If you thought The Martian was intense, let's just go ahead and raise the stakes.

We break down the movie version of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary, comparing the film with the fun technical problem solving of the original novel. We take a close look at how the movie brings the "astrophage" threat and and action to life, more importantly, whether it is possible to have your hair tousled 100% of the time.

We dig into which complex scientific explanations were streamlined for Hollywood pacing and which "science-ing the heck out of it" moments remained intact. We also evaluate Ryan Gosling’s performance as the amnesiac-turned-savior, Ryland Grace, comparing his onscreen energy to the internal monologue that made the book a bestseller. Whether you’re a die-hard Rocky fan or a casual viewer who just loves a good space movie, this episode highlights the hits and misses of the transition from page to screen.

We wrap up by answering the ultimate questions: is the movie worth watching? Is the book worth reading? Settle on in, enjoy, and fist our bump.

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
• Or you can watch our episodes on YouTube if you prefer video

As always, no spoilers until the end when we give a heads up before getting into the full plot discussion.

Similar books and movies we recommend:

• The Martian (book and movie)
• Story of Your Life (novela) and Arrival (movie)
• 2001 (book and movie)
• Solaris (book and movie)
• Roadside Picnic (book) and Stalker (the movie)
• Children of Men (book and movie)
• Edge of Tomorrow (movie) and All you Need is Kill (book)
• War of the Worlds (book and movie)
• Dune (we love eyebrows)

This episode is sponsored by STARLØK by J.T. Michaelstar: https://www.starløk.com/

If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for the episode:

• 00:00 Intro and review
• 02:26 Sponsor – STARLØK by J.T. Michaelstar
• 03:04 Differences in the movie
• 8:13 Jokes vs cheesiness
• 10:15 How long can you look at Ryan Gosling?
• 12:16 Ever-tousled hair
• 16:27 Read or watch first?
• 17:53 The Martian
• 18:33 Story of Your Life & Arrival
• 19:46 2001 20:56 Solaris
• 22:03 Roadside Picnic & Stalker
• 23:54 Children of Men
• 25:30 All You Need is Kill & Edge of Tomorrow
• 26:38 War of the Worlds
• 28:16 Annihilation
• 28:56 Dune (we love eyebrows)
• 30:11 POST SPOILERS discussion

We had so much fun revisiting Mid-World for this episode – it’s the first series that brought us together as book nerds twenty years ago, and it’s absolutely just as good as the first day we read it. So thankful it helped tie our friendship together, and laid the foundation for meeting all the rest of you Hugonauts all these years later!

The Dark Tower defies (or bridges) genres, with elements of sci-fi, fantasy, western, horror, and more, all rolled into one legendary package. And Roland Deschain, the Gunslinger, is an incredible main character, and we’ll never forget the rest of the Ka-Tet either. And the ending – we won’t spoil it here, but man do we like thinking about this ending (it’s one of the most polarizing in all of literature). You may be picking up on the fact that we kinda like these books.

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
• Or you can watch our episodes on YouTube if you prefer video

As always, no spoilers until the end when we give a heads up before getting into the full plot discussion.

Similar books we recommend:

• Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey
• Book of the New Sun series - Gene Wolfe

This episode is sponsored by The Rising and the Fall of Hell by Sean Miller

If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for the episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:58 Our review (5/5)
• 03:35 Sponsor – The Rising and the Fall of Hell by Sean Miller
• 04:09 About Stephen King
• 07:26 Incredible character writing
• 08:56 A 20 year series
• 10:30 Should we be reading on drugs?
• 12:38 Cody hates Star Wars
• 15:52 Every genre combined
• 18:02 Our favorite books in the series
• 19:39 The King Multiverse
• 21:10 The Dark Tower movie
• 22:03 Inspirations from other fiction
• 27:44 Similar books we recommend
• 31:27 POST SPOILERS discussion

We’ve got 15 books and series here, so there should be something to love for almost every reader (although we need some traditional fantasy page turners – send us some recommendations in the comments please)! Plus, at the end of the episode we each rank our personal top 3.

We intentionally excluded YA and military sci-fi books, although those are often also page-turners - look out for episodes about each of those soon!

Brent’s brother, Alex, joined us for this episode, and brought us a whole new batch of books (and frankly a couple new subgenres) to enjoy. LitRPG / progression fantasy just keep getting more popular, and we can see why – the books we’ve picked up have all been so, so fun to read (although it probably helps we’ve been reading Alex’s recommendations so far, the best of the best from the hundreds of LitRPG books he’s read).

No spoilers anywhere in this episode.

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
• Or you can watch our episodes on YouTube if you prefer video

This episode is sponsored by Quinto’s Challenge by Peter McChesney

All the books we recommend, plus timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:48 Sponsor – Quinto’s Challenge by Peter McChesney
• 03:26 Silo by Hugh Howey
• 5:06 Mother of Learning by Domagoj Kurmaic
• 7:19 Murderbot by Martha Wells
• 9:10 Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer
• 12:26 Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
• 14:49 Mark of the Fool by J.M. Clarke
• 18:18 Project Hail Mary and The Martian by Andy Weir
• 19:40 Iron Prince by Bryce O'Connor
• 22:33 Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
• 24:04 He Who Fights With Monsters by Shirtaloon
• 28:47 Daemon by Daniel Suarez
• 31:07 The Perfect Run by Maxime J. Durand
• 33:39 The Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor
• 36:24 Eight by Samer Rabadi
• 38:37 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
• 46:18 Rankings: Top 3 page turners

We've got 18 books and series we highly recommend, so there's something here for all kinds of readers - and at the end of the episode we rank our top 3 to bring you the best of the best.

What is space opera? Books with big characters and a bigger world - they usually even come with big 'ol wordcounts. Space opera is often multi-pov, with interstellar travel and the fate of the galaxy at stake.

No spoilers anywhere in this episode.

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
• Or you can watch our episodes on YouTube if you prefer video

This episode is sponsored by indie sci-fi publisher Lil' Factory

All the books we recommend, plus timestamps:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:36 Sponsor - Lil' Factory
• 1:24 What is a space opera?
• 2:58 The Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
• 4:45 The Expanse - James S.A. Corey
• 6:38 Hyperion - Dan Simmons
• 9:51 House of Suns - Alistair Reynolds
• 11:32 Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky
• 13:11 Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
• 15:04 The Culture - Iain M. Banks
• 17:17 Peter F. Hamilton's whole discography
• 20:19 Embassytown - China Mieville
• 21:45 A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine
• 23:34 Dune - Are you happy now?
• 24:47 Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie
• 26:34 Downbelow Station - C.J. Cherryh
• 26:05 The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
• 29:24 Startide Rising - David Brin
• 31:16 The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
• 33:01 Foundation - Isaac Asimov
• 35:22 Rankings: 3rd best Space Opera
• 37:27 Rankings: 2nd best Space Opera
• 38:50 Rankings: 1st best Space Opera

This might be the best sci-fi book out there about nanotechnology. But Stephenson has so many good ones that this one isn't his best book - some of the characters lose their way, and it drags in the middle.

Oh, and one more good recommendation we forgot while we were recording - check out Blood Music by Greg Bear if you want a biological twist on nanotech!

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
• Or you can watch our episodes on YouTube if you prefer video

As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion.

Similar books we recommend:

• Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• Neuromancer by William Gibson
• Cory Doctorow
• Prey by Michael Crichton

This episode is sponsored by Har Megiddon by Ron Bennett.

If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for the episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:47 Book setup
• 1:49 Sponsor - Har Megiddon
• 2:22 Our review 3.25/5
• 3:53 Great sections - and stinkers
• 4:47 Incredible technology
• 7:33 Hard to visualize?
• 9:38 Dances with Wolves
• 10:17 Labor saving devices
• 13:59 Neal's infodumps
• 19:25 Book structure
• 25:47 Sponsor - Har Megiddon
• 26:08 Similar books we recommend
• 28:40 Spoilers section - book summary
• 31:30 Spoilers section - discussion

From Sumeria, to Greece, to India, to the depths of the dark ages we explore the stories that have inspired everything that came later with a professor of mythology and medieval literature. This particular professor also happens to be Cody's mom, so this is also a great episode to explore Cody's psyche, for those brave enough to explore a dark and twisted place.

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
• Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video

If you want to do some reading, here are our suggestions on the best translations of these myths (and even a couple great graphic novels):

• Epic of Gilgamesh, trans. Andrew George, Penguin Classics
• The Odyssey, trans. Robert Fagles
• The Odyssey, Gareth Hinds graphic novel
• The Iliad, Penguin Classics
• The Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles Penguin Classics
• Age of Bronze Series, Eric Shanower (series of graphic novels on Trojan War)
• Hercules, Fred Van Lente
• Monkey, trans. Arthur Waley
• Beowulf, trans. Seamus Heaney
• The Popul Vuh, trans. Michael Bazzett, Milkweed Editions
• The Nibelungenlied, trans. AT Hatto, Penguin
• Chretien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances, trans. William W. Kibler, Penguin
• Le Morte D’Arthur, Sir Thomas Malory, Penguin Classics
• Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, trans. N.J. Dawood, Penguin Classics
• Sindbad and Other Stories from Arabian Nights, trans Husain Haddowy
• Sinbad the Sailor, Penguin Classics
• The Ramayana, Abridged and Translated by Arshia Sattar, Penguin Classics OR any children’s/YA book to get started. There are hundreds

If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for all the books we talked about:

• 0:00 - Intro
• 1:45 - The Epic of Gilgamesh
• 6:35 - The Odyssey
• 10:12 - The Iliad
• 12:09 - The Aeneid
• 14:12 - Hercules
• 15:53 - Monkey (Excerpts from Journey to the West)
• 21:00 - Beowulf
• 25:25 - The Popul Vuh
• 28:23 - The Nibelungenlied
• 33:21 - King Arthur Myths (Malory, De Troyes)
• 36:56 - Tales From the Thousand and One Nights
• 41:40 - Sinbad the Sailor
• 45:10 - The Ramayana
• 49:55 - Our Top 3 favorite myths

Whether you like ripping page turners, incredible characters, books that make you laugh out loud, exploring unforgettable new worlds, or literary books that will make you see the world in a new way, there's a great intro to scifi out there for everyone!

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord to tell us about your favorite time travel books
• Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video

If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for all the books we talked about:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:38 Incredible Characters - Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold
• 3:07 A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
• 4:04 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
• 4:52 Unforgettable Worlds - The Expanse by James S.A. Corey
• 6:58 Hyperion by Dan Simmons
• 8:24 House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
• 9:20 Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• 10:56 The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
• 12:22 Funny SF - Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• 13:36 Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
• 14:50 Old Man's War by John Scalzi
• 16:01 Page turners - Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• 17:43 Dark Matter or Recursion by Blake Crouch
• 18:52 All Systems Red by Martha Wells
• 20:01 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• 21:35 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• 22:34 Literary SciFi - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
• 24:55 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• 26:26 The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• 27:49 Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• 28:40 Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

With six interconnected stories (in a narrative style that broke all kinds of new ground), it's hard not to find at least a few characters you love. And even for those you don't personally love, the voices are unforgettable - it's wild that all these characters with such distinct personalities were created by a single person.

• Join the Hugonauts book club on discord
• Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video

As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion.

Similar books we recommend:

• Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
• Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

This episode is sponsored by #1.1 by Allen Dean Maiora

If you want to jump around, here are the timestamps for the episode:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:10 Book setup
• 2:17 Our review 4.5/5
• 3:56 The unique structure
• 7:08 The incredible voices
• 10:44 Power and subjugation
• 12:58 Our favorites of the stories
• 23:17 Sponsor - #1.1 by Allen Dean Maiora
• 23:40 Similar books we recommend
• 26:06 Spoilers section - book summary
• 34:18 Spoilers section - discussion