Tougher than duct tape, more frightening than the Martian wasteland, and funkier than disco, The Martian is one of the most exciting science fiction novels of recent years.

And we're not just saying that because we heart this page turner and its snarktastic protagonist. The Martian ain't just an awesome sci-fi spectacular... it's a sci-fi spectacular that topped the New York Times Bestseller List, got made into a movie directed by Ridley Scott, and is credited with giving the space program their biggest PR jolt since the Cold War.

Even its road to publication is exciting—and that's a sentence that's almost never, ever uttered. Author Andy Weir actually worked as a programmer while writing the novel in 2009, releasing the story one chapter at a time on his adorably old-school website. Although he was an unknown writer, word-of-mouth (and Reddit) eventually built to the point that the novel was officially published in 2014, instantly shooting to the top of the New York Times Bestseller List.

That's a fairy tale-style success story—it'd be like turning a YouTube video into a big budget motion picture. (Fred: The Movie does not count.)

But here's why The Martian is so stupendously successful: the novel follows the tumultuous tale of Mark Watney, a humble botanist/astronaut left for dead on the surface on Mars. We watch as he fights for survival against an insanely harsh natural environment, creates crazy contraptions and scrapes by however possible. It's Castaway meets Robinson Crusoe... with a little bit of Lost in Space thrown in for good measure.

Things get a lot more complicated once NASA realizes that their boy is still alive. As public support for a rescue mission grows, Mark's bosses—and his former crewmates—are forced to make some tough, life-changing decisions about how to get their friend home.

The Martian is a stellar—or maybe even interstellar?—piece of hard science fiction, perfectly balancing complex technical details with a cast of bantering, intense (and yes, super nerdy) characters. Our man Watney is kind of like the love child of Amy Schumer and Jeff Goldblum circa Jurassic Park: he's equal parts hilarious wit and mad scientist genius. We definitely don't want to get stuck on Mars anytime soon... but if we had to we'd want Mark Watney as our buddy.

Two words: outer space.

Full disclosure—it took us a while to winnow down the list of reasons why The Martian makes you care. This novel is a testament to humanity looking after its own. It's basically a love poem to the never-ending utility of duct tape. It's been made into a film by Ridley "I Made Alien, You Know You Love Me" Scott. It was a book that went from self-published to topping the New York Times Bestseller list... and isn't Fifty Shades of Grey. (We're not knocking Fifty Shades. That Beyoncé song from the soundtrack is still excellent.)

But The Martian is one of those rare books that makes people passionately interested in something bigger than themselves: space. And we're not just talking about the fact that this book makes people gaze at the night sky and think "Dang. Glad I'm not stranded up there."

This book relies on crazy amounts of real-deal science, and author Mark Weir basically sourced his scientific information from pros in the field. We're talking chemists, electrical engineers, and a reactor tech on a nuclear submarine. The result? Weir ended up getting praised by NASA itself for his accuracy (source).

Yep. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration itself gave an author/programmer a gold star for keeping it factual. That's just... intense. And the intensity of Weir's research paid off. When you read The Martian you get a solid idea of just how someone could survive on Mars, even if you're not exactly jumping at the chance to go spend two years on the red planet like protagonist Mark Watney.

But that's just the beginning of it. The Martian is credited with getting people revved up at the possibility of space exploration in a major way. It's even been compared to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey for that very reason. But there are a couple of huge differences between 2001 and The Martian. 

• Difference #1: 2001 came out in 1968, when people were already psyched about space. The Martian is credited with reviving interest. (If you've been living under a rock, space exploration has been a bit touch and go with the masses recently.)
• Difference #2: 2001 got people excited because it was about theoretical, whoa-man-space-is-big issues. The Martian is getting people excited because it's about hard math, hard science, and the mind-blowing reality of space exploration.

The Washington Post claims that The Martian may have saved NASA and the entire space program. Basically, The Martian might be partially responsible for getting the first human to walk on the red planet.

And that is the most insanely brain-shattering, can't-even-conceive-of-it, are-you-kidding-us, eye-popping reason to read a book that us puny Earthlings can think of.