Every once in a while, a story comes along that feels less like a book and more like a collective exhale. Andy Weir’s 2021 hard sci-fi novel Project Hail Mary is exactly that kind of story — a bright, buoyant reminder that even in the cold vacuum of space, connection can spark in the most unexpected ways. And honestly, in a world that’s been feeling more and more like a nightmare unable to wake up from, this tale of a solitary astronaut and his utterly endearing alien friend feels like medicine. A quiet rebellion of wholesomeness in a cynical age….