# Project Hail Mary

By Andy Weir

Profile: https://hahafiction.com/books/project-hail-mary-b06ab4c3/

Ryland Grace wakes in a strange bed, struggles to speak, and cannot remember his name. He is aboard a spacecraft with two dead crewmates, far from Earth, on a mission whose failure could mean human extinction. Before he can solve that crisis, he has to work out what happened to him.

## What makes it funny?

The computer supervising Grace’s recovery keeps asking elementary math questions. Once he can speak, he tests it with a mathematically valid answer it cannot recognize. Even barely mobile, he wants to show that he knows more than the machine hassling him.

### The comedy at work

Grace narrates frightening discoveries with the irritation of someone having an exceptionally inconvenient day. His confidence in his own reasoning survives the medical tubes, faulty memory, and unanswered questions.

### Try this if…

Readers who enjoy experiments, engineering puzzles, and a talkative scientist thinking through each problem can follow Grace’s reasoning alongside his complaints.

### Good to know

The story moves between the crisis in space and memories of how the mission was prepared. Scientific explanations take a substantial share of the story.

## What to expect

- Genre: Science fiction
- On the shelf: First contact & aliens
- Kind of humor: Dry wit · Wordplay
- Format: Novel
- Length: 496 pages
- Audiobook: 16 hr 11 min
- Published: 2021

## A few distinguishing details

- An elementary-math quiz turns into a contest with a recovery computer

## Sources & further reading

- Publisher: [Publisher](https://penguinrandomhousehighereducation.com/book?isbn=9780593135204)
- Book information: [Edition information](https://www.blackstonelibrary.com/catalog/product/view/id/377675)
- Review: [Independent review](https://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/project-hail-mary)