The Martian author, besides being thoughtful about his research, also used a master weapon: he published the whole thing online for every nitpicking nerd¹ to criticize and contribute. It&#x27;s well known that the best way to get an answer to a question is to confidently give a wrong response.<p>¹ I say this as a self-identified nitpicking nerd, though I&#x27;m too ignorant to do it properly :)