Let the Children Lose It, Let the Children Use It: The Martian, reviewed.

Good Matt Damon in The Martian. (Aidan Monaghan/20th Century Fox)

"There are a bunch of severe psychological effects that would happen to someone being isolated for almost two years. And also the anxiety and stress of being on the verge of death from various problems for so long—most people would not be able to handle that. The loneliness, the isolation, the anxiety, and stress—I mean, it would take an enormous psychological toll. And I didn’t deal with any of that. I just said like, 'Nope, that’s not how Mark Watney rolls.' So he has almost superhuman ability to deal with stress and solitude.

"And the reason I did that was because I didn’t want the book to be a deep character study of crippling loneliness and depression—that’s not what I wanted! So the biggest challenge were the psychological aspects, and I just didn’t address them and I hope the reader doesn’t notice."

— Novelist Andy Weir, to Ars Technica's Lee Hutchinson, last year.

"Let the children lose it

Let the children use it

Let all the children boogie."

— David Bowie, "Starman," 1972.

My review of The Martian, screenwriter Drew Goddard and director Ridley Scott's inspiring and so-good-I'm-mad-it's-not-great adaptation of Andy Weir's superb novel, is up at NPR now. Further Reading: My interview with Martian star Matt Damon for Air & Space / Smithsonian.