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It never occurred to me that I'd relate to an astronaut
on Mars, but I did. A lot of people have
heard of the movie The Martian, starring Matt Damon, and of course it's based
on the book by the same name, written by Andy Weir. I decided to listen to the book, which
fortunately was available. There were
three things in The Martian that really struck me.
1) Community
2) Problem solving
3) Attitude
Mark Watney - the main character or the Martian - had
already nearly died twice, about one and a half hours into the book. So for me, this book is not about suspense,
it's about the process. I'll admit it
took a while for me to get into the book - I wasn't sure about an hour and a
half into the book, if I'd keep listening.
But I knew he'd eventually make contact with NASA, so I kept going. The technical stuff gets a bit tedious at
times, in my opinion, if you're not really into math and technical stuff, but
it does give you a sense of the thought process of an astronaut. I liked the
fact that the actual writing style is very straight forward. I think it fits the subject matter.
It's wonderful how everyone at NASA pulls together once
they figure out that Watney is still alive.
Each person puts in a tremendous amount of time and effort, which is
what I mean by community. I really came to care not just about Watney, but
about everyone.
I mentioned the time and effort everyone puts in, which
brings me to the problem solving. Mark
has to solve one problem after another. Andy
Weir uses the device of Mark's daily Mars (or saul) log to have him share his
thoughts, ostensibly with whomever reads the notes once they find him, after
he's died. So we get a look inside
someone's problem solving thought process, at least to a degree.
Given my own lifestyle - particularly getting past my
setback - of constantly figuring out how to do things, and what to do if I
encounter a problem, I could really relate to this. Granted I'm not,
fortunately, in a life or death situation, but the idea is still the same. For
much of the book, Mark isn't relying on anyone besides himself, his own brain
to survive, which is an interesting concept. I'm thankful that, unlike Watney, I am not
alone. However, even with my medical
team, I still have to figure things out as I move through each day. It's not like I have Joyce, Ann or Dr.
Margolis following me around each day.
Now about Watney's attitude. Watney writes in his log about a few "temper
tantrums," but mainly he's very focused on what he can, and needs, to
DO. His goal is to survive until he's
rescued, so it's always about what he needs to do in order to survive, and how
he's going to make that happen. He
breaks every problem down into small components, which reminds me of what I
need to do sometimes with my VT or FT.
If I'm having a problem, I have to break it down, and say "OK, so
what's giving me a problem here?".
I've learned, and am still learning from my setback. How specifically did I push my boundaries too
much? What tools do I need from Joyce
and Ann in order to move forward more successfully? Fortunately Joyce and Ann both listen to me
well, and have ideas to help me as I work on getting back on track. Watney has to expend a tremendous amount of
effort, but in the end that's OK. When
he succeeds with something, especially if he encountered something unexpected, if
he's still alive, it's a win. I like that - that things don't always go according to plan, that you can't always - no matter how hard you try - predict reactions - but especially when you have to deal with unexpected hurdles, getting through something difficult is a success.
