Book Club: "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir

"Project Hail Mary" is being adapted into a movie starring Ryan Gosling - let's read and discuss the book by Andy Weir before the movie comes out! For those of you who use the library, there are currently 117 holds on 48 copies (as of 1/23/2026) so it will likely be a longer wait to get the book - I highly recommend placing a hold on it now if you're interested!

We will plan to meet at the Burlingame Public Library in study room C or D, located on the lower level (note that food is not allowed in the study rooms, but beverages are okay). The study rooms can only be booked 7 days in advance, so in the event that both rooms are booked, we will relocate the meeting to a cafe or dessert shop that is open late. I will keep attendees posted the week of!

Everyone will be waitlisted initially, as space is limited in the study rooms. Priority will be given to previous attendees of the book club and regular members of the group. For details on attendance & waitlist, please see the "About us" description for the group.

Book Summary - "Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir
Publication Year: 2021
Page Count: 476

A LONE ASTRONAUT.
AN IMPOSSIBLE MISSION.
AN ALLY HE NEVER IMAGINED.

RYLAND GRACE is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and Earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could imagine it, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian—while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.