Announcement: The Martian is my new favorite book ever in the history of my meager 16 years of life on this planet.

Here’s what goes down. Astronaut, botanist, and mechanical engineer Mark Watney gets to live out the nightmare of every astrophobe and anxiety-ridden NASA worker: he gets stranded on Mars. Yup. Stranded. On Mars. All alone. With limited supplies. S#!*.

It may sound grim but The Martian is the funniest gosh-darn thing I have ever had the pleasure to read. The novel is a collection of Watney’s journal logs that track his struggles to get the heck back to Earth alive. Watney’s survival methods include growing food, making water, finding a way to communicate with NASA, and complaining about how disco music, 70s TV shows, and Agatha Christie novels are his only form of entertainment. I won’t give too much away though. (Hint: that’s my way of subtly yelling at you to GO READ THE BOOK. OH MY GOSH IT’S SO GOOD).

Anyways, The Martian got me to thinking about all the stuff we take for granted as a middle-class Earthlings. Like, you know, food, water, air, cars, cell phones, people, everything Mark Watney has to work his butt off for. If I had to find a way to make all of those things and be alone for an unforeseeable amount of time, I would go crazy. At least that’s what I thought when I began reading. I would still probably not be able to do anything that Mark Watney did but having read in detail how he pulled off survival on Mars, I feel like I could conquer a planet! In the words of Mark Watney, “Take that, Mars!”

Fair warning, Mr. Watney does tend to curse a lot but he IS stranded on Mars so I can’t blame him. Also, it adds to his humor. And the humor I think is the most powerful aspect of the novel, championing optimism amidst dire circumstances. I mean, what’s more dire than being abandoned on Mars?!?!? Mark Watney’s optimism combined with his ingenuity leads to a powerful story of perseverance, leaving the reader feeling as if they could take on anything. I mean, if Mark Watney can make fuel from, ahem, “personal waste” on Mars, then I can ace that calculus test I neglected to study for in favor of finishing the book. At 3 o’clock in the morning. Oops.