|
“I penetrated the outer cell membrane with a nanosyringe."
"You poked it with a stick?" "No!" I said. "Well. Yes. But it was a scientific poke with a very scientific stick.” ― Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary |
“I gasped. "Wait a minute! Am I a guinea pig? I'm a guinea pig!"
"No, it's not like that," she said. I stared at her. She stared at me. I stared at her. "Okay, it's exactly like that," she said.” ― Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary |
May selection
Book Club Questions for Project Hail Mary
- There are so many novels and movies about space. What is it about space that fascinates people around the world?
- Did you read The Martian? How did Project Hail Mary compare to it? Which one did you like better?
- We meet Ryland when he wakes up all alone on the spaceship. He’s suffering from select amnesia and is slowly piecing together what happened. Why do you think the author decided to tell the story in this way? How did the slow reveal help build tension?
- We eventually learn that Ryland is a science teacher after he left his career as a molecular biologist. Let’s talk about why Ryland left that field and found solace in teaching.
- Why did Stratt recruit Ryland to help with the task force of finding out what is dimming the sun?
- It is discovered that an organism is absorbing the sun’s energy, which will be devastating to earth and create a new ice age. Ryland nicknames the organism ‘Astrophage’ and discovers that it can reproduce and uses light energy to migrate from Venus to the sun. What did you think about this discovery? Could this organism exist in the real world?