187: Man versus Mars

0:00:00the incomparable number 187 marriage

0:00:09welcome back to be uncomfortable i'm

0:00:11your host Jason Snelling we're

0:00:12reconvening our book club are ever

0:00:15shifting membership of the book club the

0:00:17only person who is always with me for

0:00:20the book club is Scott multi hi Scott

0:00:23sorry I couldn't make it to the ages no

0:00:25it's the ghost of Scott McDonnell it is

0:00:28who doesn't read books coat that's a

0:00:32shame well it was thank you for stopping

0:00:34in to say you won't be here

0:00:36his life model duplicate that way to his

0:00:39John Smoltz who has been voicing our

0:00:41radio dramas but hasn't been on because

0:00:43usually he's not available when we

0:00:45record but he's here and I can't read

0:00:47and you can but your woman choosing a

0:00:50book club episode to appear and was the

0:00:51worst choice you could possibly a maid

0:00:53always that with this is yeah yeah

0:00:57also here he reads occasionally and

0:00:59occasionally appears on the book club

0:01:00especially if it's about the end of the

0:01:02world

0:01:02mm it's lex friedman hi likes hi how are

0:01:05you

0:01:06it's good to have you here I'm doing

0:01:07fine better now that you're here i'll be

0:01:10on any podcast that features John Smoltz

0:01:12we should say you guys you fellows you

0:01:15fellows have a podcast of your own

0:01:17that's correct turning this car around

0:01:21it's about driving it's about driving

0:01:23when you're a dad and how you're

0:01:25constantly threatening to turn the car

0:01:27around

0:01:27alright that's good I like that is

0:01:29certain is there an age where that

0:01:31starts the minute

0:01:33yes the minute they can talk i think

0:01:35people the minute they have desire to go

0:01:37somewhere else and that voice you heard

0:01:41was Lisa Schmeisser by the way

0:01:43hi Lisa hi it's a pleasure to be here

0:01:46it's good to have you think they don't

0:01:47really understand what you're saying

0:01:49until after they get back from college

0:01:51yeah even if then gradually if then

0:01:5430-32 alright so we are all here to talk

0:01:59about a relatively new book although it

0:02:02has a little bit of a history it was a

0:02:03posted on a website chapter by chapter

0:02:08and then the author did a kindle edition

0:02:11and that became

0:02:13very successful and so then it got an

0:02:16audio edition and a movie deal and a

0:02:19book deal and just recently came out as

0:02:22a you know an officially published by a

0:02:25big publishing company book which is I

0:02:27feel bad I I should have my finger on

0:02:29the pulse of this stuff and have read it

0:02:30like two years ago and be able to scoff

0:02:32and say back i read that one but no I i

0:02:34just heard about it like a couple weeks

0:02:36ago and it's called the Martian by a guy

0:02:38named andy weir who is has a computer

0:02:43science background is no is a you know

0:02:45has also like to righties it's sort of

0:02:47like a technology technology geek and

0:02:51amateur rider who has become now the

0:02:54author of this so widely while widely

0:02:57published widely successful novel the

0:02:59Martian yet he may be fabulously wealthy

0:03:02now but his name still sounds a little

0:03:03bit like underwear so I got that yeah

0:03:05sorry anywhere it's across you have to

0:03:08bear you should have chosen a pen name

0:03:10but this is the pic pic might I suggest

0:03:13Lex Friedman might I suggest a BVD fruit

0:03:17of the loom

0:03:19just a suggestion i love his work he is

0:03:23fruit of the loom

0:03:25man that guy could write me now you have

0:03:28me wondering if he actually made more

0:03:29money self-publishing then he would have

0:03:31made the publishing house because the

0:03:32economics of getting published by

0:03:34mainstream publisher much much different

0:03:36and yeah yourself but he was selling it

0:03:37for like ninety-nine cents and and like

0:03:41I said that Mike I never heard they made

0:03:43the activities fair there's like a huge

0:03:45flat of self-published syfy out there so

0:03:48unless you exactly unless you literally

0:03:50spend all day doing nothing but but

0:03:52checking blog posts and reading through

0:03:53this stuff you wouldn't have known he'd

0:03:56get a six-figure deal plus the movie

0:03:58deal so I think he probably made the

0:03:59right decision overall but you're right

0:04:00that it's not always a slam dunk on the

0:04:02economic question

0:04:03yeah i think the movie is going to kick

0:04:05ass frankly i would hope so and thinks

0:04:07will be great I so having enjoyed

0:04:09gravity i was sitting you know reading a

0:04:11book thinking well I I assume this has

0:04:14already been optioned for a movie

0:04:15because whoever has got this can pick I

0:04:17mean the pitch is simple it's like

0:04:19you're looking for the next gravity

0:04:20I got it for you right here I don't know

0:04:22why they have that accent

0:04:24different plus mission to Mars was so

0:04:27bad yeah and Andrea planet we throw that

0:04:30in there do it was a dark time in our

0:04:32nation's history because you guys have

0:04:34all seen mission to Mars right

0:04:35yes we're done she'll get stranded on

0:04:37Mars no doubt so I hope and see if

0:04:39there's a there's a long stupid sequence

0:04:41of events involving Jerry O'Connell and

0:04:43Van Halen okay lock long story short

0:04:45long stupid sequence of events that lead

0:04:47to jerry o'connell dance around it to

0:04:48Van Halen 0g and then somehow John

0:04:51she'll get ended it ends up stranded on

0:04:53Mars and grows out our righteous afro in

0:04:55a greenhouse

0:04:56yeah that's pretty much what I remember

0:04:58from the movie yep that's pretty much it

0:05:01and so I was Andy weir was at the

0:05:04authors at Google he gave a talk there

0:05:06about his book and he talked about how

0:05:08he just wanted to give the book away for

0:05:10free and so it was on this website and

0:05:12then people kept annoying him that they

0:05:13wanted on their kindle and it's like all

0:05:15right i'll put on the kindle and Amazon

0:05:17wouldn't let him give it away for free

0:05:18so he had to charge 99 cents and that's

0:05:21the only wish I had this problem i wish

0:05:24i had a problem with people banging down

0:05:27my door in order to pay for my content

0:05:29well maybe if you're an awesome book

0:05:32about people getting stranded animal ya

0:05:34like like that's going to that business

0:05:35model

0:05:36it's a proven winner so this this is an

0:05:39interesting book I was trying to

0:05:40describe to somebody and I I mean the

0:05:42elevator pitch obviously is Apollo 13

0:05:45meet meets castaway right because this

0:05:47is about this is this is it reads like

0:05:49Apollo 13 and that is a sort of

0:05:52fact-based acceptance made up in fact

0:05:54based approach to a mission to Mars

0:05:57future historical fiction it's well it's

0:06:00right i mean he tries to get the science

0:06:02right he's in this book apparently came

0:06:04out of him noodling on ideas about what

0:06:06the science would be for a mission to

0:06:07Mars and you can tell it's a very

0:06:09technically oriented approach it'sit's

0:06:12the details of how the Houthis would've

0:06:14worked and where they put the the

0:06:16refueling ships and the return vessel

0:06:18and and how the whole thing is going to

0:06:19work and I I thought that was really

0:06:22interesting that he tries to take that

0:06:24approach and then the Castaway example

0:06:27is that he has a volleyball

0:06:28no that's not it that he you know he

0:06:31gets stranded and that's that's the plot

0:06:33of the book is there's a dude on Mars

0:06:36and

0:06:37he's stuck there and his whole team

0:06:39thinks he's dead so they leave and he's

0:06:42all alone on the surface of Mars

0:06:44how could he how in the world could he

0:06:46survive and he works the problem using

0:06:48science and that's you know again your

0:06:51back to that Apollo 13 kind of thing

0:06:53where it's really a lot of math yeah

0:06:55there's a lot there there's there is a

0:06:56lot of math he's plucky he's also a

0:07:00fortunate combination of skill sets

0:07:02yeah that's what I was gonna gonna say

0:07:04is Mark Watney this main character he is

0:07:06literally the only person who could

0:07:08serve hot

0:07:09exactly exactly everybody else on the

0:07:12team would be dead he is a botanist

0:07:14engineer and pretty much when you

0:07:16stranded on Mars it would be good to be

0:07:18able to know how to try and grow some

0:07:20food so you can survive and you have to

0:07:22be an electrical engineer who can wire

0:07:24things and fix things

0:07:26yeah he's a mechanical engineer so you

0:07:28don't write books about the other people

0:07:30who treated Morris because they just die

0:07:31right away in the morn

0:07:32well there are combination blogger

0:07:35nutritionist

0:07:38i mean i-i so my time thinking of like

0:07:40the most useless company should sent

0:07:42into a panic but you know that will

0:07:46night I do appreciate that almost

0:07:48everybody out on his crew had some sort

0:07:50of heavy engineering or computer science

0:07:52background because it does make a lot of

0:07:54sense that you have to have somebody who

0:07:56can keep a really cool head and fix hard

0:07:58mechanical stuff when they're there is

0:08:00no but there's no IT department within

0:08:01you know several hundred thousand miles

0:08:04well their astronauts and astronauts are

0:08:06trained to do that right so what they've

0:08:09got and they do have to grow things

0:08:10today I mean limited the the skill set

0:08:12for people living on Mars has to be this

0:08:15dovetailing of being an astronaut and

0:08:17being you know having skills being a

0:08:19settler kind of and having those skills

0:08:21to did anybody else have like the

0:08:23scholastic magazines in the classroom

0:08:25growing up like that and yeah did you

0:08:27remember like I think was GE that used

0:08:29to do the fantastical ads in the back of

0:08:31them where it was will have underwater

0:08:32colonies and we'll know it was like they

0:08:36yeah and I'm you have this dovetailing

0:08:38with epcot center and i discovered

0:08:41hydroponics like in fifth and sixth

0:08:43grade and for about five or six years i

0:08:45was hardcore set on becoming a space

0:08:47botanist like I was convinced that if I

0:08:49could just

0:08:50study hydroponics and figure out a way

0:08:52to create a softness self-sustaining

0:08:54biome and some in a space the size of my

0:08:56room like Shirley NASA would have to

0:08:58recruit me and so reading this book like

0:09:01totally brought back a whole flood of

0:09:03like space crazy middle school memories

0:09:05it was it was it was nice what was that

0:09:07what was the old show that had like a

0:09:09high that we had a hydroponics garden I

0:09:10was keeping everybody alive which one

0:09:12was that was that space 1999 or

0:09:15something in that era there was that

0:09:18there was a shame i mean it was a row

0:09:20they were always talking about the

0:09:21hydroponics garden only ever showed the

0:09:23hydroponics garden but the hydroponics

0:09:25garden was keeping the whole crew alive

0:09:27that was like one of the grace notes and

0:09:29did anyone else hear to the movie

0:09:30sunshine were the premise of the movies

0:09:32they have to go drop a nuke into the

0:09:34sender restarted mrs. Sonia but I'm yep

0:09:36that the hydroponics garden plays a huge

0:09:38role in that movie too

0:09:39and John I mr google tells me that it

0:09:42was indeed space 1999 no I just day I

0:09:44still hate gardening an actual soil that

0:09:46you show me you can take that you look

0:09:47like you show me a container or a raised

0:09:49bed or a hydroponic system and I'm like

0:09:51I can do this if it is practically a

0:09:54spaceship at that point exactly yes just

0:09:57i'll tell you the one thing because i

0:10:00was thinking when I mean I don't know

0:10:02anything about any of the science

0:10:03involved so I was just willing to take

0:10:05the authors word for it and marks i

0:10:08guess and i started to feel like you

0:10:11know you see the Apollo 13 connection

0:10:13right away you see the Castaway

0:10:14connection right away but it ended up

0:10:16feeling to me the book more than

0:10:17anything else like the TV series The the

0:10:19not great TV series Prison Break

0:10:22oh god I recap that for television

0:10:24without pity and everyone and every week

0:10:25Michael Scofield had to like

0:10:26jerry-rigged some sort of crazy world

0:10:29but it's not just this generation rate

0:10:31single school feels there and he's he's

0:10:32he solved this seemingly insurmountable

0:10:34problem and now they're going to be in

0:10:36the clear but in the last minute of the

0:10:37episode episode

0:10:38oh crap now there's something even worse

0:10:41it impossible unsolvable situation he's

0:10:44clearly doomed and then next week he

0:10:46solves it but that's that's the

0:10:47structure of the book because you know

0:10:49they've NASA figures out like what the

0:10:50first quarter that he's still alive and

0:10:53then it instantly turns 20 crap we

0:10:55obviously have to get them home so it's

0:10:57not like man vs Man is your ultimate man

0:11:00versus nature Balkans and and basically

0:11:01those are nature has tried to

0:11:04like my ass i have barely hung on and

0:11:05lather rinse repeat for the next 20

0:11:08chapters yeah I definitely i used aside

0:11:12from Apollo 13 and cast away at the

0:11:14example i gave to several people was

0:11:16it's kind of like a jack london novel

0:11:18where you know instead of it the

0:11:20frontier is space but it's like that you

0:11:22know you're in Alaska and the the cold

0:11:24is gonna make your fingers fall off if

0:11:26you don't find shelter soon and it's a

0:11:27little bit like bad that to that it is

0:11:30it is man versus nature into the wild

0:11:33into the wild with a happier ending

0:11:35oh no it's I I absolutely disagree with

0:11:39that

0:11:39um here's haha you are wrong

0:11:43no I do because Mike I've read that book

0:11:45a couple of times i'm a big jon krakauer

0:11:47fan because I kind of going vendors well

0:11:50read that back to back with into thin

0:11:51air sense crack hours fascinated by

0:11:54extreme personalities who take man

0:11:56versus nature 222 an edge and the point

0:11:59that cracker makes over and over and

0:12:01over is that Alexander Supertramp had no

0:12:04effing idea what he was doing he was

0:12:05basically under the impression he was

0:12:07under the impression that he tap into

0:12:09some like yungin subconscious that

0:12:11teaches you how to live off the land and

0:12:12he literally knew nothing about the the

0:12:15heat not only did he know nothing about

0:12:17where he was going he also knew nothing

0:12:18about how to react adverse circumstances

0:12:20spoiler alert

0:12:21we're what whereas what you find out

0:12:24with Mark Watney is that he approaches

0:12:27every problem and he's like here's what

0:12:28I know about my situation here is how i

0:12:30can find more information here is how

0:12:31can respond to it like one has a

0:12:33tremendous amount of respect for for

0:12:35external Authority and and for external

0:12:37knowledge and you here the authors say

0:12:39here's all my research that backs it up

0:12:41i don't know if i would agree that he

0:12:42has a tremendous respect for external

0:12:44Authority it's also fiction

0:12:46now you cannot people stop it and use it

0:12:49for for external for external knowledge

0:12:50for people who have done research and

0:12:52run the numbers which is one of the

0:12:54great aspects of the book right is like

0:12:55his his his disrespect is disrespect for

0:12:58authority is fantastic people are

0:13:01reading this oh yeah well you PS also

0:13:04their sisters is my favorite moment of

0:13:05the book I I like how they actually make

0:13:07a point of saying it's probably why he

0:13:09survived is because you know he

0:13:11automatically he's comfortable being non

0:13:13authoritarian and he's

0:13:14comfortable being outside the boundaries

0:13:15of of convention anyway and that way

0:13:18he's not gonna fall to pieces the same

0:13:19way that somebody who needs to be told

0:13:20what to do well and that's why when he

0:13:22ignores NASA later in the book and and

0:13:25does some things that it doesn't want

0:13:27him to do it is good that he does that

0:13:30right i mean he gets used to making his

0:13:32own decisions and that's mean and that

0:13:34is that is why he survives is that he's

0:13:36independent like that but it's also

0:13:37funny I mean you want to have an

0:13:39engaging personality and the fact that

0:13:41this guy is is you know kind of waking

0:13:45making jokes and he's a character and

0:13:47and that gets you a long way because if

0:13:49he was a really boring astronaut who is

0:13:51very serious about his job that would be

0:13:53a boring read a 10 at the same time you

0:13:56kind of want to believe that this guy's

0:13:58letting it rip

0:13:59because he's probably gonna die anyway

0:14:01and he's just trying to keep himself

0:14:02saying so there's a good reason for that

0:14:05right

0:14:06it's the it's the sort of hook that lets

0:14:07you believe that he's not completely

0:14:09depressed because he's spending two

0:14:10years by himself for watching every

0:14:14seventies sitcom ever made and listening

0:14:18to disco and look which I don't

0:14:20understand why you know astronauts 10

0:14:23years in her future her and so obsessed

0:14:26with seventies television was only one

0:14:29astronaut needed to be right this is the

0:14:31way people you know get into any weird

0:14:33cultural period and make it there around

0:14:35got Mykelti loves worker she wrote it's

0:14:37it's true i also think it was easy i

0:14:40think it was it was it was exciting dr.

0:14:42find out here now to characterize

0:14:45someone you know it was just so this is

0:14:47the hard-ass military captain who has a

0:14:49secret thing for dinner womp womp

0:14:51yeah yeah just like our this is the

0:14:54diminutive computer scientist who may be

0:14:56turned into a cannibal of this mission

0:14:57because ha ha yeah and it's also just

0:15:00funny like having to deal with someone

0:15:02else's idea of entertainment for you

0:15:06know six months or however long you can

0:15:07go through their library i have a hard

0:15:10time believing though that this guy you

0:15:13know or was it was hit that he brought

0:15:15stuff and it was lost or what did he

0:15:17just not bring entertain because I that

0:15:19was what baffles me is like why doesn't

0:15:20he have his own store of entertainment

0:15:22for the flight out in the flight back

0:15:24and instead he's left with these scraps

0:15:27they maybe take it back with them as a

0:15:30well you know mark mark love Monty

0:15:32Python so what 17 minutes of Monty

0:15:34Python every night or something I don't

0:15:36know they wouldn't have known they were

0:15:37losing marked when they were going

0:15:39because they were evacuating right and

0:15:40he got lost as on the way to the

0:15:42whatever that evil and the RR whatever

0:15:46its called

0:15:47I thought there was some kind of

0:15:48technical issue that lost whatever he

0:15:50had but I don't remember it so I could

0:15:52be wrong

0:15:53yeah i mean it winds up being funny that

0:15:54he's he's miserably you know powering

0:15:57through every 70 sitcom and listen to

0:15:59get my pic but if you know I i found

0:16:02that kind of perplexing that he didn't

0:16:03have his own store and maybe i just

0:16:05missed where he said well I had it but I

0:16:07watched it all and I'm tired of it and I

0:16:08want something new or I I lack the

0:16:11foresight to pack enough stuff but she

0:16:14packed every sitcom ever so I'm gonna

0:16:17watch that I don't know my only

0:16:19complaint about the book i really liked

0:16:20it but I did not like the P narrative

0:16:24context switching that happened or the

0:16:27the I guess the cheating to make the

0:16:29narrative devices work sometime so you

0:16:33know a lot of it is his own journaling

0:16:35and I'll accept that he's got very

0:16:36little to do on Mars when he's not

0:16:38trying to survive so he can write in his

0:16:41journal that's fine but when he has the

0:16:43the really borderline end of his life

0:16:48situation where he's in the compromised

0:16:50airlock trying to live and it's verbal

0:16:53journals right it'sit's transcription

0:16:56his recordings that he made

0:16:57I wasn't it really took me out of the

0:16:59stories and try to imagine i'm in the

0:17:01situation i'm going to narrate the whole

0:17:02thing for my future journaling purposes

0:17:05I didn't like it out of much rather it

0:17:07either context switch to the third

0:17:09person or that he he wrote about it

0:17:13later because i did not at all by that

0:17:15he was narrating it

0:17:16that's a very good logical point but it

0:17:18never bothered me at all I tended Mary

0:17:20to myself of them if I'm in the middle

0:17:22of doing something unpleasant or but he

0:17:24has to conserve oxygen like it's it's

0:17:26extremely dangerous for him to keep

0:17:28talking i crying curl up in a ball that

0:17:32doesn't really conserve oxygen laughing

0:17:34again again that's the story of how John

0:17:36Smoltz died on Mars that's respect

0:17:38but it's not different blood is good

0:17:39very short not notice goodbye the you

0:17:42know this is the literary equivalent of

0:17:43the found-footage movie right it is an

0:17:45epistolary essentially novel and I love

0:17:49epistolary in-house to all I got so it's

0:17:51it's a challenge to to break out of that

0:17:55is it realistic I I thought you were

0:17:57going to go another direction X because

0:17:58that didn't that didn't confuse me or

0:18:02frustrate me at all

0:18:04the cutaways to earth while I I

0:18:08appreciate the drama because you see

0:18:10that they're searching for him and he's

0:18:11searching you know for a way to to reach

0:18:13them and that's all kind of connected

0:18:15and it's and it actually is kind of a

0:18:16kick to realize that they're watching as

0:18:18he does things they finally spot him but

0:18:21still it's it's cheating because it's

0:18:23not from his perspective and what's

0:18:25worse

0:18:26am I the only one who thinks it's got

0:18:28all the characters on earth were

0:18:30miserable but they weren't even human

0:18:33beings because they were kind of like

0:18:34two dimensional characters but they were

0:18:35all jerks they were all just awful

0:18:38people they were stock NASA bureaucrats

0:18:41yeah i didn't i didn't feel like they

0:18:43were jerks

0:18:44you didn't say lyrics I didn't that the

0:18:46pr ladies a jerk

0:18:47the manager is a jerk that the woman who

0:18:49finds him is not a jerk

0:18:51maybe it's just because I deal with a

0:18:53lot of PR people but you know it's not

0:18:56you know like I could totally hear

0:18:58something our personal she was very

0:19:00sarcastic but she wasn't happy about

0:19:02reporters and this is my client that I'm

0:19:04protecting and and i absolutely no PR

0:19:07people like her where that the idea that

0:19:09this is a human being trapped on Mars

0:19:11like yes I'm very concerned but I'm more

0:19:12concerned about is I have this pack of

0:19:14jerkish reporters who need something

0:19:16give it to me so i can give it to them

0:19:17and that's that's how good PR people

0:19:19work i didn't i didn't think they were

0:19:21necessarily directly to think they were

0:19:22one-dimensional character posturing

0:19:25between bureaucrats reliably yeah

0:19:28residents of flatland yeah and it's it's

0:19:30it's the it's the cliché that the the

0:19:32bureaucrat wants to do the the thing

0:19:36that's gonna look better as opposed to

0:19:38the thing that has a better chance of

0:19:39actually succeeding guy just the whole

0:19:42dynamic in the the the power

0:19:45relationships and them arguing and and

0:19:48the stuff they say yeah I never felt

0:19:50that they were really character

0:19:51there's and I i found most of them

0:19:53unpleasant and I I thought it was a

0:19:55liability of the book but the people on

0:19:57earth where were all all ya work will

0:20:01kind of awful and also flat I was really

0:20:04touched by the Chinese researchers

0:20:05actually because they were like we had

0:20:07this national school and find finally

0:20:09have an astronaut who's going on a

0:20:10mission but we sacrificed a lot of what

0:20:14could've been her own good science for

0:20:15this one guy and and the fact that they

0:20:17point out that there's a huge price to

0:20:18be paid but they're happy to pay it i

0:20:21was really glad that it wasn't just as

0:20:23one-dimensional last the glorious red

0:20:25Republic will make into space but rather

0:20:27it was like look we had all these

0:20:28factors we we made this decision it cost

0:20:30us a lot and I thought I thought it was

0:20:33one of the few really poignant moments

0:20:34in the book but but still the government

0:20:37wouldn't have done it if they didn't get

0:20:38a man on Mars

0:20:39yeah right i mean i was ultimately

0:20:41that's what the Chinese government went

0:20:43floor is your you would somebody on the

0:20:45next mission and I appreciated that they

0:20:48i actually appreciate the book went to

0:20:49tremendous detail about the horse

0:20:50trading in the pragmatism because it was

0:20:52one thing to say let's get this guy home

0:20:53but you know that everybody and every

0:20:56step of the way is going to protecting

0:20:57their own fiefdom in their own ass and

0:20:58so they also talked about here all the

0:21:00things that had to happen in order for

0:21:02everybody to feel like they were doing

0:21:03the right thing and not risk too much

0:21:06you know when you think about it there

0:21:07was a remark but there was a remarkable

0:21:08lack of risking getting this guy home

0:21:10like the funding was magically lined up

0:21:11public opinion was apparently still all

0:21:14oh my god we've got to bring the sky

0:21:15home as opposed to the 8000 blogs /

0:21:18sprung up all their spending this much

0:21:19brand him when you rebuilding to try or

0:21:23or like whatever and instead i wasn't

0:21:25really good blogger voice by the way

0:21:27that sound like that they do they do

0:21:30it's a blog quickly and this would have

0:21:35this would have taken place about the

0:21:37same time that Robocop would have taken

0:21:38place so Detroit is probably a good

0:21:39energy that's what did you know after i

0:21:44read the book within two weeks yourself

0:21:46arstechnica published an article about a

0:21:49a hypothetical mission to rescue the

0:21:53astronauts on the Columbia and it was

0:21:56very similar and it was based on you

0:22:00know a project that NASA was tasked with

0:22:03when they were doing

0:22:04their investigation after the Columbia

0:22:05Shuttle disaster and so it was you know

0:22:07they talked about all the things that

0:22:09have to go right all the corners that

0:22:10would have had to be cut and the

0:22:12different you know though the way the

0:22:14rescue mission would have gone it was

0:22:15very similar really bright red I mean

0:22:17still didn't happen not at all reality

0:22:19but you can't even read that article

0:22:20without getting caught up in the dream

0:22:21of my out maybe they're going to save

0:22:23these people who you already know have

0:22:24died but yet very similar so i just

0:22:27wanna probably worth the show no Jason

0:22:28yeah yeah i agree and that's good good

0:22:31piece and and that is the flavor of this

0:22:33right i mean i think i think if there's

0:22:34a criticism to be made of the the way

0:22:36this book is is written it is it is

0:22:40obsessed with technical details it is it

0:22:42is the transcript of an engineer on Mars

0:22:45trying to figure out the technical

0:22:47issues that will allow him to stay alive

0:22:49it is that this is this is a book that

0:22:52is telling me it's more than this but

0:22:55you can tell that what this book is

0:22:56about how do you solve the problem of

0:22:58what happens if a guy is a trap is

0:23:00trapped on Mars and and what in a larger

0:23:03standpoint how do you you know how would

0:23:05the manned Mars missions be set up to we

0:23:08in great detail because there aren't

0:23:10sort of hand waving solutions here it's

0:23:13all all the solutions are you know based

0:23:16on well this is how it would work and

0:23:18then this might happen and then how

0:23:19would you deal with that and I guess you

0:23:21know I liked it but I also could

0:23:23appreciate the criticism of somebody who

0:23:25says you know I i wanted it I wanted

0:23:27more story and less technical detail

0:23:31about how to fix my spacesuit on Mars

0:23:33because i am not going to Mars and don't

0:23:35own a spacesuit but it doesn't go into I

0:23:40don't think it goes into annoying detail

0:23:42i mean the the detail is only a couple

0:23:45paragraphs long another about my

0:23:47criticism of some other science fiction

0:23:49books just the at in which this book

0:23:52does not do at all is the long boring

0:23:57descriptions of the sweeping majesty of

0:24:00the Martian Plains and he does not waste

0:24:04a single word on any of that he doesn't

0:24:06waste a lot of words about stringing

0:24:08together resistor so he can change the

0:24:10average of the electricity friend the

0:24:12habitat to whatever his drill is using I

0:24:15think he's I still think he's much

0:24:17more compact and is writing I mean and I

0:24:20think that's why i was able to tear this

0:24:21book and a couple of days because he he

0:24:24will do that for a few paragraphs but

0:24:26I've I've rather books that go on for

0:24:28pages but I I felt like it was the right

0:24:30amount of Monte multi-year I felt like

0:24:32it was you know enough to show that he

0:24:34would like you wanted to be believable

0:24:36and it felt very grounded in reality

0:24:38whether it was legit or naughty I mean

0:24:40it's their turns out he did a ton of

0:24:41research but and all that stuff is is at

0:24:44is based as is also related to the

0:24:46action

0:24:47it has it as actual critical input into

0:24:51what is going on as opposed to Mars for

0:24:55years it has lain understood the natives

0:25:00colored farts ooh yeah-yeah-yeah also

0:25:04good that there's no there are no

0:25:05indigenous Martian life that's that's

0:25:07also i think i'm also a plus know it's a

0:25:09you get the feeling that it's real signs

0:25:11I I I never felt that the I never felt

0:25:14that that the the technical detail

0:25:17overwhelm the story where I was tapping

0:25:19my you know tapping my feet and being

0:25:21like come on come on back to the story I

0:25:23felt at a few points I I I started to

0:25:26wonder is this too much detail but then

0:25:29it would seem to be timed fairly well I

0:25:31just I i think that some people don't

0:25:33want to read a book with this kind of

0:25:35technical detail even at the level that

0:25:37it is they would I guess rather have the

0:25:40you know majesty of the vistas as he's

0:25:43traveling but instead this is definitely

0:25:45perspective of this guy and he's very

0:25:47focused on his goals and so we are we

0:25:50don't get that there are a few moments

0:25:51where he says right i took a moment to

0:25:53appreciate this thing that I saw but you

0:25:55know he's really focused on staying

0:25:56alive and figuring out what you know

0:25:59problems he needs to solve to get to his

0:26:01destination the thing that was hardest

0:26:03for me to understand of the science was

0:26:06probably because i'm stupid was the the

0:26:08big giant sack of nuclear energy that he

0:26:12was toting around every once awhile stay

0:26:14warm i think quite understand how that

0:26:15all works i was glad it worked that's

0:26:17how space probes like that's not like

0:26:18the Voyager and a bunch of space probes

0:26:20they have the that's how they stay with

0:26:23their electronics active is they've got

0:26:24isotopes that decay and emit heat and so

0:26:30it you know

0:26:31you wouldn't want to do that around

0:26:32people necessarily but it actually does

0:26:35keep things warm so that's a real that's

0:26:37a real thing I believed it

0:26:39it was very funny because he's like

0:26:41don't break don't break don't break

0:26:42don't break he's like well I'm dead if I

0:26:44can't use this but I'm also dead if it

0:26:46breaks so let's be careful but i'm gonna

0:26:49use it you did he buries it's funny

0:26:50because he he digs it up because they

0:26:52buried it because people shouldn't be

0:26:54around it and they use for a little

0:26:56while and he goes and puts it back and

0:26:57like berries that he can take over it

0:26:59and then he has to get out third time

0:27:01but that's a real that's a real thing

0:27:02i'm imagining that you know his overall

0:27:05life span is short from his radiation

0:27:07exposure but still all right

0:27:09yeah well it's longer than what it would

0:27:11have been right now and Mars has a

0:27:13thinner atmosphere than earth does

0:27:15anyway so he got more doses of radiation

0:27:17anyway so although it's further away

0:27:19that is true from the Sun we should get

0:27:22anywhere to calculate out his lifetime

0:27:24radiation exposure

0:27:26hi Betty Betty already has probably

0:27:28bought a blog post somewhere with the

0:27:30with the details anywhere hehe was he is

0:27:34uh I was so i watch this google talk

0:27:37that he gave where he was demonstrating

0:27:38the application that the program that he

0:27:41wrote that calculated all the orbits of

0:27:44all of the spacecraft to make sure that

0:27:46would all work and where Mars would be

0:27:49when Andy when a the different things

0:27:52happened on the different days and he

0:27:53knew every day

0:27:55oh dude he knows side five hands no no

0:27:57sci-fi family owes its yes because you

0:28:00you realize of course that you can't

0:28:02read a book like this without having a

0:28:03thousand space nerds fact-checking you

0:28:06and say the suspect doesn't work because

0:28:07XYZ and and do some bloggers I think

0:28:10that's another ministry always do they

0:28:13are bloggers hi things raises a larger

0:28:16issue is how much of your fandom comes

0:28:18down to being able to enjoy the theory

0:28:21the idea of something and how much of

0:28:22your fandom comes down to be able to

0:28:23enjoy the accuracy or the the verity of

0:28:25it well this book obviously came from

0:28:28the came from the facts i mean i really

0:28:31believe that he didn't work all the I

0:28:33mean he may have he may have checked his

0:28:35work at the end but i think most of the

0:28:36work in this book is upfront that he was

0:28:39curious about how it would work and then

0:28:41thought well i could write this in a

0:28:43story and I love

0:28:44I mean that's why I that's why i love

0:28:45Apollo 13 in the book that the movie was

0:28:48based on and the fact that the book and

0:28:51the movie was but anyway uh huh I like

0:28:53that because i would probably read a

0:28:56straight-up novel about the technical

0:28:59all the technical details and the

0:29:01interpersonal issues of sending people

0:29:02to Mars and back even if there was no

0:29:04disaster and somebody was left behind

0:29:07I would probably eat that up just

0:29:09because it's I think that's one of the

0:29:12valuable things that science fiction can

0:29:14do is make you think what would it be

0:29:16like if we went to Mars what would the

0:29:17details be how would the people react to

0:29:19it you don't necessarily even need a

0:29:21disaster but in this case we get that

0:29:23but we still get all of those great

0:29:24details and that was that was fun I

0:29:26realized that that's not for everybody

0:29:27but I love being able to imagine you

0:29:30know okay if we're going to go to Mars

0:29:32in the next 50 years

0:29:33how would we do that and then tell a

0:29:34story based on that which the sort of

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0:31:58the incomparable one thing that I

0:32:01thought was well done was how attempted

0:32:04to reflect the tediousness of some

0:32:06things without trying to say i think

0:32:08with the goal wasn't to make reading it

0:32:09boring but to reflect this is extremely

0:32:11time-consuming just there

0:32:13the initial way that he starts

0:32:14communicating with NASA where they and

0:32:17he has to have to divide the systems on

0:32:19his own because they haven't any

0:32:21messages to him at first just I don't

0:32:24know I found all that I could imagine

0:32:25how painful and slow the correspondence

0:32:28was at first you know rotating the the

0:32:30thing telescope whatever lies and I i

0:32:33appreciated their hit the I appreciated

0:32:35Weir's skill and doing that at it you

0:32:37know and he put in all the effort to

0:32:39building up his garden covers the entire

0:32:42thing with oil and then eventually it's

0:32:43all screwed i like that i like i like

0:32:47the suffering alongside him Jason

0:32:50highway 20 30 60 hours ago you and I

0:32:53were talking about the the context

0:32:56switching your big complaint was that

0:32:57the characters on earth didn't seem

0:32:58super well-defined and/or they were all

0:33:00jerks

0:33:01yeah the only time that really bothered

0:33:03me in that fight because I mean I didn't

0:33:05want to hear part of the story from

0:33:06Earth and I don't know how else could

0:33:08have done it

0:33:08yeah i agree i it's cheating

0:33:11and I I'll allow it because it was it

0:33:14was good

0:33:15the chief that I did not think added

0:33:16anything the story and took me out even

0:33:18more was the unnecessary backstory of

0:33:21the piece of fabric or whatever that

0:33:23ends up failing that one yes yes yes I'm

0:33:26sure he was going for but i did not

0:33:28inform me at all

0:33:29it felt very tom clancy ish to be honest

0:33:32with you or you're like I've done

0:33:33research

0:33:34no because tom clancy's books are like

0:33:35that to wear in order to find out how

0:33:37some how some porthole figures he takes

0:33:41you into like the life story of the

0:33:42architect and the tensile strength of

0:33:45tungsten infused whatever and and and

0:33:47and this was this had a lot going

0:33:49forward to where where it was like okay

0:33:51we we get these parts are made in such a

0:33:54way but if you have to do it for all of

0:33:56them or or you kind of have to cut that

0:33:58out and say look sometimes stuff just

0:33:59happens in both the handshaking book man

0:34:03in the moon which is what from the earth

0:34:05to the moon the HBO series was based on

0:34:06and in the the book that Apollo 13 was

0:34:11based on there are sections like that

0:34:13which is low you know essentially here's

0:34:16what probably happened why the explosion

0:34:18happened on Apollo 13 or why the apollo

0:34:211 deaths happen right and then it's like

0:34:24well there is this and this and Apollo

0:34:2613 it's like there was a spark and it

0:34:28was probably this thing and it was

0:34:29probably just something wrong here and

0:34:32and like the challengers o-rings right

0:34:34you can actually draw that line back to

0:34:36this tiny tiny detail that cascades all

0:34:39the way to having this disaster and

0:34:42that's totally what he was going for and

0:34:44it certainly builds up the tension in a

0:34:45way right where it's like a boy

0:34:47something Bad's gonna happen oh jeez

0:34:48what's it gonna be

0:34:49right right you know another thing is

0:34:51gonna feel right but you know not it

0:34:53doesn't happen with any of the other

0:34:54things and it was yeah i agree it seemed

0:34:57it seemed weird not a place i was gonna

0:34:59say the flipping back and forth I think

0:35:00works and many other instances and in

0:35:03particular and thinking when they first

0:35:04realized that he had for comedic effect

0:35:07or when you first realize that he's

0:35:10still alive and and they think oh my god

0:35:13i can only wonder what he's thinking and

0:35:15I don't want to run up but he's but he's

0:35:17making something absolutely ridiculous

0:35:19is that they keep anything at all about

0:35:22why

0:35:23oh my god I can't believe those jerks

0:35:24left me here

0:35:26no he's watching you know Gilligan's

0:35:28Island reruns

0:35:29yeah that was a great getaway i love it

0:35:33that way

0:35:34yeah I mean it's funny it's funny I

0:35:36don't want to make it seem like this is

0:35:37what we're talking about is some you

0:35:40know engineering nerds fantasy about a

0:35:42trip to Mars

0:35:43I mean it is that but it's not just that

0:35:44and it's not like there are pages of so

0:35:47please consult in the back of the book

0:35:49you'll find several appendices and some

0:35:51diagrams of how it's not like that it

0:35:54could be like that but it's not he does

0:35:57show a lot of his work but it's funny

0:35:58the character is very amusing because he

0:36:01says all sorts of crazy stuff because he

0:36:03is kind of entertaining himself and he

0:36:05doesn't care anymore and that comes out

0:36:07in the voice and you know I its strong

0:36:10I i think i could see how some people

0:36:12might think that it was a little forced

0:36:13but I enjoyed it I felt like this guy is

0:36:15just a character he just not only are we

0:36:17lucky that he's a botanist and an

0:36:18engineer but we're also lucky that he's

0:36:20got a very wacky personality because it

0:36:23wouldn't be much of a book even if he

0:36:25had the other two things you can do all

0:36:26these task competently he was boring

0:36:29wouldn't be much of a book

0:36:30why would why would you write that book

0:36:31so I think if you've got a high schooler

0:36:33who is taking either chemistry or

0:36:34physics you it

0:36:36lob them this book because it's a nice

0:36:38what struck me was how how much of a

0:36:42natural teacher where is a writer and

0:36:44how he walks you through well thanks to

0:36:46this property this is how this has to

0:36:47work and so I'm counting on XYZ and all

0:36:50the chemical reactions he'd details in

0:36:52trying to make water and and trying to

0:36:54Jerry regardless different solutions you

0:36:56could probably sit down with somebody

0:36:58who's to was grasping basic training

0:37:00grass basic chemistry basic physics and

0:37:01go okay look this is your real life

0:37:03example it's better than a word problem

0:37:04and this will probably help you grasp a

0:37:06lot better than sitting in class some

0:37:08reading through your textbook so it's

0:37:11one of those books that makes you feel

0:37:12smarter just really do have it doesn't

0:37:14make sense

0:37:14oh it is a fact yeah yeah there's a

0:37:16crazy number of things that sort of

0:37:17interweave and some of them are 42 it

0:37:20you know a deliberately fortuitous I'm

0:37:22sure but just like the fact that he can

0:37:25make soil because he's using his own

0:37:29poop as and it's ok to use his own poop

0:37:32as well as the poop of the other

0:37:34astronauts that's been out

0:37:36that you know throughout the door

0:37:37because all their bacteria is dead but

0:37:40it's still good organic matter that i

0:37:42can use and i'm already my-my bacteria

0:37:45is already in me so I can eat my own

0:37:46bacteria and i happen to have

0:37:48thanksgiving potatoes and energy s7000

0:37:53this thing that think the fact that

0:37:56against the world against the potatoes

0:37:58is delightful but not if there's a lot

0:38:01less botany in there compared to the

0:38:02other stuff but you know i'm pretty sure

0:38:05it's because people like well I really

0:38:06don't care about I pulled Mia's genre

0:38:08says it is a genus you it was a lot less

0:38:10but need any other stuff however a lot

0:38:12more botany the most books i read a

0:38:16hundred percent or bought me this was a

0:38:19heavy bunny heavy i would say in but yes

0:38:22with a more heavy with that with

0:38:24electrical engineering and other kinds

0:38:26of engineering and as well as all the

0:38:28astrophysics that goes into it this

0:38:30anybody else find it hard to believe

0:38:31that CNN would have a lost an astronaut

0:38:34today show every day that would be

0:38:36successful in any way i had i find it

0:38:38hard to believe that CNN is on in 10

0:38:39years yeah that's my that was the one

0:38:41that was the biggest obstacle to believe

0:38:43for me and again like i said i find it

0:38:46really hard to believe that ever was a

0:38:47hundred was uncritically behind this all

0:38:49we've got to get the stranded astronaut

0:38:50home

0:38:51I mean I realized that for the people

0:38:52who are working at NASA that they don't

0:38:55have time for the haters and i'm certain

0:38:57that the guy who's on Mars like the last

0:38:59thing he's concerned about his public

0:39:00opinion but they like even people at

0:39:02NASA they lose i mean not only do the

0:39:03Chinese lose their mission the people at

0:39:05NASA lose a mission to Mars as a part of

0:39:07this because I gotta send the same team

0:39:08back around again to get them but I i

0:39:11absolutely believe that the people from

0:39:12NASA or what it would want to get him

0:39:15back for the most of the wood i think

0:39:17that it's I don't think that you have to

0:39:19accept that nobody is complaining about

0:39:21the fact that they're rescuing this

0:39:22mission but I I'm willing to accept that

0:39:24i don't have to spend any time with a

0:39:25book on them since i'm also you know

0:39:26rooting for the guy who live on Mars

0:39:28yeah as as somebody who actually loves

0:39:29the movie contact i will say i was

0:39:31actually grateful that we didn't have

0:39:33the the senator played by Garry

0:39:37Shandling who says we're spending

0:39:39several billion dollars here on this and

0:39:41it's just one man why don't we just have

0:39:43another mission and you know one man's

0:39:44life it certainly is is worth something

0:39:46but it's not worth billions of dollars

0:39:48and then he met he has imagined

0:39:49patients behind the scenes to try to get

0:39:51them to cancel the mission and at the

0:39:52last minute somebody has a UH a touching

0:39:55emotional response and realizes that

0:39:57damn it we can't leave that man on Mars

0:39:59and they decide i was kind of happy not

0:40:00to have to go through that whole

0:40:01rigmarole right i would have liked to

0:40:04have seen a little bit more political or

0:40:06media theater because again we live in

0:40:07such as we live in such sharply

0:40:09polarized and I an oppositional culture

0:40:11that again the minute that this guy

0:40:13it's discovered that he stranded on the

0:40:14moon you're going to have a thousand

0:40:16people and this is why science doesn't

0:40:18work and you're going to have more

0:40:19people who talk about ethics and and and

0:40:21everybody's going to you take that issue

0:40:24as a cute mouse their own personal hobby

0:40:26horse and ride the point to the ground

0:40:28and then Matthew McConaughey steps from

0:40:30the side and says let's talk about the

0:40:32spiritual aspects of this know you're in

0:40:34the wrong movie get back to contact

0:40:36gonna get back i feel like this nation's

0:40:38in a place where we will receive any

0:40:39message that Matthew McConaughey times

0:40:41to go yeah it's true that the rescue

0:40:45mission to me didn't feel dissimilar

0:40:48from other movies or books about rescue

0:40:51missions that are more military focused

0:40:53where you don't usually see well let's

0:40:55not go in and rescue the know it's late

0:40:56leave no man behind right exactly and so

0:40:58it felt the same mentality that night

0:41:00totally I mean if you accepted CNN's on

0:41:02the air which i get is probably the

0:41:04biggest science fiction leave in the

0:41:05book but I I totally did except they

0:41:08would have a daily show really only

0:41:10thing we try things will be 24 hours of

0:41:11it you know we're recording this when

0:41:13there's you know up a plane that is

0:41:15presumed crash that nobody can find and

0:41:16it's all that its office on CNN all day

0:41:20yeah i just think people get tired of

0:41:22him after after a while but you know I

0:41:27don't know I was jealous of him a little

0:41:28bit once it was it seems like he's gonna

0:41:30probably do ok I was jealous of them for

0:41:31sure what all the hard part was done

0:41:33although actually no because then he

0:41:35gets so at the end I'm like okay we're

0:41:37going to fight we kind of been nice

0:41:39without the spoilers but i'm going to

0:41:41fire off the spoiler for now

0:41:47the inn in the end right he has to strip

0:41:50the rich the return vehicle from the

0:41:52next mission he has to drive all this

0:41:54way and get there has to strip it to

0:41:56make it as light as possible and it's

0:41:58like full holes and he's gonna be aiight

0:42:01into i'm imagining like one of the

0:42:03little rocket ship rides at Disneyland

0:42:05where there's not even a seatbelt and

0:42:06it's just the centrifugal force to keep

0:42:08you down and that seems great because

0:42:09physics or is on your side but then it

0:42:11starts spinning and you're like oh my

0:42:12god I'm gonna get thrown out i'm gonna

0:42:14die or is that just me

0:42:16so this is that it so he's never he's

0:42:21never safe right he's like even to the

0:42:24end it's like oh here we go again

0:42:25and although i didn't feel like it was

0:42:26episodic like prison break we're

0:42:28literally every step that would be a new

0:42:30challenge

0:42:31there were they were interspersed at the

0:42:33end it was like oh man

0:42:35nothing can be easy for this guy at all

0:42:36so he had his harrowing harrowing

0:42:39journey all the way to the last page of

0:42:40this book

0:42:41yeah but they're spread over like 18

0:42:43months or whatever however i can i'm not

0:42:45even sure how long is it spread over a

0:42:46long period of time when you think about

0:42:47it I just think it's funny that at the

0:42:49end he you know it's just one last kick

0:42:51in the pants yes yes right

0:42:54plus he is on an alien planet

0:42:57this is true and he's got a tarp over

0:42:59the top of his uh his rocket ship

0:43:02I was actually like all the one that the

0:43:04storm first came up and everyone on

0:43:06earth

0:43:07his mom is like oh crap he's heading

0:43:08straight to stormy is no idea like i had

0:43:11to go put down the book and take a

0:43:12moment to collect myself because I was

0:43:14like oh my god no no there's a storm

0:43:16coming for him and how will you no will

0:43:19he notice that's that's effective raw

0:43:21materials like there's a big storm i

0:43:23hope he notices we can talk to him and

0:43:25then you're watching him and you're like

0:43:26come on figure it out figure it out

0:43:28I i just said I'm sure he'll figure out

0:43:30some convoluted engineering way to do it

0:43:31oh he did and now here's here's a

0:43:34detailed explanation

0:43:36well he drove in one direction for a

0:43:37while and I had to be careful when I

0:43:40read this book because like I would just

0:43:42get so tense for him and I was like well

0:43:44it's gonna work apically I doubt people

0:43:46be reading about booking like and then

0:43:48he died 50 yards from the ship that was

0:43:50going to save him be

0:43:52I mean this isn't a Cormac McCarthy book

0:43:55so it'll be fine then but I i did have

0:43:57this debate over whether I

0:43:59wanted him to deliver not and or you

0:44:01know I felt just a moment no no I mean I

0:44:06liked him i wanted him to live in

0:44:07general but i just i was thinking for

0:44:09the good of the story I think what seems

0:44:10to me that he's clearly going to live

0:44:11because that's very even write the book

0:44:13and then have the guy diet and he's gone

0:44:15through so much but I I don't know I

0:44:18jason said he felt like you know up

0:44:19until the last page things are hard for

0:44:21me but I felt towards the end it

0:44:22actually suddenly was surprisingly easy

0:44:24like oh geez i think this way she was

0:44:26walking part that I've you know taking

0:44:27all the parts out of and I I feel like

0:44:29this is never going to work with like

0:44:30everything kind of goes fine during the

0:44:33rescue

0:44:33there's there's there's hiccups but they

0:44:35they rescue him and I I i don't know i

0:44:39wanted something bad to happen to him at

0:44:41least that was beyond just my niece's

0:44:43are Mars i'll right i'll i thought you

0:44:45losing art that's exactly what it is I

0:44:47thought that when he wear an ipad i

0:44:48thought that the army yet on the

0:44:50spacesuit incident should have been

0:44:52foreshadowing that he was gonna end up

0:44:53losing an arm was like I felt like he

0:44:55should have some long-lasting visible

0:44:57star from his journey like I I didn't

0:44:59think he was gonna die at the end I did

0:45:00wonder at one point he was gonna die in

0:45:01the middle and then we're going to have

0:45:03many chapters detailing what happens to

0:45:05get body at the space just like em and

0:45:10then the eyes begin to cave in on

0:45:12themselves and then the bacteria in his

0:45:14gut right and just like an incredible

0:45:16technical details so Scott I'm sensing

0:45:19from you a little bit of hostility

0:45:21toward no hostile toward the lu you seem

0:45:26skeptical about the use of all of the

0:45:28technical details that you you are not

0:45:30as enthusiastic matters as as some i

0:45:32will say that i read the book in like

0:45:35three hours it was certainly what this

0:45:39is not showing off its should I I know

0:45:41how to read and it's a very good huh

0:45:44unlike me unlike me which is fair which

0:45:47is fair i admitted that early on dearie

0:45:49diagonally Scott I do not read i finally

0:45:52it's very fast-paced it is it is a fat

0:45:55already it's obvious you know man vs

0:45:57mars it's very engaging but without that

0:46:01tension i feel like a the technical

0:46:05detail is almost to the point where it

0:46:08overwhelms the entire story

0:46:11it certainly there is almost no

0:46:13characterization in this book other than

0:46:15the main character mark and even he is

0:46:19kind of a cartoon the astronauts that

0:46:22are on the rest of his team are

0:46:23certainly cartoons the the NASA people

0:46:26are even cartoons

0:46:28I mean and so I think the biggest

0:46:30character in the book is probably the

0:46:33ingenuity of market as opposed to his

0:46:36actual characterization is that is that

0:46:38a problem with the book

0:46:39no I i liked it but I didn't think it

0:46:41was like mind-blowing Lee great and as i

0:46:43was reading it I thought this would be a

0:46:45much better movie i think than a book

0:46:47I'm reading which is not a problem

0:46:49obviously and people like the book

0:46:50that's fine

0:46:52they're just wrong but haha i would say

0:46:57it was super fun as opposed to

0:46:58mind-blowing Lee great it was fun and I

0:47:01completely agree that he is and this is

0:47:03one of the points about about him like I

0:47:05mean I think anybody who is who is by

0:47:07themselves for that period of time is

0:47:08going to fall into a deep depression and

0:47:11he does not show any sign mean at one

0:47:14point you think he says that he misses

0:47:15talking to people when the

0:47:17communications breakdown but he you know

0:47:18he doesn't really show that in his and

0:47:21his words because he's constantly

0:47:23cracking jokes so it it does not that

0:47:26does not ring true to me as as far as

0:47:28real people go and I mean that's a lot

0:47:30of fun i also is so it started off as

0:47:33kind of a serial thing and I think that

0:47:34that see realized story and I think that

0:47:37come through i'm certain that the

0:47:40publisher has done a great job of

0:47:41editing it again but I did feel a little

0:47:43repetition about hey remember that thing

0:47:45I did four pages ago which would make

0:47:48sense if it were a serial but it is in

0:47:51fact a novel that I read so I don't need

0:47:53to be reminded of what you just told me

0:47:55the guy i agree i I had fun reading it

0:48:00and and 21

0:48:02we'll talk about this when we shift over

0:48:03to wonder what are we reading I'd read

0:48:05another book after this that i thought

0:48:07was a much much better book but that

0:48:12book was more much more of a struggle to

0:48:14get through and I could only read so

0:48:16much of it at a time and this I

0:48:18absolutely inhaled it I mean it was it

0:48:20was super fast and fun and there's a

0:48:23place for that

0:48:24in in in in books I really every so

0:48:28often especially if you're like on a

0:48:30beach or something right you you want

0:48:31you want those books that are just fast

0:48:35and enjoyable and they pull you through

0:48:36the story and it's a fun ride and this

0:48:39was that I did Scott have those feelings

0:48:42that that I have from time to time when

0:48:44i'm reading a book where I'm like yeah

0:48:46this i knew i could practically start

0:48:47casting the movie right

0:48:49I think this is a great fun it's a fun

0:48:51book but it will make a good movie or

0:48:53should exactly and I think there are

0:48:55different reasons for people different

0:48:57reasons three different things and this

0:48:58is a fine book to read it's not a you

0:49:01know a work of literature or a

0:49:02staggering it hasn't changed my life in

0:49:05any way but it was a lot of fun

0:49:07could I have lived not reading it

0:49:09probably am I glad I did

0:49:12sure there's a small chance that you

0:49:13couldn't have lived if you hadn't read

0:49:15it so whenever I if if I become stranded

0:49:18on Mars i will probably still just died

0:49:20immediately he quickly there's no way

0:49:23I'm surviving that button

0:49:25Sam Rockwell sam rockwell know ya know

0:49:28he was moving listening

0:49:30yeah he was on the because every even a

0:49:32spaceship is not allowed another one

0:49:34no right without Bruce Willis anybody

0:49:36know I actually think I think I think

0:49:38the casting rules if you've already made

0:49:40one shitty space movies and you're not

0:49:41allowed to be all ready my God we're

0:49:46going to work it's probably Cooper I'm

0:49:47gonna I'm gonna read from together oh my

0:49:49god

0:49:52so we disagree on the casting yeah what

0:49:56about you

0:49:57I I'm hearing a lot of bad-mouthing of

0:49:59the characterizations of many of the

0:50:01non-lead characters not Mar characters i

0:50:04was impressed and surprised by how funny

0:50:07at least one of his crewmates was in the

0:50:10winning when he cocked and then the one

0:50:13of the women from the crew in theory is

0:50:15I am him or emailing him that when he

0:50:17gets to the shape she's going to ravish

0:50:19him and make passionate love to him and

0:50:21then she's like of course no i didn't

0:50:22type that was you know one of the other

0:50:24crewmates instead I thought that crew

0:50:27made who typed on behalf of the woman I

0:50:28thought that was pretty fine

0:50:29yeah it's nice that it's nice that they

0:50:31had some rapport no no it shows that

0:50:35it's that NASA is full of hilarious

0:50:38people who go to the godaddy.com missed

0:50:41astronaut jokesters

0:50:43does anybody believe that NASA is full

0:50:45of really hilarious people i do actually

0:50:47I used to I used to know I need I used

0:50:50to babysit for a physicist who worked at

0:50:52NASA Langley and he was one of the

0:50:53funniest guys ever knew

0:50:54ok ya know this is no like this is back

0:50:57in the eighties and like he and his wife

0:50:58were big into yoga and he played a

0:51:00trombone as a hobby she was a

0:51:02theoretical mathematician and like I

0:51:04never letting him on a long-duration

0:51:05spaceflight names Riker know hehe was

0:51:09not in fact like i was i was 14 and he

0:51:11handed me his collection of kurt

0:51:12vonnegut he was like here read this

0:51:14you'll really enjoy it and you know he

0:51:16was a really funny guy used to voices I

0:51:18just mindprint to be honest my

0:51:20impression was that nasty water voice

0:51:22with my impression was like NASA was a

0:51:26little as a laugh riot with slide rules

0:51:28of you did it because that's all I now

0:51:30probably since I was a mixture of comedy

0:51:34and tragedy if they're slide but it

0:51:37didn't add but but many of them are I

0:51:39mean many of them in the book are

0:51:40missing throw ups and that didn't seem

0:51:42out of character for out of her unlikely

0:51:46i can't remember the name of the

0:51:47scientists of the of the mathematician

0:51:48was asked to calculate one route and was

0:51:50like now wait I think I'll do something

0:51:52completely different and if you don't

0:51:54remember his name now any torture

0:51:56well that's because his basic function

0:51:58was I a math nerd and i'm going to nerd

0:52:01on some math now and and that was pretty

0:52:02much like every character is the author

0:52:06essentially now I like the astronauts

0:52:08who were who had left behind in that we

0:52:11got a little bit more idea of what their

0:52:13dynamic was I end I when I wanted a

0:52:16little more of how miserable it would be

0:52:18to shut up to be shut up in a ship like

0:52:20that with those people for so long but

0:52:22there was some of that it was that the

0:52:23NASA people that are the ones who

0:52:25bothered me because I found them kind of

0:52:26unpleasant but you know that's fine i

0:52:28just i felt the book was much stronger

0:52:29when it was in space

0:52:31what more should we say before we move

0:52:35on to what are we reading does anybody

0:52:36else have any anything they want to

0:52:39bring up about the Martian before we

0:52:40move on just that it's incredibly quick

0:52:43read

0:52:43I mean I guess we've said that several

0:52:44times but you know if you're on the

0:52:46fence

0:52:47it's not like you're making a big

0:52:48commitment

0:52:50it's a great airplane book it's all yeah

0:52:53yeah sure like to

0:52:54I knocked it off in about five hours

0:52:56yeah yeah i mean as long as you're ok

0:52:58with it's not just that you can read it

0:53:01quickly but you're motivated to its you

0:53:04know you want to know what's going to

0:53:05happen and you're not you don't have to

0:53:07spend a lot of time puzzling out

0:53:08people's motives or frankly if you're on

0:53:10the fence and you've listened to this

0:53:11part of the podcast your jerk and you

0:53:13don't you have already spent about half

0:53:15its you know what's gonna happen now

0:53:18don't bother reading in fact don't don't

0:53:20read it if you haven't read on your this

0:53:22parts don't forget you don't deserve to

0:53:24you don't deserve the Martian well a

0:53:31thousand bloggers rise up in opposition

0:53:32I think this podcast is fair

0:53:35Oh relax and I both suggested you don't

0:53:42deserve the Martian as the title we have

0:53:48this one like it when followed right

0:53:55after all right let's move on then

0:53:58so I I mean we'll liked it enough to say

0:54:01other than having listen this far to the

0:54:04spoiler horn and Lex's if you listen

0:54:06this far and you haven't read it you're

0:54:07terrible person you shouldn't but

0:54:09generally we would say we you know you

0:54:12read it was fun

0:54:13your life doesn't depend on it that's

0:54:16got quite rightly pointed out you will

0:54:17not die a lesser person if you don't

0:54:21read it but it's fun it's a lot of fun

0:54:22if you like space stuff i love space

0:54:24stuff if you like space stuff it's

0:54:26fantastic for that it's a lot of fun and

0:54:28it is it is quick

0:54:29you're not going to labor it reading it

0:54:31is quick and fun sound by right

0:54:33yes yes yes Scott looking great

0:54:37yes very well know it was it was fun i

0:54:40just say yeah it's not it's not a

0:54:42fantastically moving work of literature

0:54:45doesn't stand up to a lot of scrutiny so

0:54:47I'm saying I mean the technical factors

0:54:48do but the the craftsmanship of the book

0:54:50itself is not yeah blog posts from an

0:54:54astronaut fake fictional astronaut

0:54:58alright let's move on to what i like to

0:55:01do at the end of the book club which is

0:55:02asked what we're reading or her

0:55:04or have read recently this is always

0:55:07good to see what other things are people

0:55:09are reading rather than you know just

0:55:11talking about the book that we talked

0:55:13about so what are we reading Lex are you

0:55:16reading anything else or did it is this

0:55:18your book for the year

0:55:19no I you I I don't watch movies but I

0:55:21read a lot of i read a lot of books i

0:55:23read it i read a book every night before

0:55:25I mean I don't bow i read i do my

0:55:28reading it right before i go to sleep

0:55:29and so some nights it's like two pages

0:55:32at a time because then I fall asleep but

0:55:34the Martian was one that buck that trend

0:55:35so the book i read before the Martian

0:55:37that i enjoyed this from 2007 by laura

0:55:40lippman called what the dead know it's a

0:55:42actually a very compellingly written a

0:55:45mystery you have a woman who claims to

0:55:49be the long-lost abducted girl from a up

0:55:52the ad abduction of young sisters from

0:55:55many many years ago in Baltimore and she

0:55:57says that she's one of the sisters and

0:55:58she watched her sister's murder and

0:56:00explains where she's been the whole time

0:56:01and people have to try to figure out if

0:56:02she is who she says she is it was really

0:56:04good and then the book that I'm in right

0:56:06now you can date boys when you're forty

0:56:09dave barry on parenting and other topics

0:56:11he knows very little about by dave barry

0:56:14it's really good i woke up my wife

0:56:16laughing out loud to the book and that's

0:56:20always a good sign

0:56:21Wow Dave Dave Barry not not cutting edge

0:56:24funny not coming as you have any

0:56:26Garfield treasuries that you're also

0:56:27teaches this is a plan i'm just came out

0:56:30did this book you can date boys when

0:56:33you're forty was released on march forth

0:56:35well because they're very had a daughter

0:56:36with like his second wife so yeah you

0:56:39know it's like his fourth wife but yes

0:56:40but don't marry Dave Barry at this this

0:56:44is my text messages this morning

0:56:47that's what really wow yeah I they

0:56:49buried the person who maybe want to be a

0:56:51writer so I read all of his books on

0:56:52Anna he's funny

0:56:53don't marry Dave Barry a guide to

0:56:56marriage but with a very finite very day

0:56:59berries guide to marriage

0:57:01I can't believe you gave me the

0:57:03Garfield's there's a brand new book

0:57:05hey you know I had to I had to gene

0:57:07Shalit also has a new book at you should

0:57:09also okay that's a lie

0:57:11good

0:57:13if you like writing it's the right

0:57:15choice

0:57:22good luck thank you my pleasure John

0:57:24Smoltz what are you reading

0:57:26I to two books i'm in the middle of two

0:57:28books right now what is the castle

0:57:29gambit by MC plant which is a science

0:57:33fiction book which I'm enjoying my it's

0:57:35not as you know it

0:57:37okay i don't think there's a book that's

0:57:39easier to plow through the book that we

0:57:40just talked about but it's not as easy

0:57:42to play throws that book but it's good

0:57:44it's a it's enjoyable and then the UH

0:57:46the other book i'm reading is I have a

0:57:48thing about the black death that I like

0:57:51so i'm reading a book I'm reading a book

0:57:53called called and i quote black death by

0:57:57robert s Godfrey which is a ever this is

0:58:00i actually this is only the second book

0:58:01about the black death that I've written

0:58:02written that's later later

0:58:06read your cydia bring the legs

0:58:10this is a more scientific spoiler alert

0:58:13the rats the rats did it explanation

0:58:15explanation of what of what what

0:58:17happened during the black enough

0:58:20have you read domesday book no bio you

0:58:24concerning a town it domesday book by

0:58:26connie willis it's about time travel

0:58:27should go back to the time of the Black

0:58:28Death

0:58:29oh my god it's a good one good it's

0:58:32really likes you like it it's really

0:58:34depressing like those books that we read

0:58:35you know that's what i did not because

0:58:37it is it is of it is of a kind that is

0:58:40about an apocalypse

0:58:41it's not even really happened well the

0:58:44black death was not exactly the

0:58:45feel-good events of the Middle Ages know

0:58:48this is really funny connie willis book

0:58:51you should we call bellwether which

0:58:53actually i have found very useful

0:58:54working online so i would recommend that

0:58:57one too

0:58:58also writing that down yeah alright Lisa

0:59:01what are you reading

0:59:02um I just ripped through two books by

0:59:06Ben H winters the first is called the

0:59:08last policemen and the second one is

0:59:09counter called countdown city they're

0:59:12part of a planned trilogy that focuses

0:59:14on life in New England in the final

0:59:18three months leading up to the date with

0:59:20a comment is expected to slam into the

0:59:21earth

0:59:22alright and they are fantastic because

0:59:26he goes into the economic and social and

0:59:29commercial implications of what happens

0:59:31when you actually do have like a big

0:59:32blinking and date on when when you know

0:59:36everything is you know will end for

0:59:38example they talk about when newspapers

0:59:40stop publishing they talk about what

0:59:42happens with currency radical laws that

0:59:45get past you know with regard to

0:59:47hoarding and guns and things like that

0:59:48and through all of this a lot of towns

0:59:51have just decided you know screw it

0:59:52we're throwing it on police police work

0:59:54because why bother

0:59:56and there's one guy who doggedly

0:59:58persistent being a detective

0:59:58persistent being a detective

1:00:00and trying to find missing people and

1:00:01solve homicides and take care of missing

1:00:03children while this is all going on the

1:00:06only thing that has me where every

1:00:07prayer book number three because i enjoy

1:00:09books wanted to so much and the only

1:00:11thing that has me worried is this guy

1:00:13also has a little sister who is involved

1:00:15in some fringe science group that thinks

1:00:17it has a way to divert the comet and so

1:00:19I kind of worried that the author's not

1:00:21going to have the balls to pull the

1:00:22trigger and have the comments down into

1:00:23the earth and and and kill everybody

1:00:25we've come to know and love and I i

1:00:27really hope that happens as opposed to

1:00:29and then the comment was diverted hooray

1:00:31we're rebuilding but I'm still going to

1:00:33read book number three because i love i

1:00:35love the guys town it's very dry it's

1:00:38it's very funny and it also he does a

1:00:42good job of cataloging the loss that

1:00:44that the fact that it's the erosion of

1:00:47daily rituals in daily things you take

1:00:49for granted that he thinks are actually

1:00:51more devastating than the fact that you

1:00:53know a comments going to plow into

1:00:54indonesia and pick up a huge extinction

1:00:57so I read those on it reminded me of

1:00:59another series i'm about to dive into

1:01:01and there's a young adult series called

1:01:03the last survivor series by season-best

1:01:05Pfeiffer and the first book because it's

1:01:08called life as we know it the dead and

1:01:09gone the world we live in and book

1:01:11number for which I am just about to

1:01:12start associated the moon and basically

1:01:15the premise the series is a comment

1:01:16slams into the moon

1:01:18knocks it out of orbit activates the

1:01:20caldera below yellows below Yellowstone

1:01:23Park and tides go crazy you've got NASA

1:01:27volcano volcanic eruptions and so

1:01:29there's a huge fog and cloud and it's

1:01:31told from the perspective of a couple

1:01:33siblings who are in their teams with

1:01:35with their mom and and basically what

1:01:37happens as as literally every every form

1:01:40of government commerc commerce

1:01:44everything falls down

1:01:45how do you fend for yourself how do you

1:01:47survive water human relationships like

1:01:49the first book is is a rulebook the

1:01:51second book takes place in new york city

1:01:52with a different family and talks about

1:01:54the horror of being trapped in urban

1:01:56environment when you know you basically

1:01:58have no way to live off the land when

1:01:59you live in a six floor walk-up and I'm

1:02:02really looking forward to say how this

1:02:03office works out so so more apocalypses

1:02:07for ELISA I like the pre I really either

1:02:09this apocalyptic fiction

1:02:11the thing I really liked about the last

1:02:12policeman series is it

1:02:13pre-apocalyptic it points out pretty

1:02:15much that disastrous is isn't as much if

1:02:18not more a state of mind as actual

1:02:19circumstances disastrous how human

1:02:21beings respond to circumstances and

1:02:23treat each other subsequently and I

1:02:25think that's a really I think that's a

1:02:26really rich area to mine

1:02:28speaking of disasters a state of mind

1:02:30scotland ltd what are you reading

1:02:32well I will point out that in the

1:02:35uncomfortable number 155 I mentioned the

1:02:38last placement that's something i was

1:02:39reading so good choice ELISA and I will

1:02:43take credit for it even though i'm sure

1:02:44some other I did you like the last

1:02:47policeman do you remember that far back

1:02:49I i like both of them i've read them

1:02:51both and they are very good so check out

1:02:54i will I second Lisa's recommendation

1:02:57and i just finished today

1:02:59blue remembered earth by alastair

1:03:01reynolds who's a science-fiction author

1:03:04who writes these kind of big sweeping

1:03:06space opera books this is the first in a

1:03:11trilogy although i didn't know it was

1:03:13the first in a trilogy Western me how

1:03:15did not have an ending is one of those

1:03:17know it's girl know it it it it ends but

1:03:22it's one of those books that it you

1:03:24could look at it as a self-contained

1:03:27story or if you know that there truly is

1:03:30trilogy is coming it basically just sets

1:03:32up the second book so it was alright

1:03:35with uh I was ok with that especially

1:03:37the second book is coming out soon so

1:03:39I'm excited

1:03:41it's basically a set in 21 60s and you

1:03:46know the UM humanity is a colonize the

1:03:49solar system still takes a long time to

1:03:51get places there are ecological disaster

1:03:55has happened on earth and we fixed it

1:03:57and the world has changed everyone's

1:04:00being watched over by this system of

1:04:04checks and balances that doesn't allow

1:04:06you to break the law but people like it

1:04:09and have given up their privacy because

1:04:10it's a war anymore

1:04:12and it follows this this family of

1:04:14people who have this large kind of multi

1:04:18planetary a company that provides space

1:04:24goods i guess it's better than the way

1:04:28to describe hits space walmart space

1:04:31goods like the astronaut ice cream

1:04:32astronaut ice cream and spam mark and

1:04:36astronauts been it has a and I'd had

1:04:40some very interesting uses of technology

1:04:44to solve the problem of if you are you

1:04:47know humanity has spread across the

1:04:49solar system but you can they haven't

1:04:52broken the speed of light so

1:04:54communication lag between the different

1:04:56planets and it's difficult to hold a

1:04:59conversation when it may take 10 hours

1:05:00to go back and forth between when you're

1:05:02talking so they've come up with these

1:05:04concepts of basically robot telepresence

1:05:07robots that you can kind of jack into

1:05:10and kind of give autonomy to and then it

1:05:12will act as you and then update you

1:05:14later and that comes hunt what you said

1:05:17what you said exactly it acts like it

1:05:19thinks you would act so it's interesting

1:05:22all right you totally told your mom off

1:05:25man over so-called know you're not

1:05:28supposed to well no actually yeah okay

1:05:29all those years all those years you had

1:05:31pent up inside and you finally let go

1:05:33problem solved and Jason are you reading

1:05:37anything of interest

1:05:38why thank you for asking Scott I am I

1:05:41finished the book that I alluded to

1:05:44earlier that i consider much better than

1:05:47the Martian but also was much harder to

1:05:49read is use of weapons by Iain M banks

1:05:53oh that is much better than the motion

1:05:54the third yes is the third in his

1:05:56culture series which is said in a shared

1:06:00universe there's very little crossover

1:06:01between characters although I understand

1:06:03there's some it's a story about a guy

1:06:08who is he's kind of a mercenary he's

1:06:11kind of an assassin or he's deployed by

1:06:14the culture on various planets in order

1:06:17to tip the usually to tip the balance of

1:06:20a war one way or another sometimes they

1:06:23deploy him and expect him to lose

1:06:25something that can become a problem if

1:06:27he's so good that he makes the wrong

1:06:28side win so that's his story and and

1:06:32there's a particular deployment of his

1:06:34that we see and thatthat's told as the

1:06:37book goes forward and its interleaved

1:06:40with chapters those chapters are

1:06:42numbered

1:06:42it's interleaved with chapters that are

1:06:43numbered by Roman numerals and start

1:06:45with a large number and go backward in

1:06:48time so so you'll have 13 and then 12

1:06:51sorry XII and and and so on and those

1:06:56are going backward in his life and

1:06:59looting to sort of things in his past

1:07:02that explain something about what he's

1:07:04doing now and also set up some mysteries

1:07:06about why he behaves the way he does and

1:07:09he's a very interesting character and

1:07:11the the other characters who manipulate

1:07:14him from the culture are also very

1:07:16interesting and his story is actually

1:07:20kind of shocking and emotional it has a

1:07:24great ending that I didn't see coming

1:07:27and I and we use the weapons at their

1:07:31there's that moment where the title gets

1:07:33dropped in the story which i read on my

1:07:35Kindle and it made me laugh because the

1:07:36set the sentence where the phrase use of

1:07:39weapons is used it's been highlighted by

1:07:41like everybody who read the books like

1:07:4280,000 people highlighted passages like

1:07:44it you found the title good job do you

1:07:48mean I can't believe that you leave

1:07:49those highlights on my brain is

1:07:51exploding

1:07:52I hate the highlights i do i'm

1:07:54fascinated by them and they don't bother

1:07:56me that much I i'm fascinated to see

1:07:58what people highlight it i love it it's

1:07:59like it's like it's like getting a used

1:08:02book in a college bookstore and you're

1:08:03like one of the highlighting what is

1:08:05this note mean I it's kind of fun and

1:08:07you can turn it off but one time I think

1:08:09I got burned it was it the highlight the

1:08:12fact that they have been highlighted so

1:08:13much proved to be a giant spoiler like

1:08:15it was like don't miss this thing so

1:08:16then I turned it off and never look back

1:08:18yeah he felt fine no no you sure didn't

1:08:24die in seven pages the kurt vonnegut

1:08:26novel where characters get an asterisk

1:08:27next to their name we're gonna die the

1:08:29next 20 page is to keep you from being

1:08:32disturbed and it's so disturbing when

1:08:34you get the asterisk know they're gonna

1:08:36die

1:08:36so anyway its use weapons uh it is it is

1:08:40a meaningful phrases know it because

1:08:41that's what this guy does is his living

1:08:43is the expertise in the deployment of

1:08:46weapons and and the cost of it has so

1:08:49it's a it was a very well written very

1:08:53thoughtful kind of amazing book and i

1:08:57would say this is a piece of literature

1:08:58that said I didn't rip through in a

1:09:01couple of days it took a long time to

1:09:02get through it

1:09:03I'm not because it was hard to read the

1:09:06words or anything but it was just it was

1:09:07it was waiting and I didn't feel like I

1:09:10could you know i'd read the chapter and

1:09:12be like okay I'm gonna stop and read the

1:09:14next chapter tomorrow but I liked it a

1:09:15lot and so thank you Scott for being one

1:09:19of the people recommending culture books

1:09:21I've heard what people say that they

1:09:22think this is the best one

1:09:23what do you think it it is very good i

1:09:25like all of his wealth his culture books

1:09:28i haven't read everything all of them

1:09:29are the best more all over the world the

1:09:31best the use of weapons is a amazing

1:09:33book that

1:09:34yeah it's good so i recommend that and

1:09:36then I am now reading the government the

1:09:40Genii which was recommended by Scott I'm

1:09:42perhaps our last book club and I'm like

1:09:44it a lot and it's got a little of the I

1:09:48don't know it's got it reminded me of a

1:09:50bunch of different books reminds me of

1:09:51the of a not the magician's of the

1:09:55what's the book with the night circus

1:09:58yeah reminds me a little bit of the

1:10:00night circus and a little bit of a

1:10:02Jonathan strange & Mr Norrell and a

1:10:06little bit of Michael Chabon kind of

1:10:09stuff it's a lot of fun and there's a

1:10:11golem you see and there's a genie ji ni

1:10:15Jeannie interesting ji ni yeah tell me

1:10:20more

1:10:20so you know golem genie and and it is

1:10:23the golden the genie there was a debate

1:10:24in the last of the club genie in the

1:10:26Golan

1:10:27remember and basically it's a 70 sitcom

1:10:29sets to a novel so it's really great

1:10:32he's a goal of sheezy well he's made a

1:10:36fire and she's made of clay so will he

1:10:38will he glaze her into a pot that some

1:10:40sort of pottery haha woman i'm in the

1:10:45middle I don't know this is the internal

1:10:47tension anyway I'm enjoying it a lot too

1:10:48so that's what i'm reading if it wasn't

1:10:5277.com mom that guy's TV on Mars don't

1:10:55give away the ending picnic way to bring

1:10:59back because all of them are there if I

1:11:01could highlight that I would thank you

1:11:04alright well that that wraps it up we

1:11:08have come to the end of our book club i

1:11:09want to thank my guests for sharing this

1:11:12time talking about the marshal which

1:11:13will take you longer to read than this

1:11:15podcast but maybe not as much but a

1:11:19little bit so John Smoltz thanks for

1:11:22being on a real episode we'll have to do

1:11:23this you know when there's light out in

1:11:25the sky a little bit so that you can do

1:11:27it again sometime

1:11:28just barely alright that's good good

1:11:30promise

1:11:31thank you Lex Friedman great to have you

1:11:33back again

1:11:34always a pleasure Jason thank you thanks

1:11:36for thanks for reading a book that we

1:11:37want to talk about maybe we'll do a day

1:11:39very that's not gonna happen sorry uh I

1:11:41do it on my own pie carry good are you

1:11:45know your dad pop your dad cast dad

1:11:48casters any any of my many back alright

1:11:51we will review the chapters on your

1:11:54daily laughs yeah I guess I already have

1:11:57to do that with him

1:11:58chapter 18 we're talking about it

1:12:02Lisa Schwyzer thank you for always fun

1:12:04thank you

1:12:05yeah this was a lot of fun and as always

1:12:07got Mykelti I've saved you for last

1:12:10thank you thank you for being here

1:12:13you're welcome

1:12:14I don't wanna bug you down too much

1:12:16technical detail because I know you

1:12:17don't like that it's true i like

1:12:20technical detail when it's used

1:12:22judiciously fair enough fair enough your

1:12:26your your opinion has been noted

1:12:28I see where you're coming didn't bother

1:12:30me but there was a lot of it down and it

1:12:32did it with you I in his google talk he

1:12:34was like I really had to resist trying

1:12:35to show all my work like well you fail

1:12:38you have to but you did not he did a lot

1:12:42more work i guess you know that's

1:12:44staggering amount of work

1:12:46alright well that is it for the

1:12:47uncomfortable thanks everybody out there

1:12:49for listening we'll see you next time