Just like The Martian, it’s one of those books that restore the faith in humanity even for the most jaded of us. Hopefully there’s no “Blow Up the Ship” button.” “I decide on a more tactile approach: I’m gonna start pushing buttons! “What I’m really looking for is something like “Information” or “Here to save humanity? Press this button to learn more!” Andy Weir is back in full force, and I’m ridiculously happy about that. There is a problem that needs to be solved - and so we are going to solve it, and it’s so much fun. Instead we have smart science and solid reasoning and friendly collaboration that are at the forefront and serve to even out the seemingly insurmountable odds. There are no space battles or invasions or bad guys (well, minus the star-eating microbe that’s doing its star-eating microbe thing while threatening the existence of at least two sentient species in the universe) - nothing that would be typical for the genre. “Humanity’s first miscommunication with an intelligent alien race. Probably counting my limbs, noting my size, figuring out what part they should eat first, whatever.” “I don’t want to look dumb in front of the aliens.īecause they’re surely watching me right now. ( “I’ve gone from “sole-surviving space explorer” to “guy with wacky new roommate.” It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.”) And it plays out in the best possible way, because our alien engineer Rocky is by far one of the best SF characters ever. And I’m going to die alone” - but this is also a first contact story. Yes, discovering the desiccated bodies of his crewmates makes him think that “I’m going to die out here. Luckily, unlike Mark Watney, Ryland Grace is not quite alone. Being in a spaceship twelve light-years from home and having someone knock on the door is totally normal.” And you betcha that Weir shows his work, and even those not well-versed in science should be able to get it as he really makes it very accessible and non-daunting. It would take that reactor two million years to create that much energy.” How can you not love a book that shows such resourcefulness and competence in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds? Done with overexcited enthusiasm in the most endearing way, full of sarcastic self-deprecation and humor as coping mechanism, and teaching us science the same way as a very good junior high science teacher may explain concepts to a group of overexcitable preteens. As he says in this interview,“My favorite part of writing is the research, and the math, and the figuring all that stuff out.” “The largest nuclear reactor on Earth makes about eight gigawatts. It’s obvious how happy random science stuff makes him - and that enthusiasm is infectious (not Astrophage-infectious but pretty darn close). It’s obvious how wonderfully nerdy Andy Weir is. But it was a scientific poke with a very scientific stick.” “I penetrated the outer cell membrane with a nanosyringe.” And yes, he also will need to science the shit out of it. For life that needs the output of the Sun it’s not good news. In Project Hail Mary, Ryland Grace wakes up from a coma with a bunch of tubes sticking out of him (including that spot where the sun don’t shine) and realizes that he has no memory of what happened - and eventually, through a bit of complicated science, realizes and remembers that he’s the sole survivor of a mission that’s the last ditch chance to save Earth from a star-eating microbe ( “Evolution can be insanely effective when you leave it alone for a few billion years.”). “Yes.”In The Martian, Mark Watney woke up with an antenna sticking out of his chest and realized he had to science the shit out of it if he wanted to survive on Mars. “The whole world put you in charge of solving this problem, and you came directly to a junior high school science teacher?” (Yeah, this book’s protagonist tends to sound like he’s 85 - he’s just not a foul-mouthed sort of a scientist): By golly*, I am so gosh-darn* happy right now. “I’d have to do the math to know for sure but - I can’t help it, I want to do the math right now.”This book is half science experiments, half wacky buddy comedy - and it just works so so so well! That nerdy glee I felt on every page of The Martian is back full force.
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