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Anyone read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir?


KEV67

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I noticed this had come out when reading an article in The Telegraph about books that have come out in 2021. The reviewer had a literary bent, so only gave it 3 stars, but said it was difficult to put down. I looked it up on GoodReads and it has an average score of 4.57 from 49,204 reviews. That is about the highest score I've come across. A sci-fi booktuber I follow (someone who has a YouTube channel discussing books) gave it five stars. I did like The Martian. Apart from the Martian storm that caused the rocket crew to take off and leave protagonist behind, the science was very strong. The characterization: I wouldn't say it was complex. I don't think the protagonist suffered many dark nights of the soul. He'd be too tired for a start. He'd wake up in the morning, ready for another sixteen hours' problem solving, then go to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. I have read him described as a more intelligent Robinson Crusoe. I identified more with Robinson Crusoe. Robinson Crusoe spent a long time hollowing out a tree trunk in the forest to make a canoe, figuring he'd work out how to get it to the shore later. When he finished it, he couldn't get it to the shore. That's the sort of thing I might do, but Andy Weir's Martian definitely wouldn't. I hear his other book, Artemis, set on the moon, was not as good, but his latest book, Project Hail Mary, is back to his best. It sounds like it will definitely be made into a film before too long, so I should probably read it.

Edited by KEV67
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I have heard great things of Project Hail Mary too (now I wonder who the BookTuber is that you follow, I'm a BookTuber myself and follow a whole bunch of other BookTubers. Was it Daniel Greene? He is one of the bigger BookTubers who talks about adult science-fiction). I would like to read it too, I'm waiting for a medium-size paperback release. I loved The Martian, so I think/hope I will love this one as well.

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2 hours ago, Athena said:

I have heard great things of Project Hail Mary too (now I wonder who the BookTuber is that you follow, I'm a BookTuber myself and follow a whole bunch of other BookTubers. Was it Daniel Greene? He is one of the bigger BookTubers who talks about adult science-fiction). I would like to read it too, I'm waiting for a medium-size paperback release. I loved The Martian, so I think/hope I will love this one as well.

 

No, it was Becky M.

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I have been looking for the book in the shops, but I can't even find it in hardback form yet. That high GoodReads score might be down to fans who pre-ordered a copy.

 

I hear the protagonist in Project Hail Mary is very like Mark Watney in The Martian, only de does not use profanity, as he is a school teacher.

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One thing that always irritated me about The Martian was that the Martian sand storm that made the crew take off and leave Mark Watney behind was not scientifically possible. Andy Weir admitted it himself, but could not think of a better plot device. Later on in the book there is a Martian sand storm and Mark Watney hardly notices. Well, I thought of a better contrivance on the train to work today: There is a comet or asteroid heading for Earth. There is a 99.9% chance it will miss, but 0.1% x 7 billion people is still 7 million people's worth of risk, so the POTUS orders the crew to take off and nudge the comet/asteroid out the way. I don't know why they had to leave Mark Watney behind, but that's a detail. I watched Andy Weir on YouTube say that while he was publishing his book online, readers would give him feedback, saying what bits of technology were feasible or infeasible. Do you think it's too late to make my suggestion?

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I am enjoying it. It is rather like The Martian. The protagonist is much the same. He is not very deep. It is hard science fiction, in that most of the science is correct. At least it seems so. Maybe it is physically impossible for microorganisms to convert energy directly into mass, but I think it is acceptable for a sci-fi book to stretch the laws of physics once or twice in the interest of drama. It is also near sci-fi. It is not set centuries and millennium in the future. It is set more or less now. The plot is ingenious.

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I see a film is being made with Ryan Gosling as star. I can't help feeling this is a miscasting. The protagonist is not an alpha male. He is a geek. He is a bachelor, science teacher. I know it is a box office film, so needs a star, but I still think it is the wrong actor.

 

I was talking about the plot to a friend, and I think I may have discovered a plot hole, but maybe it is not one. I thought if the micro-organisms could convert energy into mass, then why do they have to go somewhere with carbon-dioxide to build their bodies. I suppose whatever the best element to convert energy into might not be carbon. If so, I am pretty sure they have not mentioned which element it is, because I would have remembered.

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Don't read on if you are worried about being spoiled.

 

I wonder if I spotted a couple more plot holes:

1) Could we actually generate enough energy on Earth to get a spaceship to Tau Ceti? I thought they were going to scoop the astrophage orbiting the sun, rather than charging them up on earth. I did some sums using my O level physics, ignoring time dilation and mass changes with velocity. I assumed the spaceship was 10x the mass of a Saturn V rocket. I reckoned it would take Drax power station over 50 million years to power it up. Maybe a bit less because the spaceship gets lighter as it uses up fuel.

2) The bit where they are demonstrating the spin drives - if so much energy was released in such a short time it melted a slab of metal, surely it would have buckled those spin drives.

 

No, it is not quite hard sciency enough, although it is better than most.

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Again using O level physics, it would take Drax power station 12 hours to charge up Saturn V rockets for the Apollo missions. Well, probably more because there would be energy losses in making the rocket fuel. I am surprised it would take that much energy, because Drax was our biggest power station. Still, 12 hours is a lot less than 50 million years. It could be my arithmetic is wrong somewhere.

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I am only about  40% through the book, but I reckon that almost as soon as Ryland Grace blasted off on his mission, the scientists started wondering why they devoted all that resource on a project that had such a low chance of success. Surely it would be a lot easier to clear some of the astrophage away from the sun. They know how to do it. They would not need to clear it all away, just the astrophage that was blocking light to the earth. what is more, all our energy shortages would be sorted out. Maybe Venus could be terraformed with some of the light blocked out and it's carbon dioxide depleted. 

Edited by KEV67
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