Tim Peake's five top books to take to space

Tim Peake is a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut of British nationality. He finished his 186-day Principia mission working on the International Space Station for Expedition 46/47 when he landed back on Earth 18 June 2016. Peake has a background as a test pilot and a British Army Air Corps officer.

One of the author-astronaut's five favorite "books to pass the time amidst the stars and the vacuum of space," as shared at Waterstone's blog:

The Martian by Andy Weir

Brilliantly funny and at the same time one of the most scientifically plausible fiction books I have read about space exploration. I see a lot of Mark Watney's character in the astronauts and cosmonauts of today - Andy Weir hit the nail on the head in capturing the essence of what will be the 'right stuff' needed on a mission to Mars.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Martian is among Jeffrey Kluger's five favorite books that make epic drama out of space-faring history, Elisabeth Delp's seven classic science fiction space odysseys, Alexandra Oliva's five novels that get important aspects of survival right, Jeff Somers's seven works of speculative fiction that don’t feel all that speculative and  five top sci-fi novels with plausible futuristic technology, Ernest Cline’s ten favorite SF novels, and James Mustich's five top books on visiting Mars.

--Marshal Zeringue