The Shack: The Martian By Mark Watney

Have you ever wondered what life on Mars would be like? This quarter, I finished the book, The Shack, which has 256 pages. I also finished the book, The Martian, which has 435 pages. That comes out to a total of 691 pages. Mark Watney had this exact same question until his answer was all too real. Mark spent 549 sols on Mars, or 564 Earth days, awaiting his inevitable demise. Mark is part of a mission along with 5 others to research Mars and its habitability. The mission was designed to last 31 sols. During their sixth sol on Mars, a dust storm with wind gusts to extreme for their escape pod (MAV) to handle came and the crew had to evacuate 25 sols early. During the difficult walk to the MAV, the team’s botanist and engineer was struck by a piece of flying metal, Mark was presumed to be dead.

With no one there to help him, he stumbled into the MAV and removed the piping from his suit. Mark needed to figure out a way for his supplies, which were meant to last six people for 31 sols, to last roughly 550 sols. Mark, being the botanist that he is, figured out how to grow to potatoes by using the crews dried and packaged waste as manure. He later figures out how to communicate with NASA. This stream of advice was the most crucial component that aided to his survival. He needs to reach the next mission’s MAV in order for his crew to do a drive by pick up for him. Marc needs to make it across 3,500 kilometers of rough terrain in order to complete this task. While reading The Shack, I have identified Mack’s search for love through God and I have been evaluating and questioning the book The