Science can be learned in a lot of unexpected ways. As an undergrad, I once aced an exam because instead of doing my planned studying, I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it happened to be an episode where Data explained some science concepts in great detail that I wasn’t planning to study but that did turn out to be on the exam.

Science fiction is something I turn to both to escape our current world and to see how technologies might get combined in some future where money is no option and space exploration is real. In his freshman novel, The Martian, author Andy Weir imagined the fate of an astronaut accidentally stranded on the red planet, and with shocking levels of scientific rigor, explained just how such a human might survive. Weir has since gone on to author Artemis and now, Project Hail Mary.

The scientists in this near-future novel discover that something is eating away at the Sun and will destroy our world if the process can’t be reversed. In an attempt to save humanity, a desperate mission is launched that leaves one man, Ryland Grace, abandoned without his memories light-years away in a spacecraft that contains tools, computers, and two dead colleagues. Somehow, he has to figure out who he is, and how to save our distant world.

Project Hail Mary employs a storytelling method that leaps the reader back and forth between our hero’s current struggles in a distant star system and the months of events on Earth that led to his journey. This disjointed timeline brings drama to the return of his memory and links together how every decision of the past directly affects the future.

Like The Martian, Project Hail Mary shows our lonely hero as a problem solver, and everyday physics plays a supporting role in the plot. Beyond just talking about science, this novel also gets into the culture and politics of science and how the skills and intelligence of a researcher don’t always matter as much as the popularity of their ideas.

There is also a subplot I can’t get into without creating spoilers. The publisher’s summary simply says: Thanks to an unexpected ally, he might have a chance.” And I dare say no more than that. Just know your emotions will be tugged on as Andy Weir helps you understand there is no such thing as “uniquely human.”

The audio version of this novel isn’t entirely identical to the printed book for reasons that will make sense once you’ve read the book. Whichever you pick to consume, this book can carry you through a weekend and leave you with both a deeper appreciation for basic physics and a lighter heart.

More Information

Amazon (affiliate): Project Hail Mary (Kindle)