Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary is the newest Andy Weir book.

I went in to the book thinking it'd be more traditionally sci-fi. What I found instead was slightly irreverent, funny, and fresh. It combines a lot of different themes around climate change, evolution, and orbital physics to tell a really compelling story. If you liked The Selfish Gene, you'll enjoy this book.

My biggest takeaway was that the book really re-kindled my love of basic physics and chemistry. The protagonist conducts all sorts of experiments: from measuring gravity via a pendulum to theorizing about genetic conditions. It's an excellent reminder that it's not so hard to work out many of the basic conditions of the universe, often to surprising ends.

For this one, I'd also recommend the audiobook. I won't give too much away... but it really tells the story well with a variety of different voices and sound effects.