The Audio Book Club Meets The Martian
Slate critics debate Andy Weir’s cheerful space odyssey.
Photo by Aidan Monaghan. Image curtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
To listen to the Audio Book Club discussion of The Martian, click the arrow on the player below.
This month Slate critics Dan Kois, Laura Miller, and Katy Waldman discuss Andy Weir’s space survival tale The Martian. Is it an engineering procedural, a wish-fulfillment fantasy for nerds, a souped up Wikipedia entry, or the future of reality television? Did Weir’s much-celebrated humor add or subtract from the story? Is the setting finally a world of chaos or a world of human ingenuity and triumph?
For more Slate coverage of The Martian, check out Dan Kois’ book review, Dana Stevens’ movie review, Rachel Gross on Weir’s worship of science, Jacob Brogan on profanity in The Martian, Ellen Stofan on the real science behind the story, and Katy Waldman on the novel’s gender politics.
Next month the Audio Book Club will dig into Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life. Read the book and stay tuned for our discussion in November!
Visit our Audio Book Club archive page for a complete list of the more than 75 books we’ve discussed over the years. Or you can listen to any of our previous club meetings through our iTunes feed.
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See all the pieces in this month’s Slate Book Review.
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