On the HahaFiction shelf
Project Hail Mary
Audiobook available · 16 hr 11 min
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.
From the publisher’s blurb
“full of suspense, humor, and fascinating science”Read the full description at Publisher description, Ballantine Books
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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.
A few distinguishing details
- An elementary-math quiz turns into a contest with a recovery computer
More funny first contact & aliens
Sources & further reading
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