A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins.
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson.
Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell.
Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir.
Well, I read both books, and Isaacson's is much better. In fact, Doudna's book was largely written by her coauthor, her then-graduate student Sam Sternberg, based on long interviews. This is the same process Isaacson used. But, in my opinion, Isaacson does it better, incorporating more of Doudna's personal anecdotes with similar levels of science.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30971755-a-crack-in-crea...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54968118-the-code-breake...
It was just a fun, breezy read that hit the problem solving part of my brain in just the right way, but with a different angle on things than "The Martian".
It felt like he was trying to do something very different with Artemis and failed. I rarely have to put a book down but I just couldn't finish Artemis. The whole scene with the "strong" cop holding her down had my eyes rolling so hard they almost got stuck.
i totally recommend it.
+1 for Audible.
I just kept thinking that the inner commenting was so weird. Like a the book was partially movie script. I think I should have read the book instead.
But still, it was good.
All that to say, if Project Hail Mary is equivalent to that, it is going on my to read list.
As I understand the Ebert system your review seems like a 3 star, that is to say if you like this kind of thing (hard sf, survival story in harsh environment using ingenuity) you will definitely like this example of it.
In 45 years as a reviewer Ebert gave nearly 1000 films 4 stars, I think about a 100 5 stars, although he was often thought of as being too lenient about a film's quality - https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/you-give-out-too-many...
I still think it's a good book, and well worth the read. But man did that character grate on my nerves.
If Willem Dafoe was cast, it could seem different :)
In comparison, Rocky was fantastic as a character, the problem faced novel, the solutions enjoyable. That all tips the scales into the 'still well worth the read' territory, but (IMO) it could have been so much more.
Fantastic couple of books.
Above parent nothing but man mumbling after famous persons to invoke the Goddess of transitivity of all properties.
Seriously though, i brought this upon myself by opening one of the fanboi threads <Famous Name> does/reads/eats, but how do i filter out the filler more efficiently?
Enter: Dang from Hammerspace