Tag: Tau Ceti

Themes of Friendship and Cooperation in Hail Mary

Hail Mary by Andy Weir

We decided to read Hail Mary by Andy Weir in our book club, prior to the movie’s release early next year in 2026. This book proved to be delightful pick for all the different discussions we could have:

There were many fascinating areas in which our discussions went:

The grandeur of microscopic life

The Microscopic Wonders in Hail Mary by Andy Weir

It takes enormous creativity and brilliance to pull off a face-off between his microscopic light warriors that he christens, astrophages, vs taumoeba who are the only known predators of the astrophages. 

Encountering friendly alien-life

Encountering alien life and making it a friendly encounter, instead of the usual fear of an alien takeover is a bold move. As humans, we think of conquering and owning the next available world – so why would aliens be any different? Yet, in this tale, the first Eridian he encounters isn’t antagonistic, simply curious, and our messenger from Earth reciprocates. 

A tale of cosmic cooperation is uplifting and it led us to a wistful wish about having more uplifting literature to read too. Why are we this enamored by war and angst?

Eridian Art & Culture 

The alien-life encountered in the movie comes from a civilization where their planet is enveloped by an atmosphere that is 29 times thicker than the one that protects Earth. This results in a life-form evolving without sight since light is not a viable input source for them. They rely rather heavily on sound.

Of course, for a culture like that, I am curious to hear their music. Will their tonal variations be the same? Can their music encompass the range of hearing of whales and dogs? Or more?

Absence of Light

Towards the end of the book, I couldn’t help wondering how much we would miss light and its effects , if we were to live on a planet like Erid. It isn’t that I have a ritual singing praise to Ra, The Sun God, Surya, etc, but I do love sunlight. Especially the periods of transformation – the sunset and sunrise. Even this evening I sulked unduly because the sun sets so early these days, and I had barely time to close up my laptop when the day was gone. 

We all loved the book, and of course, saw the trailer at the end of it all. The choice of one of my favorite songs, The Sign of the Times, by Harry Styles is already promising.

What do you look forward to in the movie?

The Microscopic Wonders in Hail Mary by Andy Weir

All Things Bright & Beautiful

We have been reading Hail Mary, By Andy Weir, ahead of the movie launch for our book club. I must say it is a fantastic book for discussion: Andy Weir’s astrophages and their taumoeba are microscopic thrillers playing out on the scale of the universe. His hypothesis is solid, the design and procreation for his microscopic protagonists is brilliant. There are so many concepts he introduces – all slowly but surely. The pacing in the book is truly amazing.

Small Wonder

I suppose for beings such as us, who believe in free will, thump our chests on all the great things we can accomplish etc; finding microscopic life is the surest way to humble us. 

https://nourishncherish.org/2020/03/23/fascinating-hidden-worlds/

During the course of the discussions, one of the many things that stood out is how it is we found out about microscopic life. The microscopic world is a marvelous one. Revealed to us 350 years ago by the talented man Antony von LLeuwenhoek. He is often hailed as the Father of Microbiology. 

Read also: Fascinating Hidden Worlds

How did we discover how mitochondria works, how genetics works, and how life can be protected with all its worlds within us? The fact that we contain multitudes has always been fascinating – we have more than 100 trillion microbes in our guts while our Milky Way only presumably contains 100-400 million stars. 

Read also: Good Food Mood

Big Wonder

Speaking of the universe and the many million stars, the book’s premise is that the astronaut from Earth encounters, befriends and teams up with an alien from Planet Erid.  An earthling and an Eridian putting their heads together to solve a problem that is crippling the universe. 

There have been many theories on why we have never encountered alien life before. I remember reading in one of Carl Sagan’s books that the reason may be temporal – meaning there is a progression to advancement in intelligence levels. The intelligence levels at which human beings find themselves, may well be a blip in the universe. We are already quickly evolving past the phase when we were so excited by beaming our rays into the universe, that we may not be excited about finding someone else in our range of intelligence any longer. 

Now considering the different levels of life: microscopic life, multi-celled organisms, animal and plant life enough to sustain ecosystems, evolved intelligent creatures such as humans, advanced intelligence creatures – way past the levels of humans, we can see why finding life on the same scales of intelligence and tool usage is truly a daunting task. Either, civilizations evolved past it, died down, or never got there at all. 

Given this, it is a big wonder that the book tries a premise of intelligent alien life. I suppose the possibility will always remain an exciting one. 

In any case, reading Hail Mary is an interesting exercise in imagination. I am excited to see what the movie does with Rocky the Eridian and how they visualize astrophages & taumoeba. 

I remember singing the hymn ‘All Things Bright & Beautiful’ in school. It is an uplifting hymn with truly beautiful imagery of purple headed mountains and tall trees in the greenwood. Life on Earth is beautiful. Life could be just as beautiful elsewhere. The possibility is exciting.

Have you read Hail Mary, and what are you looking forward to in the movie?

Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory

I have always been fascinated to see the world through another’s eyes. Maybe one of the reasons I am drawn to Fiction. It does seem to be an innate trait too. Obviously when I read the book, Eye By Eye – Comparing How Animals See – By Sara Levine, illustrated by T S SpookyTooth, it brought the eye fascination back in full force.

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I closed my eyes after reading – it was well past midnight – I had probably read 3 or 4 different books and I really needed to sleep if I had to be a functioning adult the next day. So I did. I closed my eyes – wondering about eyes.

If there is one overused trope in fiction, it is the eyes being the mirror of the soul. It is . Please don’t get me wrong. Expressive eyes are amazing. But I do find it over-used. How the eyes turned flat and gray, how the eyes were blue with excitement (Can eye color really change like that?) Also can the eyes show everything happening in another’s soul? The pupils dilated, the eyes red. 

In reality, how often do we sit and observe another’s eyes? I am reminded of this experiment by Sheldon & Penny of Big Bang Theory fame

The Big Bang Theory – Penny and Sheldons love experiment S08E16 [1080p]

However, it is beautiful that we have an organ that allows us to experience our world in such a wonderful manner. In Andy Weir’s book, Project Hail Mary – he meets an alien species, from Erid in the Tau Ceti star system 12 light years from Earth, who do not perceive light. That made for an interesting premise – for they were an advanced civilization able to design space travel etc without sight.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary

Anyway, where I’m going with all this meandering about light and sight is that, I was shocked to read that some underwater creatures do not perceive the color blue, and navigate a gray world instead. It made me sad for some reason – the blues are all we think of when we think of oceans and the lives it nurtures. How many shades do we have to describe the blues? Cerulean, Turquoise, Teal, Cyan, Aqua, Sky Blue, Royal Blue, Light Blue, Navy Blue and all the shades in between, and yet some creatures of the deep sea see none of that. Starfish, for instance, only perceive light as a vague form of light – they do not perceive differences in wavelength. 

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Cuttlefish, with their pupils W-shaped – what do they perceive? 

Seeing the world through another creature’s eyes can be rewarding, interesting and will make us more empathetic and passionate towards caring for our environment and preserving all the different kinds of life, would it not?

I might have made the goat whose eyes I stared into on my walk very nervous. You see? Ever since I read that goats have rectangular pupils, I am drawn to them. They allow me a moment to observe their pupils, then turn away bored. Interested in getting to that low-lying branch to eat. 

One goat even gave me an amused look – I did not detect amusement in the eyes if that is your question, I saw the face quirking up differently and moving away as though shaking its head.

Books: