Books like The Martian

01

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

Mary Roach · Science

Packing for Mars is Mary Roach's investigation into the unglamorous human problems of spaceflight: what happens to the body in zero gravity, how astronauts eat and sleep and go to the bathroom, what zero-g does to bones and muscles and the vestibular system, and how engineers have spent decades solving problems that are embarrassing to discuss but essential to solve.

A kindred science fiction read.

02

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Neil deGrasse Tyson · Science

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is Neil deGrasse Tyson's deliberately compact introduction to the biggest ideas in modern astrophysics.

A kindred science fiction read.

03

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand · Biography

Unbroken follows Louis Zamperini from his juvenile delinquency in Depression-era California to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where he ran the 5,000 meters at nineteen and briefly caught Hitler's attention.

A kindred science fiction read.

04

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Bill Bryson · Science

A Short History of Nearly Everything is Bill Bryson's attempt to understand the scientific story of everything — from the Big Bang to the emergence of modern humans — by spending three years talking to scientists and reading science history.

A kindred science fiction read.

05

Revelation Space

Alastair Reynolds · Science fiction

Revelation Space opens in 2551 on a dead alien world, where archaeologist Dan Sylveste is excavating a civilization that vanished instantaneously nine hundred thousand years ago.

Both dig into isolation.

06

And Then There Were None

Agatha Christie · Mystery

Ten strangers are invited to an island off the Devon coast under various pretexts.

Both dig into isolation.

07

In a Dark, Dark Wood

Ruth Ware · Thriller

Nora receives an out-of-the-blue invitation to a hen party she has no reason to attend — it's for Clare, a friend she hasn't spoken to in ten years, whose circle Nora no longer belongs to.

Both dig into isolation.

08

Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe · Classics

Robinson Crusoe is the fictional memoir of an Englishman shipwrecked on a deserted tropical island for twenty-eight years.

Both dig into isolation.

09

The Atlas Six

Olivie Blake · Fantasy

Six of the world's most powerful young magicians are recruited by the Alexandrian Society, a secret organization that has preserved forbidden knowledge since antiquity.

Both dig into isolation.

10

The Turn of the Key

Ruth Ware · Thriller

Rowan, a young nanny, writes a series of letters from prison to a solicitor she hopes will take her case.

Both dig into isolation.

11

The Woman in the Window

A.J. Finn · Thriller

Anna Fox is a child psychologist who hasn't left her Manhattan brownstone in ten months.

Both dig into isolation.

12

2001: A Space Odyssey

Arthur C. Clarke · Science fiction

2001: A Space Odyssey begins with prehistoric man-apes encountering a featureless black monolith that somehow catalyzes their cognitive leap from prey to hunter.

A kindred science fiction read.