← Book Explained

The Martian by Andy Weir: Review, Books Like It, the Ending Explained and a Science Fact Check

An astronaut is left for dead on Mars with a habitat built for a month. Hailey reviews Andy Weir's The Martian spoiler-free, recommends six books to read next, then, after a spoiler warning, explains the rescue, the sugar bomb and the final launch, and checks how much of the science is real. Content note: frequent strong language in the book.

Get the book
Audiobook
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Books mentioned in this episode
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger
Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Artemis by Andy Weir

Chapters
0:00 Cold Open
0:31 Welcome
1:10 The Review
6:33 What To Read Next
8:58 Spoiler Warning
9:16 The Ending Explained
15:49 The Science
20:34 Outro

Scores, the full written review and the videos

Narrated by Hailey, the Book Explained host voice (AI-generated with Kokoro TTS).

Music
"Friday Morning" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Fresh Air" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Carefree" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Disquiet" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

"Reminiscing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0