Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary
By: Andy Weir
[Winner for ‘Best Science Fiction’ category of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]
What a great book!
Andy Weir is best known for his book The Martian. I haven’t read it, but you can bet it’s on my TBR now!
In Project Hail Mary, a science teacher and his BFF alien buddy science and engineer the crap out of space stuff to save their planets from a star-eating microbe.
It’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the main gist!
Weir fashions a brilliant, humorous, and endearing story filled with complicated science that he generally dumbs down for us, giving us a very pleasant book.
I only found one mistake in his science, but I won’t embarrass him by explaining it to you. (This is sarcasm.)
Here’s the bigger plot gist:
Ryland Grace, academia-genius-turned-middle-school-science-teacher, wakes up on a space ship with little to no memories of who he is, where he is, and why he is there. To make matters worse, his other two crew members have died during the medically-induced coma part of their trip.
Grace has a very special set of skills that will save all of humanity. He just can’t remember them yet. And yes, he understands the gravity of the situation. (Was I ever NOT going to use a space pun? No.)
We discover there is an organism (Astrophage) that is absorbing the sun’s energy in space and thanks to carbon-dioxide rich atmosphere of Venus, are multiplying at an alarming rate. If the sun dims too much, everything on Earth dies.
Project Hail Mary is Earth’s last-ditch effort to save their world. Send some people in space on a suicide mission to find a solution to the problem and send back their data before they die.
Sidenote: There’s a thread through the second half of the book of Grace’s emotional roller coaster of: “I’m gonna die. Wait, I don’t have to die anymore! Nope, I’m gonna die again. Cool, this means I can live! Crap, I’m gonna die” etc etc.
As the book unfolds, we are taken into flashbacks of memories Grace has to fill in the gaps. They are mostly related to on-ship dilemmas or information that triggers them (i.e. ‘How did my ship get here so fast?’ Flashback to how they turned astrophage into a highly efficient fuel-source. ‘How am I supposed to communicate my findings back to Earth?’ Flashback to the scientists who created the beetles— named John, Paul, George, and Ringo of course— that use the stars to find their way home. ‘How did I lose my memory?’ Flashback to a very shocking realization that I won’t tell you about sorry not sorry)
If the launch of this ship was the first Hail Mary of the book, the second one occurs shortly after Grace awakens and discovers an alien ship hanging out next to him.
‘The robotic arms drop back to pass and launch the ball… I mean cylinder… high into the oxygen-less air! It spins, end over end toward the endzone… I mean spaceship… at an incredible speed but it will still take minutes before it reaches its destination! Can Grace catch it? He jumps into his space suit! He’s entering the air lock! He calculates the angle of the throw! He runs… I mean floats… toward the pass! He reaches out! He grabs it! He caught it! Grace caught the pass! It’s over folks! Touchdown science nerds!’
Okay, that’s not the climax of the book and there are no sports announcers in space (yet), but this was a momentous pass because it was the start of one of the best friendships you’ll ever read.
Grace’s new BFF whom he names Rocky, looks like a spider, has no eyes, speaks in music, can build literally anything, and requires someone to watch him sleep. Also his mate is of course named Adrian.
We watch as Grace and Rocky figure out how to communicate and problem solve the Astrophage apocolypse that is threatening both of their planets.
My Thoughts
I loved this plot. It’s ‘out there’ but it all makes sense. (And to all the people out there who read this book and try to figure out when the ‘science’ doesn’t make sense and find the ‘plot holes’… keep it to yourself. No one cares.)
The sun is dimming and the earth is cooling. So what does earth need to do while they wait for a solution?: Stop accidentally causing global warming and now do it purposefully as must as possible. Turns out the fastest way to do this is nuke Antarctica. Brilliant.
I’m no science hobbyist so words like panspermia, neutrino, silicate, gimbal, and understanding the wavelengths of light are not my typical conversation topics. If you know this stuff then this book will be an even bigger win for you.
But though a lot of the science went over my head (including all the metric measurements… thanks America) I still got the basics to follow what they were doing and I even learned some stuff! Like why we can microwave things and watch it without our faces melting off. Or how X-rays, microwaves, WiFi, and the color purple are all just wavelengths of light. Or how a spaceship can generate centrifugal force to create gravity. (See diagram below!)
Here is the spaceship Grace is on and the mechanics of the centrifuge.
I loved the characters.
The flashbacks introduce a wider cast of characters but most of the book is just Grace and Rocky and their relationship is awesome and hilarious. Weir’s take on this particular alien life is endearing and different than most portrayals you see. (Well, at least based on what I’ve read/seen)
It looks like Ryan Gosling might be working on a movie adaptation for this book. Which could be really good, or may ruin my picture of Rocky. Plus I feel like I picture Grace being more like a Chris Pratt character than Ryan Gosling. Did they just pick him because he has the same initials?!
Conclusion
This definitely earned its place as winner of the science fiction category.
And you should read it. It’s quite enjoyable.
P.S. A three-anused mud sloth is not a real thing. I checked.
Book Club Discussion
If you’re going to do this in your book club, here’s a discussion question to get you started:
What is science?
Share this book review to your social media!