of the detail is the epic story he's writing about (survival of the human race). Even his shorter books are similar in the sheer amount of research and dedication to accuracy.
Mr. Weir draws in broad strokes, focusing on the details immediately concerning the protagonist, Mark Watney, abandoned and presumed deceased. Orbital mechanics still come into play, but in a less complex universe, there's less detail required to convey the story. Facts are accurate but not center stage.
So here's where I drum up some pointless analogy or metaphor to summarize my point: "Seveneves" is like a Swiss watch, finely detailed and fascinating, requiring a magnifying glass to figure it all out. "The Martian" is like a grandfather clock; less complex but still an entertaining work of art. Both are memorable and worth the time, one simply takes less effort than the other.