“Project Hail Mary” a Review
Moments after finishing “Emperor of All Maladies” by Siddhartha Mukherjee, I was handed a book by my sister called “Project Hail Mary” written by Andy Weir. This is the same author that just so happened to write “The Martian,” which became a resounding success in both text and film forms. As an aside, I would highly recommend reading “The Martian,” as the film did not include all of the story’s components, especially when Mark Watney is in his vehicle and the trouble that he comes across when driving along Mars’ surface.
But about this novel, which I will describe as a sci-fi thriller, mixes elements of the movies “Arrival” and “Interstellar.”
I say this, out of being reminded of how “Arrival” included Amy Adams developing a method for interacting with extraterrestrial life-forms that show up on planet Earth. Maybe Weir was somewhat inspired by this idea for his published book only five years later. Second, he may have been inspired by “Interstellar,” by overlaying the principle of “Time Dilation.”
If you liked either movie (which I don’t know how you wouldn’t?), then for God’s sake read the book. A page-turner that kept you wanting to accelerate your reading speed to get to the end of the book because of every consequential turn of events. Do not let the 400+ pages dissuade you from thinking that there is no way an author can keep you hooked for that long — we are talking about Andy Weir dammit.
The author provides witty humor, spontaneous quips, sarcastic tropes, and a positive slant that leaves the reader grateful for having been included in this adventurous journey. As for me, I just wanted a good book to read, and I got something better than that.
The book begins with the protagonist Dr. Ryland Grace, who is a character who feels as if he is seemingly out of place everywhere he goes, but who should be revered as someone that epitomizes some of the greatest virtues that characters in other stories have been assigned. Flexibility, openness, sincerity, self-introspection, resilience, measured positivity, brave, heroic, altruistic, and lastly the most important in my opinion, curiosity. Those do not even begin to describe the very curious main character that this story follows.
People often discuss about the importance of character development, and this is a very prominent technique Weir uses to present the story. To begin the novel, Dr. Grace wakes up from a coma in an advanced spaceship full of futuristic technology, but also the everyday lab equipment that one can find at a university research lab. Throughout the book, he slowly puts the pieces of how he had gotten to this position, and the reader dives into Dr. Grace’s personal life, which does seem comparably modest.
The author, through Dr. Grace, also plays the role of being a teacher. Through teaching, the reader can learn about many different scientific fundamental concepts of explaining relativity, centrifugation, density, climate change, Doppler effect, Evolution, and light to only name a few. The book is written to essentially get the reader to think under a scientist’s point of view. Many problems arise that test Ryland’s understanding, given that he may (he admits is not) not be the ideal candidate to be in such a position.
In an effort to not give away too much of the plot, the story reminds the reader of the underpinnings of chemistry, biology, and physics that will hopefully serve us well in the future of humankind, when it is inevitable that we will leave Earth and venture into space. It is important to continue to develop the breadth of knowledge in these spaces, since problems that may arise during our travels will have to be approached through a fundamental understanding of these concepts. Weir alludes to the importance of understanding these concepts, much like Ryland in the book. Not only does this come into play for space-time travel, but this comes into play for other professions even today. Medical professionals need a masterful understanding of physiology to treat humans. They also need to understand what happens to blood flow and resistance, when your blood vessels vasoconstrict or vasodilate. Much of the hormones in our body, and the heart medications prescribed to patients, fundamentally rest on the foundation of physical equations that illustrate blood flow in a vessel.
