gladman
Aroused by Ta Ta's
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2020
- Member Number
- 2107
- Messages
- 1,018
I saw the movie 'The Martian' when it came out and really liked it. I noticed, over the years, that when it would be on, you know, channel surfing and it is 20 minutes in, I would watch it anyway. There is another movie about Mars that I watch like that too (Red Planet) but I really liked the 'just get on it' attitude of The Martian. I'm a reader. Always have been. A couple of years ago, I downloaded The Martian on my phone and read it. I really enjoyed it. I've read it a couple of times and while I don't think Weir is necessarily an 'all time great' novelist or whatever, I think he is a genius storyteller who really understands how to tell ME a story.
I had some work to do at the cabin, so I downloaded Hail Mary. Probably many of you have seen the Martian, so no need for a recap. Hail Mary is a story about a catastrophe that faces the earth and turns out to face the universe and how it gets approached and how people overcome. These microscopic beings are essentially sponges for energy but require carbon dioxide to breed. They can travel anywhere and because they are energy sponges, they can use the energy as propulsion. The effect to earth is that they discover our sun and begin a beeline for it and then head to venus to breed and then return to the sun (with the offspring) and repeat. This causes the sun to dim. The dimming effect is noticed on earth and the near term viability of people is threatened. So, the world collaborates on trying to find a solution.
It is 'sciency' but understandable for a regular person who at least mildly understands math and science... as the story continues it is discovered that these astrophage (the critters that eat energy) have been wreaking havoc across the universe and eartlhlings are not suffering alone.
If you liked the martian, I think you'll love this story. Lots of movies today are just a series of chase scenes with the plot as the point of the chases. This book is a huge series of challenges and mistakes and do overs.... If you want something fun to read that also does not insult your intelligence... this is a good book. I'm going to read his third book next month (on my list) I hear it is also really good.
I have not read a lot of sci fi in probably 20 years... it will be fun to find some other stories in this vein. I've read all the classics, but I have a feeling there are a bunch of new writers that kick ass... not as 'classical writers' or whatever but great stories and interesting situations.
I had some work to do at the cabin, so I downloaded Hail Mary. Probably many of you have seen the Martian, so no need for a recap. Hail Mary is a story about a catastrophe that faces the earth and turns out to face the universe and how it gets approached and how people overcome. These microscopic beings are essentially sponges for energy but require carbon dioxide to breed. They can travel anywhere and because they are energy sponges, they can use the energy as propulsion. The effect to earth is that they discover our sun and begin a beeline for it and then head to venus to breed and then return to the sun (with the offspring) and repeat. This causes the sun to dim. The dimming effect is noticed on earth and the near term viability of people is threatened. So, the world collaborates on trying to find a solution.
It is 'sciency' but understandable for a regular person who at least mildly understands math and science... as the story continues it is discovered that these astrophage (the critters that eat energy) have been wreaking havoc across the universe and eartlhlings are not suffering alone.
If you liked the martian, I think you'll love this story. Lots of movies today are just a series of chase scenes with the plot as the point of the chases. This book is a huge series of challenges and mistakes and do overs.... If you want something fun to read that also does not insult your intelligence... this is a good book. I'm going to read his third book next month (on my list) I hear it is also really good.
I have not read a lot of sci fi in probably 20 years... it will be fun to find some other stories in this vein. I've read all the classics, but I have a feeling there are a bunch of new writers that kick ass... not as 'classical writers' or whatever but great stories and interesting situations.
