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Tag: Hard science fiction

  • The Martian

    A dust storm forces the crew of the Ares 3 mission to abort and leave Mars in a hurry. Astronaut Mark Watney is struck by debris during the evacuation, and his crewmates, believing him dead, depart without him. He wakes up wounded, alone, with no way to contact Earth and supplies meant to last a few weeks, while the next mission will not arrive for years.

    Watney, a botanist and mechanical engineer, records his progress in sardonic log entries. He grows potatoes in Martian soil, manufactures water from rocket fuel, rigs rovers for long drives and improvises communication. Meanwhile NASA eventually realises he is alive, and engineers, managers and his former crew wrestle with how, and whether, to bring him home.

    Weir first released the novel in instalments on his website and then as a cheap e-book in 2011 before a publisher picked it up. Its appeal lies in plausible problem-solving and a hero who meets disaster with jokes. Readers enjoy the realistic science explained with clarity. Ridley Scott's 2015 film starring Matt Damon brought it to a huge audience.

    Book details

    AuthorAndy Weir
    First published2011
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreScience fiction
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)369
    SettingAcidalia Planitia and other regions of Mars, plus NASA on Earth, near future

    Themes

    • Survival
    • Ingenuity
    • Humour under pressure
    • Teamwork
    • Space exploration

    Who should read it

    Readers who love hard science, problem-solving and a funny, resilient narrator.

  • Project Hail Mary

    A man wakes up on a spacecraft with two dead crewmates and no idea who he is or how he got there. As fragments of memory return, he learns his name is Ryland Grace, a former molecular biologist turned middle-school science teacher, and that the Sun is being dimmed by a microorganism called Astrophage, threatening life on Earth within decades.

    Grace has been sent to Tau Ceti, a nearby star that seems unaffected, to find out why. Flashbacks reveal the frantic international effort that built his ship and how he came to be aboard. In the Tau Ceti system he makes an extraordinary discovery that turns a lonely survival mission into something much stranger, and the story becomes as much about friendship as about science.

    Like The Martian, the book is full of hands-on experiments and calculations explained in a breezy, humorous voice, but its emotional core is warmer. Weir plays with memory to keep revealing information about Grace's past. It became a major bestseller and was adapted into a feature film starring Ryan Gosling.

    Book details

    AuthorAndy Weir
    First published2021
    Original languageEnglish
    GenreScience fiction
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)476
    SettingThe spacecraft Hail Mary in the Tau Ceti system, with flashbacks to Earth, near future

    Themes

    • Friendship
    • Sacrifice
    • Scientific problem-solving
    • Memory
    • Courage

    Who should read it

    Fans of The Martian and anyone who enjoys optimistic, science-packed adventure.

  • The Three-Body Problem

    The novel opens in 1967, during the Cultural Revolution, when astrophysicist Ye Wenjie watches her father beaten to death at a struggle session. Disillusioned with humanity, she is later sent to a remote military base, Red Coast, which turns out to be a secret project to search for extraterrestrial life. A decision she makes there sets the story in motion.

    Decades later, nanomaterials researcher Wang Miao is drawn into an investigation by police officer Shi Qiang after a wave of scientists' suicides. Wang finds his vision disrupted by a mysterious countdown and becomes absorbed in Three Body, a strange virtual-reality game set on a world with chaotic, unpredictable suns, where civilisations rise and fall. The game hides a larger truth.

    Liu blends hard physics, Chinese history and big philosophical questions about contact with alien civilisations. Ken Liu's 2014 translation introduced the book to English readers, and it became the first translated novel to win the Hugo Award. It opens the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy and has been adapted for Chinese television and Netflix.

    Book details

    AuthorLiu Cixin
    First published2008
    Original languageChinese
    Translated byKen Liu
    GenreScience fiction
    TypeFiction
    Pages (approx.)400
    SettingChina, from the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s to the present day
    AwardsHugo Award for Best Novel 2015

    Themes

    • First contact
    • Science and politics
    • Disillusionment with humanity
    • Cosmic sociology
    • History's scars

    Who should read it

    Readers who love ambitious, idea-heavy science fiction with a non-Western perspective.