If you ask me what my favorite thing I consumed in the last year and a half, I would say homemade Cajun shake ‘n bake chicken, but if you ask me what my favorite tv show, movie or book I read, I would say Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. There are a lot of books I have read (or had read to me) in the last year that I really enjoyed, Goblin Emperor, Circe, Bossypants, Ancillary Justice and The Martian, but Project Hail Mary was different. Special.

David and I went into the book knowing that Andy Weir is known for his hard science and humor and Project Hail Mary, like The Martian, was set in space. That was the extent of what we knew going into it. And that is how it was meant to be read. The main character wakes up in space having no idea who he is, where he is, or how he got there. We spend the entire book finding out information with the protagonist himself through wonderfully done flashes of memories. Our protagonist was definitely likable, but I spent a good amount of time trying to decide who my favorite character was. In the end I think it was Stratt. And I don’t care what anyone else says, Eva Stratt is Edna Mode from the Incredibles.

The story was absolutely wonderful. I had pretty much zero idea where it was going and I was so happy because it was such a pleasant surprise once we got there. I also really appreciated how Weir telegraphed certain moments so I felt really smart when I guessed something just before a character figured it out. It was a ton of fun and I laughed harder than I have in any other book. I think the voice actor for the audio book helped with that a lot. He was really great with tone and his accent work was brilliant.

The book was extremely educational as well. So much so, that I actually had to remind myself that astrophage and taumoeba aren’t real things. Since reading the book David and I have gone down many a YouTube rabbit holes looking into the real science behind a lot of stuff mentioned in the book. And I’d have to say, Science is so cool.

It wasn’t until we were watching some videos about the book after the fact that I realized why I liked it so much. I mean I knew I liked it, a lot, but I couldn’t voice just what it was that made it stand out. And a reviewer hit the nail on the head. It was a really positive book. There was some doom and gloom, but for the most part, all of the events and characters were really uplifting. I will have to admit, there was a chapter where I balled my eyes out, but I have yet to read a book that left me with such a satisfied, hopeful feeling about the book and our own real life future.

SPOILER WARNING

If you are reading this without having read the book, stop now and go read the book. Then come back. It was so much better going into the book without any information and I would hate to take that away from anyone.

After we finished the book, David and I had long conversations about what other life could be like but it was a little hard wrapping our brains around a species who was technologically less advanced than humans but still able to make it into space like Rocky’s species. David ended up stumbling onto a video about cosmic rays and we were shocked to discover that scientists were doing tests on cosmic rays in 1912 from hot air balloons and an electrometer was used to measure cosmic rays in 1909. Crazy talk! So apparently Rocky isn’t that unbelievable after all.

Good. Proud. Scary Space Monster.

Anyway, you can check out that crazy video on Cosmic Rays below and we can all hope that the movie adaptation staring Ryan Gosling is as good as The Martian.