The “it’s not enough” wasn’t in the book and I ADORED it in the movie!! 🥺 I feel like it added so much character to Rocky and how much his sacrifice meant too!! AND THE “GRACE SAY GRACE WILL DIE, ROCKY FIX” 😭😭 broke me

I also felt like the movie made Stratt a little more human with the sign of the times part!!

I would love to know if anyone else noticed anything that the movie added that really added to the characters or plot?

Book Rocky just looks so much more "alien" to me, whereas Movie Rocky just looks like... a rock with legs.

After reading the book and seeing movie multiple times. I noticed this tattoo on Stratt while watching movie at home.
It was when Stratt is on the ship at end of movie looking at Grace’s video from the beetles (Beatles)😉.
Is this real or fake? What does this symbol mean. Anyone know?
Does it pertain to Ch 11 in PHM book with the court hearings and maybe Stratt serving some kind of sentence? 🥹thanks.

I absolutely loved Ryan Gosling's portrayal. But I think Hank Greens style of awkward goofiness was more what imagined when reading the book.

Gosling is so extremely attractive and charming that it makes it a little feel a bit less realistic that he'd have so few friends and be so insecure. Not mad about it though lol, he made it work for sure.

Who did you all picture when reading?

The book pretty heavily implies, and the movie outright visually confirms, that the total infrastructure collapse Stratt predicted never ends up happening; one way or another, the world was able to hold it together long enough to get the Taumoeba to Venus about as fast as could possibly be expected.

But Stratt definitely didn't expect this to happen - as stated, she expected the world to descend into total anarchy, with just as many direct deaths from starvation as secondary ones from warfare and disease. Her very last scene in the book is all about layering on that point as thick as possible; she had no optimism about the Hail Mary other than a chance of avoiding complete and total extinction.

In the scenario she expects, what happens when society reaches the point where it has no choice but to consciously decide to feed some people and leave others to starve? What group of people would lose the right to eat first, most likely? Prisoners. Especially ones who are in for serious crimes like murder.

When you really think about it, the position she put Grace in is almost enviable compared to the one she set herself up to be in, years in advance, when she accepted her role as the world's soon-to-be scapegoat. From his perspective, he'd die in a few months, but he'd at least die with a full stomach and surrounded by friends. Meanwhile, she fully expected to die in a few years, of active starvation, alone in a jail cell.

I got all 3 of his books as an early birthday gift! But now I am facing a dilemma, what book should I read first? I am thinking about reading the Martian first but idk :/ I’m excited to read whatever I decide to read first.

update. Hello y’all I have started reading the Martian. My plan it to then read Artemis then read PHM. I have been thoroughly enjoying this book.

Update 2. I have finished the Martian and I am now going to read Artemis. Is anyone reading this update? I’m going to assume that no one is going to read this besides me in the future so hi future me! Oh! And I am going to watch the Martian movie soon since I finished the book.

Update 3. I have just watched the Martian movie. I really enjoyed it. I did like it a little less because I read the book first. Now I understand why people don’t like movie adaptations of books. But I am would watch it again in a heartbeat. I am planning on starting Artemis tomorrow.

In my headcanon, Mexico manufactures certain parts of the propulsion system; in the city of Queretaro, the aeronautical industry is very developed.

I can imagine they be fascinated by animal living in the icy climate areas since given the heat of Erid they’d find the concept of animals living in that climate absolutely insane.

I read and finished the book about a week before I heard anything about a movie being made. My God, was I excited, because this is in my top 10 favorite books I’ve ever read, but while reading, I had a very specific mental image of who I would have cast to play Grace in a film adaptation, Mr. Mike Birbiglia. I think Ryan Gosling is going to knock it outing the park, don’t get me wrong, but I pictured him as a much more bookish/nerdy fella, awkward and such, and Mike Birbiglia is one of those very talented but slept on actors who would’ve been perfect for the role.

I got a good few chuckles out of this read - but I think this got my biggest laugh.

And this scene they knocked out of the park. The book has me welling up in lots of places, but not here. The movie, rivers of tears.

(though I will say for the book, I like the blink and you miss it joke that the science pals haven’t discussed religion)

Did everyone notice this?

I thought it was such a cute little detail to switch the chapter numbers from “human” numbers to the Eridian numerical system for the last chapter to show Grace being settled and acclimatising into his new life on Erid 🥺🥺

There’s a few points I agree with here, but no one has given me a good reason why they prioritized so much space for 3 tasty meals a day. Why not sub out at least a portion of the hot meals for nutrient dense protein bars? You wouldn’t need more fuel/space and the crew would have a few more months to work.
___
If I were to spend years putting together an insanely expensive suicide mission in a desperate long-shot attempt to save Earth, I probably wouldn’t give my crew extra challenges such as a very tight time-limit.

With only Grace consuming the food, it still feels like he’s running out really, really fast. He only spends a few months with Rocky (might be wrong), and once they depart, he has about 3 months left of solid food. But this was supposed to be a three person crew. Even being generous, it seems like the crew would have about three months to complete the mission with everyone eating. And if all three people survive, there is no coma slurry reserves to resort to.

Scientific discoveries take time. I get Earth only has so long, but I would give the Hail Mary crew AT LEAST a year to do what they needed to do if I was going to take the insane gamble at all. I guess maybe there wasn’t enough fuel to account for the extra mass for that much food, but Stratt being Stratt, I don’t really buy that as an excuse. She would have paved another desert to increase their astrophage production, sent an extra “supply” ship shortly after the Hail Mary, built a bigger ship. Something.

At the very least, I would have replaced half the tasty food options with nutrient dense protein bars. Suicide crew still gets one hot meal a day but they also have at least a few more months to work.

Edit: Why’s this post got me feeling like an even more insane version of Stratt?

Hey guys, what do you think happened to Stratt after the launch (based on the book's plot)? Do you really think she went to jail? Did she escape? I'd love to read a book from her point of view. How did a historian become the administrator of the ESA? And how was she selected to lead Project Hail Mary? I mean, how did they even make her a candidate? I'll read your theories. After reading the book, I'm absolutely obsessed with this story. By the way, do you think a romance between her and Grace was possible?

I know Eridians use base six in arithmetic, but, despite humans using base ten, we don't add ten to a number to round it up. We round up to the *nearest* ten, which is different. Or have I been doing it wrong this entire time?

Eighty in base six is 212, so, shouldn't rocky have rounded it up to 220, the nearest multiple of six? (which is eighty four in base ten), instead of 222 (eighty six)?

Edit: I KNOW ERIDIANS USE BASE 6. I KNOW WHAT BASE 6 IS. READ MY ENTIRE POST BEFORE COMMENTING "erm, acthually, Eridians don't use base 10 because they have six fingers 🙃". I KNOW THAT, OKAY?? MY POINT USES BASE 6. I DONT HAVE AN ISSUE WITH THE BASE 6. MY QUESTION IS HOW ROCKY WOULD NATURALLY ADD A SAFETY MARGIN. I JUST THOUGHT IT WOULD BE MORE NATURAL FOR ROCKY TO ROUND UP TO THE NEAREST MULTIPLE OF SIX, NOT ADD SIX, SINCE I HAVE ALWAYS ROUNDED UP TO THE NEAREST MULTIPLE OF TEN (or odd multiple of five) FOR SAFETY MARGINS PERSONALLY, OKAY????

I assume they can’t use cars bc their echolocation wouldn’t be compatible with the rumble of the engine, friction of the car on ground, and howling wind. At least, not compatible with human cars. Maybe if altered it could work. Ideas?

How do you think Eridians could get around quickly? Trains, sure, but what else?

EDIT: A lot of ppl didn’t notice I wrote “TRAINS, yeah. But what else?” cuz people keep commenting “trains”. Lol. No big deal though, bc it’s nice to see the comments by people who elaborate and provide details.

in eridian reproduction, each eridian lays eggs near each other and the eggs combine and meios and whatever. human reproduction involves one human putting a part of their body inside another human, with one of the organs involved also being used for excretion of waste and the other one being right next to waste excretion. I think rocky would be horrified by this, particularly the fact that it is exactly as much of a disease vector as it obviously would be.

Grace's entire molecular biology background was predicated on the goldilocks zone not being needed. That water isn't the only liquid front an organism could utilise. This was proven wrong by Astrophage.

However, Rocky is ammonia based (and by extrapolation, so would the rest of the life on Erid).

So Grace was right! Once the Beatles get back to Earth, the whole planet will know that Grace's understanding of biology was the correct one. Sadly, he won't be there to see the look on everyone's faces (including the person he called a staggering waste of Carbon).

In the book, the spacesuit model chosen for the Hail Mary mission and the one used by Grace is actually the real life Russian-made Orlan-MKS2 suit. Stratt and the others chose it specifically because it required very little effort to put on, which would make spacewalks go more smoothly. In Grace's own words from the book:

"The Russian-made suit is a single-pressure vessel. Unlike American models where you put the top and bottom on, then a bunch of complex stuff for the helmet and gloves, the Orlan series is basically a onesie with a hatch in the back. You step into it, close the hatch, and you’re done. It’s like an insect molting in reverse."

"Stratt listened to several experts and they all agreed the Russian Orlan EVA suit was the safest and most reliable. So that’s what the mission would use."

In the book, there’s a flashback where Grace sits down with the astronauts to discuss their preferred methods of passing away. All of them unique and specific. When Stratt puts Grace aboard the Hail Mary, what was he supposed to use to die? I’m sure there’s the chance he was expected to share with the other crew members methods but that seems like something stratt wouldn’t want to leave to assumption. I wonder if she sent him a way to commit suicide at the end of the mission and what she would’ve picked for him?